WARNING: Main Dealer Servicing

cri

Guys

I just want to relate to you what has happened to me recently. I have had my car serviced at a main dealer in Navan for 3 years. I assume I can not divulge the name, if I can I will, if not PM me and I will send it to you.

After I dropped the car in I got a call to say the car needed a lot of work, it amounted to almost €3k. I could not afford that so declined the extra work. As I had the quote I could see what parts were needed and I found an online dealer in the UK who supplied genuine parts needed at about 50% of the Irish quote. I bought the parts online and then brought to a mechanic I know to have the car repaired whose labour cost is a lot cheaper.

What happened next shocked me. It turned out that 80% of the work I was informed needed was actually not needed. It also transpired that some of the work they had done, i.e. oil change and air filter, was sub standard. I then took the car to a second mechanic for a second opinion, didn't tell him what I knew and he concurred with the mechanic that the work was unnecessary.

Both mechanics indicated to me that many main dealerships that are experiencing hard times are using servicing as a means to increase turnover and income for the dealer. I have since had this repeated by a third non main dealer mechanic.

I went back to the main dealer but obviously they rejected the charges. I did consider going to SIMI but again I was told that they "look after their friends" so not to bother.

Obviously not all main dealers are like this but in my naivety I assumed that main dealers would be less likely to engage in such sharp practices, I was wrong!

Cookie_Monster

Ireland at it's best!

Mc Love

What car marque was it? I'd imagine a lot of car dealers are at this up and down the country, its better to bring to an independent garage i'd think!

gbee

Several phone calls from a main dealer during a service.

The one I left them at:

"Your front wheel bearing nuts are loose and need to be tightened"

OK I said [wondering what the *ell he was gibberishing about

"tha'll be £20 a side" and he hung up.

cri

Hi, if a moderator says it is ok I will gladly give you the marque but if I do that then it will be obvious which garage it was. I am not sure what the deal is on Boards.ie with effectively accusing a company of fraud!

johnos1984

Sickening.

I have to say I only use an independant garage who walks me through everything that is wrong before touching it.

It at least afford me the chance to question them and say yes or no to work before it is done

bladespin

I'd consider that attempted fraud, call the gardai.

Can you Pm me? Live in Navan and don't want anyone I know to get caught like that.

no1beemerfan

Bloody 'ell OP. I'd be livid with the garage if they did that to me. Its just another reason why I refuse to let a garage do anything on my cars and I thought myself to do everything.

Are you going to leave it at that or make an official complaint?

cri

no1beemerfan wrote: »

Bloody 'ell OP. I'd be livid with the garage if they did that to me. Its just another reason why I refuse to let a garage do anything on my cars and I thought myself to do everything.

Are you going to leave it at that or make an official complaint?

I did write a letter of complaint to them and their reply was fairly aggressive i.e. how dare you accuse us of xyz. I would have taken it further but the mechanic I use is a small independent garage that picks up business from the bigger dealers. He was reluctant to go up against them and I didn't really want to put him in that position. I spoke to the AA about doing their car check but the cost was over €300 and I couldn't afford it. So I suggested to the garage that we both go to an independent garage, such as the AA, and if they agreed with the garage then I would pay but if they agreed with my mechanic then the garage would pay for it as well as refunding me the cost I incurred buying unnecessary parts. However they would not agree to it!

Without the mechanic willing to testify to the state of the car it would seem like it is my word against theirs and therefore I would be out of pocket even more. I figured best to cut my losses and put a warning out on boards, tell mates etc.

Anan1

cri wrote: »

Hi, if a moderator says it is ok I will gladly give you the marque but if I do that then it will be obvious which garage it was. I am not sure what the deal is on Boards.ie with effectively accusing a company of fraud!

I'm afraid that for legal reasons we can't name names.

Not the first i've heard of it, though.

cri

Hi Anan

that is what I figured so haven't mentioned it. If someone is concerned I can tell them independently of boards.

