2nd annual service at an independant?

[pazz]

Taken from Bosch Car Service website
http://www.boschcarservice.co.uk/wcMain.asp:

With changes in European legislation it is possible to have your car serviced at an independent garage without invalidating your manufacturers warranty.

A quick read of my service manual also doesnt specifically detail that a service by an independent would invalidate the VW warranty. But, havent exactly read all the fine print.

[Cass]

Consider this, you are looking at a 2nd hand Golf

The first one has full main dealer stamps but is in generally poor condition. Its been owned by Shiela from down the road who couldnt give a monkeys about where she parks, whether or not she eats a burger king in the car, whether or not to fling the door open onto a lampost etc etc. BUT yet she has always taken it back to where she bought it for a service (VW main dealer). And the car is sat forsale on the forcourt of such garage.

The second has no main dealer stamps but yet FSH. This car has been owned by a general car lover. He/she has cleaned the car inside and out before your visit (private sale), kept all receipts, was careful never to open the door onto lamposts and watched where they parked to not kerb alloys etc etc.

I know I'd chose the 2nd option everytime. Lets be realistic, a service, when you get down to the nitty gritty, is just an oil change and oil filter. I have my Golf serviced by a JCT600 VW garage, it went in just last week. The mechanic who serviced the car is a pal of mine, cost me £80, used long-life VW oil, stamps the book with a JCT600 stamp and even puts a bottle of screen wash on the front seat when I collect it (which may or may not of been taken from the service desk )

I will ask him about this "updating" that people are talking about. But in all honesty the service you get, even from expensive marque's dealers is often apauling. You are usually talking to the service desk woman/man who has NO IDEA WHATSOEVER about what has just been done to your car. All they have is it written down on a post-it note in amongst a big fat bill with your name on it.

Sorry mate, but I wouldn't buy either of the cars in your scenario. Given that we would all want the best car we could find and afford, I (as I'm sure most others) would go for a 1 owner enthusiast who is neither a Sheila nor the latter fella, a full VW service history, no accident damage, car park dings or kerbing, no dogs or smoking and immaculate in all ways is the only way. The dealer history would do it for me every time, unless, and only unless I was buying a 15 year old Porker 993

Granted, we have all had good, bad or indifferent experiences with dealers (and I certainly have), however the effective way is to keep complaining until they get it right. If you value the private independent (as many do), and feel more reassured by personally knowing the mechanic/technician, that's your choice and you pays your money etc. The pros and cons of each are there to be considered.

Cass

[pazz]

Given that we would all want the best car we could find and afford, I (as I'm sure most others) would go for a 1 owner enthusiast who is neither a Sheila nor the latter fella, a full VW service history, no accident damage, car park dings or kerbing, no dogs or smoking and immaculate in all ways is the only way.

Thats the very point, the best car someone could find, and finding all of the above would be difficult to say the least. I know MK5 GTi's arent exactly rare, but then try looking for an ED30, then one with xennon's, then one thats been taken care of plus all the other extra's you want etc etc. You get my point?

As much as people respect dealer servicing, I think if you had a chat with one of the mechanics out of work, you'd realise that its not really all thats its cracked up to be.

[Cass]

Taken from Bosch Car Service website
http://www.boschcarservice.co.uk/wcMain.asp:

With changes in European legislation it is possible to have your car serviced at an independent garage without invalidating your manufacturers warranty.

A quick read of my service manual also doesnt specifically detail that a service by an independent would invalidate the VW warranty. But, havent exactly read all the fine print.

As far as I recall, EU anti-competition legislation/regulations came in to prevent major manufacturers acting as cartels and having the sole monopoly to sell and service their cars. The ruling allowed others to offer servicing (as well as reinforcing the right to sell new factory built cars) within a fair and competitive marketplace. Which brings us back to the point - would you rather buy a dealer serviced car versus an independent ?  

In this instance, although Bosch is a reputable company, they are not motor factors of reputation and in my opinion, are no better (or worse) than Halfords, QuickFit or the like. Again, you makes your choice and pays your money

Cass  

[pazz]

Which brings us back to the point - would you rather buy a dealer serviced car versus an independent ? 

I thought the point was also that it would invalidate the VW warranty? I am just discussing the pro's + con's to both options.

I am not in favour of one or the other, I am trying to be un-bias. I have an A4 3.0 TDi which gets taken to a stealers.

[Cass]

Given that we would all want the best car we could find and afford, I (as I'm sure most others) would go for a 1 owner enthusiast who is neither a Sheila nor the latter fella, a full VW service history, no accident damage, car park dings or kerbing, no dogs or smoking and immaculate in all ways is the only way.

Thats the very point, the best car we could find, and finding all of the above will be difficult to say the least.

Could be, but check the VW UK website and look at the number of private cars for sale on enthusiast sites like Pistonheads and I'm sure you can find something in a GTI that meets any required spec, especially in the current financial climate where it's definately a buyers market

Dealers do have the margin and the ability to rectify any faults with new VW parts, as well as including a service (and stamp ), warranty and finance. Private sales may seem batter value as they are invariably cheaper but they may have cut corners with reproduction rather than OEM parts (eg wheels or cheapo tyres) but you need to do your research and know your product, then negotiate in any remedial issues to get the best deal.

