Servicing, and why we're stupid

[coldel]

I guess I am tainted in my opinion by the fact that my family are made up of car mechanics, all working independently, my dad used to (and still has to on occasions) work with dealerships when handling customers cars and the stuff they get up to when the customer isn't there is shocking, and its not isolated incidents either.

[KyleR]

Here's the real reason-

 

I just had the M6 serviced, I purchased all the fluids myself, some from the local main dealer who had the wrong diff fluid listed on their computer for the car, so I had to google the part number to order it. If if have just handed the car in to get serviced, it would or have the wrong diff oil.

 

That's not even the big reason, the big reason is I asked them for their labour rate and they quoted me £100+VAT! Since I was having quite a major service it was likely to take a few hours, I'm not paying £360 for a service which doesn't include parts!

 

I went to a well regarded BMW Indy about 10 miles away, he cut his teeth in my local Nissan dealer then went on to Bavarian BMW (biggest BMW dealer in NI) and from there to BMW Sydney, so he knows a thing or 2 about about BMWs. What really impressed me was his knowledge of what oils I should be using, when I mentioned the diff he made sure I had the right stuff, not the oil listed on BMWs system or some rubbish from OpieOils or the like.

 

That gave me the confidence to use him. I dropped the car off for all oils to be changed, called back the next day, handed him £100, got the book stamped and a receipt and off I went home, £260 better off than if I'd used the main dealer, plus got a mechanic who knew what he was doing without using a computer to give him a step by step guide.

Edited November 11, 2015 by KyleR