- This topic has 15 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 10 years ago by moniex.
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2 year old car – main dealer service or indy?
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sharkbaitFree MemberPosted 10 years ago
Had our Golf for 12 months now (bought when it was 10 months old) and its time for a service. Main deal or indy at this age?
orangewingerFree MemberPosted 10 years agoPhone some of the dealers and see what the best prices are compared to independents, you might be surprised. Also your car might need recall items, my Golf had been to an independent and when an ECU fault occurred it turned out it needed about four different recall changes including a software upgrade, all done for free even though it was outside the warranty.
deadlydarcyFree MemberPosted 10 years agoI’m assuming there’s 3 years manufacturer’s warranty on the Golf?
As long as the indy can stamp the service book without invalidating the warranty, then your local trusted indy would be better. If the warranty is invalidated by going somewhere other than the main dealer, I’d stump up the extra for another 14 months peace of mind to be honest. You’ll possibly have to ring the company covering the warranty.
camo16Free MemberPosted 10 years agoIf you bought it from a dealer, I’d worry that going independent might void the warranty. Might be worth checking?
falkirk-markFull MemberPosted 10 years agoMain dealer if still under warranty, then if summit goes Kaput they can’t try and say it was something someone else done.
yorkshire89Free MemberPosted 10 years agoYou can do it yourself, aslong as you use genuine VW parts the warranty will not be void.
amplebrewFull MemberPosted 10 years agoI’d get it serviced at the main dealer for this service and then you should get the cheaper fixed price servicing deal from 3 years on.
A lot of the manufacturers fixed price service prices can be the same as the independents.
For such a new car it would be nice to keep a main dealer service history. I’m not convinced a main dealer history adds any more value to the resale price but I think it does make it more attractive to a buyer.
Not related to VW, but when I worked at Ford car dealers; Ford would often help out owners who were out of warranty as long as they had a main dealer history. For example they would cover the labour charge if the customer bought the part.
lodiousFree MemberPosted 10 years agoPersonally, main dealer. As well as warranty issues (I think under law you can get it serviced anywhere, but it gives them reasons to wiggle out of a claim), there is also ‘goodwill’ so if you have a claim on something not covered under warranty, they are a lot more likey to be sympathetic if you have used main dealers for servicing.
IME you can haggle with most main dealers to get the cost very close to indie garages.
horaFree MemberPosted 10 years agoRing round and get a main dealer to match. Agree a price and say ‘NO WORK’ must be done without my knowledge, the price is the price.
I do this for every decent car that I’ve owned.
thisisnotaspoonFree MemberPosted 10 years agoDIY not an option? Parts are typicaly £50 including the oil, the rest is the dealers margin and/or labour rate. Over a few years the savings pay for other faults/major services (i.e. my cambelt needs doing, 3 years of £100 saved pays for that).
weeksyFull MemberPosted 10 years agoI’ve found that Indy dealers are either completely rubbish or pretty much the same price. Therefore not really worth using.
For something like a wheel bearing, sure… but anything even slightly more techinhcal… Nah.
jumbleFree MemberPosted 10 years agoMain dealer for the potential goodwill. An acquaintance of mine just had their mk6 Golf replaced by a new mk7 by a main dealer with no prompting from themselves due to a number of issues with the mk6 car from new. It seems like there are some decent main VAG dealers about, but you need some kind of relationship (in other words you gave them your dosh over a period of time).
Compare this to LR when my rear diff went 3 weeks out of warranty. I was using an independent for servicing and LR just did not want to know.
RS4KEVFull MemberPosted 10 years ago+1 for putting it into main dealer if still a warranty
AFAIK DIY is not an option as the servicing has to be done by a VAT registered garage to supposedly keep warranty valid. The warranty on mine runs out in March and it’s off to the independents then.
BlindMelonFree MemberPosted 10 years agoI get the wifes Golf serviced at the main dealers their prices are actually not much different to an independent.
moniexFree MemberPosted 10 years agoNot sure about prices not being very different. Friend yesterday had a dash light on on his vw golf. Dealer: £75 to plug in their computer fault detecting thingy, Indy: £15. Dealer £96/h labour, Indy: £35.
The Indy is my brother in laws garage, but prices are his normal rates (he does ours for free labour). My husband has newish cars as he is a driving instructor and he always uses his brothers Indy garage for servicing (unless offered free at the dealersunder some kind of deal), never had any problems with warranty claims. Indy garage just has to do the work according to manufacturers schedule and use genuine parts etc etc. he also stamps the book.
I also think that the dealers’ so called mechanics are not always that good. My brother in law started his career at a ford dealer and in the workshop they got paid per job. The quicker they did the job (many corners were cut/left out in the process), the more they got paid. He was the only one doing a proper job/willing to take on more challenging jobs and earned the least money. He left and set up his own garage. He has a guy working for him and an apprentice. Most well organised garage in the city, party due to his mild OCD, you could eat of the floor in his workshop!
Good Indy I’d say, but get one recommended as there are a lot of cowboys out there.
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