OP
OP
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
I always at least phone the dealers first. For the cost of a phone call it often works in my favour.
Parts wise they're cheapest about a third of the time, so close as makes little difference another third, and it so only about one in three calls where the part is priced daftly enough to scare me off.
When my XC90 had an ABS problem the dealer was quoting me only £8 more than the local Fred in a Shed and they gave a two year warranty instead of Fred's one, so that was an easy decision. Not only that, but while it was in they fitted new seat belts as part of a campaign (like a recall, but not serious enough to justify actually recall the vehicles back in so the DVSA let's them do it differently) and I'd have not got that from Fred.
And ditto servicing. On the Volvo prices weren't that far apart, and the dealer was using genuine parts and installing the software updates for the car and sat nav, neither of which Fred did, so the little extra was justified.
So my experiences have been mixed rather than automatically anti-dealer like so many folk seem to be. Certainly automatically assuming the dealer will be more expensive on every occasion is a fools game.
However, a chance conversation the other day I discovered one fairly well thought of small garage in a nearby village has just been bought by an ex Volvo master tech. We had a chat and he talks the talk, so as the C70 is far too old to receive software updates or the like, and the My Volvo app tells me it has no outstanding recalls or campaigns, I may take it there in the spring.
The MINI Electric is on its own plan with BMW for a tenner a month, so the dealer deals with that (and they are fabulous- the car care kit we receive every safety check or service sells on eBay for nearly as much as the cost of 6 months of the service plan!).
That leaves the 2008, which is little more than a dog van, and Mrs D's JCW . I do those myself, although proper servicing requires a car to be wheels free to check for play in suspension and steering. I can't do that, so I'm the weirdo who asks Mr MOT to be extra thorough when checking these items. Yoy get these twits that change the engine oil and top up the sdreenwash and think theyve done a service, but not me. Even a minor A service on the 2008 has 92 different actions, most checks for play or security, and they all get done somehow. I've a Delphi interface for my laptop which works on all systems on any make and that paid for itself first time I had to use it.
Parts wise they're cheapest about a third of the time, so close as makes little difference another third, and it so only about one in three calls where the part is priced daftly enough to scare me off.
When my XC90 had an ABS problem the dealer was quoting me only £8 more than the local Fred in a Shed and they gave a two year warranty instead of Fred's one, so that was an easy decision. Not only that, but while it was in they fitted new seat belts as part of a campaign (like a recall, but not serious enough to justify actually recall the vehicles back in so the DVSA let's them do it differently) and I'd have not got that from Fred.
And ditto servicing. On the Volvo prices weren't that far apart, and the dealer was using genuine parts and installing the software updates for the car and sat nav, neither of which Fred did, so the little extra was justified.
So my experiences have been mixed rather than automatically anti-dealer like so many folk seem to be. Certainly automatically assuming the dealer will be more expensive on every occasion is a fools game.
However, a chance conversation the other day I discovered one fairly well thought of small garage in a nearby village has just been bought by an ex Volvo master tech. We had a chat and he talks the talk, so as the C70 is far too old to receive software updates or the like, and the My Volvo app tells me it has no outstanding recalls or campaigns, I may take it there in the spring.
The MINI Electric is on its own plan with BMW for a tenner a month, so the dealer deals with that (and they are fabulous- the car care kit we receive every safety check or service sells on eBay for nearly as much as the cost of 6 months of the service plan!).
That leaves the 2008, which is little more than a dog van, and Mrs D's JCW . I do those myself, although proper servicing requires a car to be wheels free to check for play in suspension and steering. I can't do that, so I'm the weirdo who asks Mr MOT to be extra thorough when checking these items. Yoy get these twits that change the engine oil and top up the sdreenwash and think theyve done a service, but not me. Even a minor A service on the 2008 has 92 different actions, most checks for play or security, and they all get done somehow. I've a Delphi interface for my laptop which works on all systems on any make and that paid for itself first time I had to use it.
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