I wonder if you went to trade in two identical cars with the same colour/spec/mileage and the only difference was the service history been done at an independent and the other at a dealer

what would the difference in trade in values be

maybe Kam or James could advise?

npinks wrote:

I wonder if you went to trade in two identical cars with the same colour/spec/mileage and the only difference was the service history been done at an independent and the other at a dealer

what would the difference in trade in values be

maybe Kam or James could advise?

cheers BM

What i was thinking, if you had saved say £1000 on servicing over the years by using a specialist, and when it came to chop it in for a newer version and they offered you £1000 less than a stealer serviced one due to this

you wouldn't have losted any money or would they offer something like £2000 less due to the specialist servicing?

Just wondering does the dealer stamp make much difference in real life?

TBH, i've always been a slave to the stealer even though I know I don't have to be. As mentioned, maybe I just prefer to have a book full of LR stamps!

Now though, I am a bit snookered as I wouldn't really trust any garages in Cyprus to be qualified to deal with the complexities of a RRS as all they tend to deal with are clapped out Isuzu pick-ups.

Infact, there is a showroom and service area at the LR garage in Paphos but even they are deemed unqualified to service and/or repair any Sports!  Runner up - 2009 Best Avatar Award
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It might surprise you to know that dealers don't actually make much profit and right now are mostly losing money. And their return on capital employed is pants.

Land Rover insist they spend fortunes building and maintaining fancy showrooms, on expensive pieces of land. They then need to invest in all the fittings, tooling and the latest "brand image" stuff. They are then required to stock millions of pounds worth of new, used, demo and courtesy vehicles (a lot of which depreciates heavily whilst in stock). They then need to bend over backwards each quarter to achieve the manufacturer's targets for sales, service and various standards to earn bonuses (which can often mean the difference between a profit or a loss in any quarter). At the same time they need to keep their workforce in tact, when most salesmen feel they can earn more elsewhere, and there are fewer and fewer school leavers wanting to train as motor mechanics unless there is lots of money in it for them.

The income from servicing vehicles is declining as service intervals expand and labour hours needed reduce. However the service income is still the most valuable source of revenue in a dealer and often cross subsidises all the other loss making (or at least non overhead absorbing) activities.

The side street, independent garage has massively less capital tied up in their business, far fewer overheads, isn't answerable to a manufacturer and so can make more profit whilst charging far less. It makes a lot of sense to use the independent, but there is a serious risk that if we all did, the main dealer would go out of business or the quality of their service would decline even further. RRS TDv8 HSE Rimini
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OK, so had the car serviced today at the non dealer garage who were also doing my rear pads and the brake fluid.

Service went fine other than they couldn't get their systems to reset the service indicator, apparently happens on some BMW's too so a trip to the dealer required for that.

However, the bad news they gave me (don't they always?) is that the front Diff is spewing out oil....

Hang on I hear you say, didn't you just have that work done by Land Rover themselves to prevent my diff from exploding?

YES! so, it was all totally fine before they meddled with it, now it has to go back for another day cos the damned thing is leaking oil all over the place.

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. As soon as a garage touches your car it just creates more problems, every single time.  L319 D4 HSE

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Yes, you can get cheaper servicing, but this to be fair to main dealers is not the whole story. There is an element of you get what you pay for.

Whilst not being direspectful to independents, they do not have the benefit of mechanics which are sent on the latest Land Rover training courses, the latest software, and the latest product updates and recall items. Yes you may be able to source some of this info yourself, but time is money, and as Smarticus mentioned Main Dealers do not make that much profit at the bottom line.

I have a rule of thumb (ish) we run a few vehicles and anything under 5 years old is probably worth investing the money on main dealer servicing, and also maintaing resale values. Over 5 years old I am comfortable letting an independent handle it - as there is probably no new updates or training available for the model and independents should at 5 years old have all the latest product info relevant to the vehicle.

I personally am not comfortable spending the best part of £40 to £60k on a vehicle to scrimp on servicing (or indeed on fake copy chinese rims - but thats another argument...). In my experience non main dealer servicing on vehicles up to 5 years old does have a significant impact on resale values as a main dealer will NOT retail a vehicle on their forecourt that has not been serviced by authorised garages - but merely sell it onto the trade to the highest bidder who has been prepared to underwrite the vehicle.

npinks wrote:

I wonder if you went to trade in two identical cars with the same colour/spec/mileage and the only difference was the service history been done at an independent and the other at a dealer

what would the difference in trade in values be

maybe Kam or James could advise?

I'm sure Kam will reply, but my personal opinion is that a full manufacturers history looks more desirable to any perspective buyer. You can extend this theory further still and say that a service book which is stamped by the supplying dealer is even more desirable too as it was supplied and looked after by the same dealership. Obviously something that is more desirable is easier to sell, and in this instance you could probably either sell it at a higher price or sell it with more margin in it (same thing).

