Just wandering what folks feel about keeping full using main dealer service history on their tin tops against the local independent ?

Mrs P's Mazda has full Mazda history, but it is 5 yrs old soon and i'm weighing up the benefits of FMDSH against using an independent.....

(For those that don't know you don't have a service history book with Mazda it is recorded electronically on the Mazda database)


Comments welcome.

The only thing with independent garages is can they do upto date management up grades
When i took my Vauxhall in for a service there was up grades i new nothing about so may not have got at a independent garage
It depends on how much money you will save

Just think what the value of the vehicle is and how much you save each service... i'd go independant but source my own parts - there are oil filters and there are oil filters..... GSF as good as anywhere as they stock MANN & Hummell stuff at pretty decent prices.

As for updates they will be fairly few and far between at that age - if they're critical they'd be writting to you anyhow (unlikely at that age).

Greg

Ring all the local main dealers up and play them against each other to drive the price down and get a cheaper service. Price for main dealer servicing isn't too different from independent garages and don't forget that main dealers will also do 'value' services for vehicles which are out of warranty.

Phil

Having been ripped off by main dealers many times I now service all our cars myself.

Having been ripped off by main dealers many times I now service all our cars myself

+1

main stealers stamp in the book is worthless imho, I would rather see lots of receipts in a folder, and is more likely for me
to part with some cash

steve

Out of warranty, independent every time for me.

That said, I service our 12 year old Alhambra and 6 year old Passat myself with branded parts. For MoTs and repairs I can't do myself I use a local VAG specialist independent, with whom I've built up a good relationship. Cars are better maintained IMHO than they would be by a main dealer and the cost is kept to a minimum.

At that age it won't effect the price much I wouldn't think but how much cheaper is the independent because I'm sure when I looked a vauxhall service was about the same price as a halfords service.

I've always thought it a bit weird that a massive folder of reciepts is something reasuring with a car and the more the better yet doesn't that really mean the car is always breaking?

I agree with Steve M

A stamped up service book doesn't mean diddly squat with out reciepts...

For example, i take my car in for a service and they ring me up and say it needs x y and z, i can say now thanks and they will still stamp the book, doesn't mean the car has a clean bill of health.

When i used to be in the trade if the car needed a service we had a basic oil change done and the booked stamped up.

I would always look for receipts or ring the garage in the service book and ask them if all work required was done.

Mick

If I had the choice of buying a vehicle which has a full main dealer service history, or one which has no stamped history but has a folder full of receipts, I'd go for the FMDSH every single time and even pay extra for it!

Anybody can put receipts into a folder........ it doesn't mean a thing!

Phil

Something you may want to consider is that the Mazda bodywork warranty is something like 10 years, but requires that they perform an inspection every year. If you factor this in, then by the time you have paid an independant to do a service, plus an hour at the main stealer to do the inspection, there's not so much in it financially.

Edited to add: I only get main stealer to do the service. Any additional bits get done at independant or myself.... but then it's a Mazda, all it's needed is some ARB droplinks and a set of front disks and pads in 7 years.

DH2

[Edited on 15/1/14 by DH2]

Mercedes have a 30 body warranty- still serviced it myself.

But as Hellfire said I would rather buy one with FMDSH, but then I would service it myself, some other mug can pay for the dealer servicing!

unless it was for specific problem with the car that can't be sorted without the special tools then the main dealer then I'd avoid the main dealers

a good independant will probably do just as good a job if not better and will charge you less too


I've only dealt with main dealers a handful of times but in my experience they fit into one of two categories:
a) the ones that end up replacing loads of bits because they were 50% worn, when any decent mechanic would wait till they were 80-90% worn
thats not too bad apart from its at your expense!

or b) the gorified idiot part fitters, they replace things the computer tells them to (often regardless of evidence to the contrary) they might fix the car eventually but you'll pay for 5 new bits that you didn't actually need first
sometimes they can't even fit the parts you didn't need properly, a certain landrover dealer up here didn't even manage to change the oil correctly


and to cap it off the OE parts they use are almost always more expensive than good branded equivalents (some of which probably came form the same factory...)

for the most part I just stick to branded parts that have worked well for me like in the past: Gates belts, LUK clutches and Mintex brake pads, SKF bearings, etc that are every bit as good as OE ones if not better
where as I've found that Ferodo's normal brake pads [SL and Premier] are rubbish next to OE ones and Valeo stuff in general is cheap and nasty (they work but I'd avoid it on a car I cared about)


so if a car had plenty of receipts from an independent I'd count that as every bit as good or better than as a full dealer service book


according to the receipts I got with it my first car only had 1 service with the dealer, then it had 2 services a year at the local garage for 21 years
every job that had ever been done was listed with the date and mileage - sometimes it was less than 200 miles from one service to the next...
IMHO thats far better than any stamps in a book

[Edited on 15/1/2014 by mcerd1]

quote:

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Originally posted by Hellfire
Ring all the local main dealers up and play them against each other to drive the price down and get a cheaper service. Price for main dealer servicing isn't too different from independent garages and don't forget that main dealers will also do 'value' services for vehicles which are out of warranty.

Phil

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