Tigger

how can an oild change nbe sub standard

Cookie_Monster

cheapo parts and low quality unbranded oil?

Anan1

cri wrote: »

Hi Anan

that is what I figured so haven't mentioned it. If someone is concerned I can tell them independently of boards.

That's no problem at all, thanks for your understanding.:)

Mc Love

Also some main dealers will try and fob you off with the line " we have industry-wide tools that are used to diagnose faults and are used in every marque garage" so you wont possibly get anywhere with them!

hobochris

gbee wrote: »

Several phone calls from a main dealer during a service.

The one I left them at:

"Your front wheel bearing nuts are loose and need to be tightened"

OK I said [wondering what the *ell he was gibberishing about

"tha'll be £20 a side" and he hung up.

That's a joke... small things like this would be part of the service for many places.

What annoys me about main dealers is many leave your car in the hands of some inexperienced apprentice without proper supervision from an experienced mechanic. When they do **** up and a lot of time they will, it goes on the bill if they can get away with it otherwise you're usually inconvenienced for them to fix their mistake.

Tigger

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

cheapo parts and low quality unbranded oil?

how would you know the oil brand
do you mean a chreapo oil filter?

furtzy

Unfortunately not an uncommon story. I've posted here before about a main dealer having a 70% mark up on parts. I would write to the general manager of the dealership and if you don't receive a satisfactory reply then write to the irsh headquarters of the marque involved

gbee

hobochris wrote: »

That's a joke... small things like this would be part of the service for many places..

I can understand how you would think so. I can assure you it was not.

I used to work as an assistant manager at a small company and one delivery truck ~ we're talking 1973. We had a puncture in the back and we were charged for:
Jacking up the truck.
Loosing the nuts.
Removing the nuts.
Removing the wheel.
Stripping the Wheel.
Examine and repair.
Reassemble tyre fit on wheel.
Fit wheel to vehicle.
Fit nuts to wheel.
Tighten nuts.
Lower Jack.

All had a cost ~ can't remember what it was but it came to about £50. As a guide, I was earning a full man's wage of £12.50.

Einstein

I've also started getting my car serviced at an independent dealer, who does an even more thorough jon imo.
My wonder is about the Full Service History from independent garages compared to regular main dealers? Thoughts on that?

gbee

Einstein wrote: »

Thoughts on that?

Computer read out. Most garages can do that for you in a few seconds. And I'm sure there's an iPhone App coming soon.

cri

Tigger wrote: »

how can an oild change nbe sub standard

The oil was not to the standard recommended by the maker and the air filter was either not changed, as stated it was, or such a poor one put in that it had got extremely dirty in a short period of time. The mechanic suggested it was the former!

Nonoperational

Just to put another slant on it (they can be brutal alright) but recently I had a noise from the timing belt area on my car. They car was dropped in to main dealer and I collected it the next morning with a new belt kit fitted free of charge. The old one had a 2 year warranty so it was replaced no questions asked.

I know this should be the case with an indy too but I have a feeling it would have been a bit less straightforward. Maybe I'm wrong.

cri

cri wrote: »

The oil was not to the standard recommended by the maker

In all fairness how on Earth did your mechanic no this, does he have a spectrophotometer on site to perform an analysis ?

bladespin

gpf101 wrote: »

Just to put another slant on it (they can be brutal alright) but recently I had a noise from the timing belt area on my car. They car was dropped in to main dealer and I collected it the next morning with a new belt kit fitted free of charge. The old one had a 2 year warranty so it was replaced no questions asked.

I know this should be the case with an indy too but I have a feeling it would have been a bit less straightforward. Maybe I'm wrong.

As far as any indy mechanic I know (I know a few) you're wrong, warranty work is exactly that.

bladespin

RoverJames wrote: »

In all fairness how on Earth did your mechanic no this, does he have a spectrophotometer on site to perform an analysis ?