Cass

[Cass]

Which brings us back to the point - would you rather buy a dealer serviced car versus an independent ? 

I thought the point was also that it would invalidate the VW warranty? I am just discussing the pro's + con's to both options.

I am not in favour of one or the other, I am trying to be un-bias. I have an A4 3.0 TDi which gets taken to a stealers.

Pazz,

As far as I'm aware, the EU ruling prohibits dealers having the monopoly to do all servicing work themselves and this would seem to allow independents to service cars within the warranty period at no penalty to the owner. In practice, I'm sure some dealers would still try to 'obstruct' warranty claims where they haven't had any revenue out of either a sale or prior servicing. Any examples guys

Also just putting in my 2penneth in the dealer v independent discussssion. Take Motorpoint for example, they sell you a nearly new parallel import and their own warranty. As far as I know you can use any VAT registered garage to have the car serviced as part of the warranty conditions. Other independent warranty companies operate that way and even have their own dedicated garages for work (some do cover main dealer labour rates) but this is all about giving the customer choice (and reduced maintenance costs) compared to a main dealer.

Anyway, I never intended to sit on the fence in this issue - there are some straight talking posts in favour of each and we can all agree to differ. I've made my views clear in that I would always choose a VW service history always over an independent, especially when the car is under 3 years old and still under manufacturers warranty. I do appreciate that others may not be so rigid in their views and value for money, as well a peace of mind are big issues these days.

Cass

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Thanks for the comments folks, all very useful. As suspected, a difference of opinions!

I'm not disputing that.  But a VW 'specialist' is NOT the same as a general 'independent' - which was the subect of this particular thread.

I did say it was a VAG specialist in my opening post, one that I have used for a number of years for my other car (Audi, long time out of warranty).

Yeah, I did see that - but it might have been better to include that in the thread title!   

[Teutonic_Tamer]

I always used a main dealer for my civic.
Six months out of warranty the air con condenser failed.
They fixed it during the service free of charge.

Exactly.  It is that 'goodwill' which you should be able to rely on with a full set of main dealer stamps.  But if your book doesn't have the required main dealer stamps, and sommat goes wrong after the warranty, you are on your own with full costs of repairs.

Been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Consider this, you are looking at a 2nd hand Golf

The first one has full main dealer stamps but is in generally poor condition. Its been owned by Shiela from down the road who couldnt give a monkeys about where or even how (kerbing wheels int he process) she parks, whether or not she eats a burger king in the car, whether or not to fling the door open onto a lampost etc etc. BUT yet she has always taken it back to where she bought it for a service (VW main dealer). And the car is sat forsale on the forcourt of such garage.

Kerbed alloys, whilst not pretty - are not the be-all and end all.  Afterall, my alloys have been kerbed - but the rest of my car is mechanically perfect! 

The second has no main dealer stamps but yet FSH. This car has been owned by a general car lover. He/she has cleaned the car inside and out before your visit (private sale), kept all receipts, was careful never to open the door onto lamposts and watched where they parked to not kerb alloys etc etc.

But this could be worse than your first example!  What if those 'FSH' stamps were from Thik-Fit?    Sorry, but no contest with the above.

I know I'd chose the 2nd option everytime.

ETTO.

Lets be realistic, a service, when you get down to the nitty gritty, is just an oil change and oil filter.

No it isn't.  There are vital safety checks too.  Remind me not to buy a car from you!

And with a main dealer service history, you have traceability, acountability, and general piece of mind (but weather that 'peace of mind' is actually justified - well that is another matter).

I have my Golf serviced by a JCT600 VW garage, it went in just last week. The mechanic who serviced the car is a pal of mine, cost me £80, used long-life VW oil, stamps the book with a JCT600 VW stamp and even puts a bottle of screen wash on the front seat when I collect it (which may or may not of been taken from the service desk )

I thought JCT600 was a franchised main dealer?   

And whooo hooo for a 2 quid bottle of screenwash.  I use one of them every week!

I will ask him about this "updating" that people are talking about.

Waiting with interest. 

But in all honesty the service you get, even from expensive marque's dealers is often apauling. You are usually talking to the service desk woman/man who has NO IDEA WHATSOEVER about what has just been done to your car. All they have is it written down on a post-it note in amongst a big fat bill with your name on it.

I don't disagree that many main stealers can be appauling - and I don't disagree about the eyecandy on the front desk either.  But like I said, you do have some serious back up with using the main stealer - and no independent can give you that depth and level of service.

And sometimes, main dealer servicing can actually save you money.  With both Audi and Mercedes, if you use their main dealers for servicing, you automatically get inclusive top level UK and Europe roadside assistance, rescue, and all the other perks which RAC and AA offer.  You go to France or Germany, and have any kind of breakdown on their motorways, and if you don't have any 'authorised' breakdown membership, you will be very seriously out of pocket - way more expensive than in the UK (but then a million times more professional too).