Main Dealer Servicing Costs
If you have purchased a new or nearly new car you probably all ready know the importance of keeping up a full service history to help maintain its reliability, and resale value when you come to sell it. Going to the main dealer is of course the best way to ensure its future value - as you get that all important main dealer stamp in the log book, and they use genuine parts. Both these statements are very true. However, are they worth the extra?
So many people perceive a main dealer service history as the preferred stamp in any log book. If you buy for example a VW it just adds to the feel that the car has been looked after, and has retained some of its "genuine" feel if you see VW cleanly printed in the logbook. If you are anything like me, there is sort of a warm, comforting and satisfying feel to the car if you can match the blue inked logo in the log book to what sits on the car bonnet. This is why some people pay main dealer servicing costs.
It almost takes me back to being at school, think of a main dealer service stamp as a gold star in your homework book, and a non-franchised dealer as a silver or heaven forbid a bronze star. Both adequate evidence of having done what was required, it is just that gold look so much better!
If this sounds is anything like you then you may be paying way over the odds for your gold star..to illustrate this point I have done an example, lets say you buy a Volkswagen Golf 1.4 at £14,800, and keep it 5 years. During that time you cover 12,000 a year. As an estimate these are the typical motoring costs:
| VW Dealer | Independent Dealer | |
| Yr 1 service | £260 | £160 |
| Yr 2 service | £260 | £160 |
| Yr 3 service | £350 | £230 |
| Yr 4 service | £260 | £160 |
| Yr 5 service | £260 | £160 |
| 4 x tyres | £300 | £250 |
| 4 x brake discs and pads | £600 | £350 |
| Total Costs | £2,290 | £1,470 |
So there we have it, taking your car, in this case a VW Golf 1.4 to a main dealer will cost you £820 more than an independent. Remember a main dealer will still have to honour a warranty, even if you went to an independent, as long as they use OE (original equipment) parts. You often hear the word "genuine parts". All genuine parts mean is that they were fitted to the car when new. Don't for one minute think when you take your VW Golf to a main dealer than they fit a beautiful oil filter with VW carefully inscribed on the outside because you will be wrong. VW do not make oil filters, or brake discs, or brake pads, or exhausts for that matter. Companies like Bosch, Delphi, Monroe, NGK supply the OE parts fitted to new cars. Next time someone talks about a "genuine VW/BMW/Audi etc oil filter", just smile to yourself.
These "genuine" or OE parts are supplied by most motor factors in the UK. A motor factor is like a wholesaler for car garages, including main dealers who supply most of their parts. It is not uncommon for a driver of a motor factor van to make a delivery drop off at a main dealer, then drive down the road and make a delivery of exactly the same parts, from the same box, from the same OE manufacturer to an independent. The only difference here is not the parts, but the price. A main dealer will easily add on their 250% mark-up if not more, while the independent will add on their 85% mark-up for exactly the same product.
Can you now start to see why main dealer servicing costs are so high?
Main dealers will always go down the route of explaining to you that they have their own specially trained mechanics who know your specific car inside out, which to some degree is true. If you have a very complex problem, then it may be worth visiting a main dealer...maybe. But remember, for bog standard servicing you will probably have your car serviced my one of the more junior members of the servicing team, while the master technicians will be working on more complex jobs. With an independent chances are you will have the guy (or girl) who owns the business, have years of experience, and quite possibly was an ex-master technician for one of the main dealers. And you will be paying them a great deal less than the main dealer!
Referring back to the example above of the VW Golf. Lets say you wish to sell the car in 5 years time, which 60,000 on the clock. The car will be worth around £7,000. As long as it has the all important "FSH" do you think you will be able to get back the extra £820 you initially paid out for main dealer servicing? How often have you seen two exact cars for sale. One priced at £7,000 with FSH and the other priced at £7,800 with VW FSH..?
Having full main dealer service history will probably not automatically command a higher resale value, and you can forget adding on the extra in servicing at the end like we have done. However, if you are looking for a higher price, lets say another £250, you may have a better chance of doing this with a main dealer full service history, but it is no way a foregone conclusion.
So if you want to collect gold stars, go to the main dealer, if you want to collect gold coins go to a good quality independent.
Rob Morgan
Drivers Domain UK.com
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