Oil used by the dealer would be listed on the receipt/history, if they used the wrong weight it'd be very easy to spot.

shawnee

Had my Mondeo serviced by Main dealer some months ago. It was a basic service which was on special offer. When I rang to pick up the car the guy told me that the car needed two new tyres. I told him that I was surprised as the car had passed the nct only a week before !! He then spoke to the mechanic who serviced the car and said that the tyres were good but would need to be replaced within the next six months or so !!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

cri

Actually Shawnee that reminds me, my car had passed an NCT with flying colours only 3 weeks before servicing!

Anan1

shawnee wrote: »

Had my Mondeo serviced by Main dealer some months ago. It was a basic service which was on special offer. When I rang to pick up the car the guy told me that the car needed two new tyres. I told him that I was surprised as the car had passed the nct only a week before !! He then spoke to the mechanic who serviced the car and said that the tyres were good but would need to be replaced within the next six months or so !!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

How much tread (in mm) was on them? Tyres can be dangerously bald and still comfortably pass an NCT.

Johnny Utah

Funny, I had the exact same problem with a specialist indy garage (which are often recomended here). Decided to get a second opinion and it turned out that I didn't need most of the work after all.... I haven't dealt with the 'indy specialist' since!

bladespin

bladespin wrote: »

Oil used by the dealer would be listed on the receipt/history, if they used the wrong weight it'd be very easy to spot.

I would disagree to be honest, you'd have the dealer by the arse if they gave you documented evidense they had used the incorrect spec oil. Also the question was directed at the OP not some bait for some conjecture :P

Anan1 wrote: »

How much tread (in mm) was on them? Tyres can be dangerously bald and still comfortably pass an NCT.

Anything over 3mm and the NCT folk won't comment, less than 3mm and they mention it on the cert, 3mm is f all really on a tyre.

Nonoperational

bladespin wrote: »

As far as any indy mechanic I know (I know a few) you're wrong, warranty work is exactly that.

Do indys give a 2 year warranty on timing belts? Could well do I just don't know.

bladespin

gpf101 wrote: »

Do indys give a 2 year warranty on timing belts? Could well do I just don't know.

Depends on the manufacturer's warranty, main dealers don't give a 2 year warranty, it's their suppliers that do, bar the work itself is in question.

Nonoperational

And who pays for the 3.5 hours labour? You, the mechanic or the belt manufacturer?

bladespin

gpf101 wrote: »

And who pays for the 3.5 hours labour? You, the mechanic or the belt manufacturer?

If they sold you a belt that was faulty then it's whoever sold the belt, the garage will cover the cost of fitting the new one, you wouldn't have to have it fitted if the belt they'd sold was up to the job, main dealer or indy, they'd all have to honour that.

gpf101

gpf101 wrote: »

And who pays for the 3.5 hours labour? You, the mechanic or the belt manufacturer?

The noise was from the belt area, probably the tensioner. As it was a main dealer it would have been an OE part so the dealer would bill the manufacturer much like warranty work. An indy garage would have to do this too, another good reason not to bring parts to a garage to fit for you, if there is a problem later you are not in a good place.

Nonoperational

Ya just seems a bit easier for the sake of €50 or so to have the dealer supply and fit oem parts. Just me though. It was the tensioner ya. Saying that I'd know my way around the car so they wouldn't pawn any extra work off on me. I'd let them know where to go!

bladespin

gpf101 wrote: »

Ya just seems a bit easier for the sake of €50 or so to have the dealer supply and fit oem parts. Just me though. It was the tensioner ya. Saying that I'd know my way around the car so they wouldn't pawn any extra work off on me. I'd let them know where to go!

Indys fit OEMs as well ya know, it's not all chinese knock offs lol.
Doesn't really sound like you know that much about how garages work TBH, no offence but the OEM remark is very naive and straight out of the main dealer handbook of excuses.

Save €50 on a belt :eek: you'd see a saving of a multiple of that, the differnece between €85-110 per hr and 40-50 per hour, not to mention the mark-up on the parts themselves.

hobochris

bladespin wrote: »

Indys fit OEMs as well ya know, it's not all chinese knock offs lol.
Doesn't really sound like you know that much about how garages work TBH, no offence but the OEM remark is very naive and straight out of the main dealer handbook of excuses.