With regard to service departments, they have become more competitive becuase due to increased service intervals and more reliable vehicles, they have to try to retain and attract as many customers as possible. There are some good independants out there, you just need to find them, and the best way is by reccomendation.

James

Vogue, I appreciate what you're saying but in the past when I had my Sport I was having to point the dealer service dept to the bulletins and tell them what the problems were!

It's also quite common for the dealers to have quite a young inexperienced staff of mechanics who get trained up and if they can be bothered to stick it out, move elsewhere. I've seen examples of clear stupidity from the service depts of main dealers just because the oily tick doing the work has no experience on the job and no common sense.

However, as has been pointed out by my experience, it doesn't seem to matter WHO does the work, it can still all go badly wrong.

If you pay almost double to have a service out of warranty done at a main dealer, will you ever recoup that? I doubt it, most cars' values are driven by age, spec, mileage and condition. A FSH is great, though clearly a FLRSH is better. I was told a month or so back by a main dealer they wouldn't want my car as a PX anyway just because the mileage was too high even though it had a FLRSH.

Cars, designed to drain you of all your money one way or another. L319 D4 HSE

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1982 Series 3 SWB

Hi RRUK, yes I think you are right as well, its probably each case on its own merits, and down to the individuals assesment of the situation.

In my experience most main dealers won't wish to retail a s/h vehicle over 45 to 50k miles and prefer to trade it out. So perhaps over this milage independent servicing maybe the way to go - but from the deals I have had experience of, on a vehicle under 5 years old, a full main dealer service book can add a fair bit on a vehicle and make it easier to sell / trade.

Personally, I would rather let the main dealer handle it. I have had a few nasty experiences with independents on repairs that give a fixed price and then the job suddenly mushrooms - also getting charged for unnecessary work and work that had not been carried out. At least with a LR maindealer I have some recourse. Furthermore, my main agent looks after everytrhing, warranty work and servicing done the same day with the benefit of a top of the range loan car - also means I don't have my car off the road for two days whilst the main delaer does the warranty work, and then I have to take the vehicle to an independent for a service.

A lot can also depend on where you are located, I live in a fairly rural area and unfortunately do not have the benefit of Cornelius just around the corner - otherwise he (JE) would probably get the work...

I had a really bad experience with one independent - so maybe I am being more than a little biased (but have also been let down once or twice by my main agent - but to be fair they have always sorted everything immediately without a fuss)

Vogue wrote:

... the benefit of a top of the range loan car -

That made me laugh!

I've never had a good loan car except for the new TDV8 when the Diff was originally done, but in the main I get crappy Volvos (got an S40 1.6D today!) or low spec Freeloaders.

It's a risk either way, take it to the dealer and get stung for some expensive repairs, take it to an indepentd and they find loads of things that need doing. Who knows!

This is the first time I've used an independent, they're good on personal service, local to me, plus their are billions of Land Rovers around the Melton Mowbray area so they have the experience and use genuine parts and service kits from the main dealer down the road.

A good discussion though!  L319 D4 HSE

1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF

1982 Series 3 SWB

RRUK wrote:

Vogue wrote:

... the benefit of a top of the range loan car -

That made me laugh!

I've never had a good loan car except for the new TDV8 when the Diff was originally done, but in the main I get crappy Volvos (got an S40 1.6D today!) or low spec Freeloaders.

not as bad as taking my Subaru Impreza 2 litre turbo into SGT at Taplow Maidenhead a few years back for its six monthly service, about 10 years ago actually, and handed the key to a 1.2 Subaru justy for the day .. talk about the tortoise and the hare

After that i just accepted the drop off and pick up at work  Another Pommie Bar Steward down under

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Had my service done at Frogs Island in Oxford. They did a 40k service for £140. They fitted Genuine and parts from Allmakes. They recommended Allmakes parts has the best in the Aftermarket has many of their parts are OE. www.lrparts.co.uk The Genuine delaer in Oxford wanted £424 for the same service There are good garages in the aftermarket. Richard

There is another point to the dealer (REGARDLESS OF MARQUE).

Even though they may be more expensive in the eyes of the folks who would rather justify the independent option they do require enough support to keep them in business as they will often be the fallback position in the event something can't be repaired by the independent, or to source parts locally. I think it is a personal choice of course but lets remember they are a huge support and they know what they are doing ! Kev

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I think the attitude and professionalism of the staff go a long way to making me decide where to have my car serviced, not JUST cost. I happen to get on great with my local dealer and they have always provided an excellent service - especially the After Sales Manager! Overall, I feel confident giving them my car to service and on several occassions they have gone that extra mile to make sure I, as the customer, was very well looked after. I therefore do not begrudge paying that bit extra  2013 Discovery HSE Luxury - 3.0 SDV6 - Santorini Black
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