Save €50 on a belt :eek: you'd see a saving of a multiple of that, the differnece between €85-110 per hr and 40-50 per hour, not to mention the mark-up on the parts themselves.

+1 to this.

Drive shaft snapped on one side in my old car, got quote from dealer for the guts of 2 grand.

I Went to an Indy and was back on the road in two days with a genuine OEM part for €480 inc. labour.

Nonoperational

What a completely ****ty reply. My point was that having the dealer supply and fit the part makes it convenient if anything goes wrong. It may be a perceived convenience on my part I already said that. Of course indys can fit OEM parts I never said they couldn't. I got the belt kit and water pump done for €450 in the main dealer I don't think many indys would do it for less than €400. I have used indys often for other jobs.

I worked in a garage for 2 summers I know how they work alright. I was simply pointing out that there are benefits of main dealer servicing too. Case in point when VW paid for a €400+ air con compressor on the GTi 2 years out of warranty because I had a previous service in the main dealer when I got the car first.

Jeez. Main dealer handbook of excuses? What are you talking about?

Edit: I'm not talking about a bloody driveshaft I'm talking about a timing belt kit for a VW Golf GTi. It was €450 all in. Tell me an indy that will do that for "multiples" of €50 less?

gpf101

gpf101 wrote: »

Jeez. Main dealer handbook of excuses? What are you talking about?

He completely misinterpreted your post :pac: I reckon he still hasn't grasped what you were saying

Nonoperational

Like in general I agree that main dealers are overpriced but there are some reasonable offers out there at the moment and some dealers do good work. My point wasn't to disagree with the thread I just was making the point that somethimes there are benefits to main dealer servicing too.

The timing belt example may have been a bad example as people seem pretty sure that they would stand over it for as long as the manufacturers warranty is on the parts. I just thought that for €450 which is a good enough price anyway I liked the fact there was a 2 year warranty on the parts and labour.

As RoverJames said already it really does hilight the (slight) risks with buying the parts yourself and getting them fitted. Doubt anyone will cover labour then!

bladespin

gpf101 wrote: »

What a completely ****ty reply. My point was that having the dealer supply and fit the part makes it convenient if anything goes wrong. It may be a perceived convenience on my part I already said that. Of course indys can fit OEM parts I never said they couldn't. I got the belt kit and water pump done for €450 in the main dealer I don't think many indys would do it for less than €400. I have used indys often for other jobs.

I worked in a garage for 2 summers I know how they work alright. I was simply pointing out that there are benefits of main dealer servicing too. Case in point when VW paid for a €400+ air con compressor on the GTi 2 years out of warranty because I had a previous service in the main dealer when I got the car first.

Jeez. Main dealer handbook of excuses? What are you talking about?

Edit: I'm not talking about a bloody driveshaft I'm talking about a timing belt kit for a VW Golf GTi. It was €450 all in. Tell me an indy that will do that for "multiples" of €50 less?

Apologies for the ****ty reply, it wasn't meant that way.

€450 for a timing belt could be a good price, it could be a rip-off, depends on the car, I had a main dealer quote me €250 for a timing belt on an Alfa, that was a reasonably good price (indy was €50 cheaper).

I worked as a service manager in a main dealer for a while so I also know how they work, there's margin to be made on parts and labour, when sales drop the other end can often be used to support the business.

I've also used the excuse, it's an OEM part by an approved dealer, that's why it's over twice the price.

You do make a couple of false assumptions, that main dealers are more convienient and they give better support, not so im many cases it depends on the dealer themselves. Indys too, some will do an out of hours call for a regular customer, some don't, I've been picked up at the road side on a sunday night for free, not too may offer this type of service. I have replaced recent out of warranty parts for regular customers too, that goodwill may just sell the next car.

My point is that there's very little between a good indy and a main dealer, really, bar a badge that they usually have to pay a premium for.

Nonoperational

Fair enough I see what your saying. Wires crossed...

Ya even a timing belt is hugely variable, the girlfriend has a alfa (my old one!) so a timing belt change can be anything from a belt and tensioner to a belt tensioner water pump and variator! Your right it's all relative.

Kashkai

My problem with main dealers is that unless you are going to stand over them (which they wouldn't allow), how are you to know that the work they've billed you for has actually been carried out? Ok so you can check the oil has been replaced by using the dipstick to see if its fresh oil, but what about the sparks or airfilter? Are you going to bring a sparkplug wrench with you to take out the sparks to see if they're new or to dismantle the air filter housing to see if that has been changed? On my Megane, this would be a pain in the a$$ to do in a hurry.

I used to do my own servicing until I fecked up my back so now I can't spend time leaning in over the engine bay. However I still resent handing over €180 for an oil change and 4 new plugs and air filter (oh and their 25 point safety check :rolleyes:). This work takes 20 minutes at the very most but they charge an hours labour!

Plug

gbee wrote: »

Several phone calls from a main dealer during a service.

The one I left them at:

"Your front wheel bearing nuts are loose and need to be tightened"

OK I said [wondering what the *ell he was gibberishing about

"tha'll be £20 a side" and he hung up.

Adjustable wheel bearing, they are real.

101sean

Had amusing experience with main dear. Brother in law had a problem with his alarm on his Defender, took it to dealer as it was only just out of warranty who agreed to stick it on test. Several hours later gets a call to say 10AS alarm has gone, we can fit a new one for €350 + labour, needless to say he told them to poke it and called me. Turned out a fuse had gone :eek:

Hear a lot from novice Land Rover owners on various forums. One guy had a turbo and injectors changed at vast expense by a dealer when all that was wrong was the MAF sensor that had failed in a common way that doesn't show up on T4, any experienced LR mechanic would know this.

Problem with modern cars is that if a problem occurs, dealers throw parts at it without properly investigating. Any experienced mechanics go off and start their own business leaving dealers with inexperienced staff who rely totally on what the PC and electronic manual say. Had a run in with a main dealer parts place recently when the computer said no and they claimed the engine in my father's van didn't exist:rolleyes:

x in the city

cri wrote: »

Guys

I just want to relate to you what has happened to me recently. I have had my car serviced at a main dealer in Navan for 3 years. I assume I can not divulge the name, if I can I will, if not PM me and I will send it to you.

After I dropped the car in I got a call to say the car needed a lot of work, it amounted to almost €3k. I could not afford that so declined the extra work. As I had the quote I could see what parts were needed and I found an online dealer in the UK who supplied genuine parts needed at about 50% of the Irish quote. I bought the parts online and then brought to a mechanic I know to have the car repaired whose labour cost is a lot cheaper.

What happened next shocked me. It turned out that 80% of the work I was informed needed was actually not needed. It also transpired that some of the work they had done, i.e. oil change and air filter, was sub standard. I then took the car to a second mechanic for a second opinion, didn't tell him what I knew and he concurred with the mechanic that the work was unnecessary.

Both mechanics indicated to me that many main dealerships that are experiencing hard times are using servicing as a means to increase turnover and income for the dealer. I have since had this repeated by a third non main dealer mechanic.

I went back to the main dealer but obviously they rejected the charges. I did consider going to SIMI but again I was told that they "look after their friends" so not to bother.

Obviously not all main dealers are like this but in my naivety I assumed that main dealers would be less likely to engage in such sharp practices, I was wrong!

name and shame tbh, we should have no right to put up with utter bs like this

mullingar

@OP,

What model/engine of car do you drive? (dont say the marque;))

cri

mullingar wrote: »

@OP,

What model/engine of car do you drive? (dont say the marque;))

Hi the engine is a 2.7ltr diesel.

furtzy

cri wrote: »

Hi the engine is a 2.7ltr diesel.

Think I know who it is now