no more expensive car dealerships for me

[Rhythm Thief]

We have 2 Haynes manuals, the standard one and the restoration manual.

We had clutch issues with ours recently. I'll post the details when I have time later but the AA man rubbed his hands in glee when he arrived and saw it. His first words were "Excellent, I can leave the computer in the van for this one..."

He even asked if we minded him coming along for the test drive rather than following in his van.

I had the same thing when my 2CV van's fuel pump packed up on the M54 years ago. After the RAC man had removed the pump and we'd both spent a happy fifteen minutes fiddling around with it and managed to bodge a repair, he told me what a nice change it had been to actually do some proper spannering rather than mere diagnostics.

 

[fossyant]

Anybody who has contributed to this thread could do with reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, it's exactly about crap work and shonky mechanics.

Never read it, but nobody works on my bikes other than me. They don't go in the LBS.

Basic mechanics on cars are done by me, I take my time and make sure it's done. Stuff on cars I can't do is because I don't have the tools to get to the part.

 

[colly]

Local garages for me too.

Mrs Colly was quoted by a Ford dealership £300 plus parts to change a steering rack when she had received it back from them after they did some work on the air bag. (something her usual local guy didn't have the equipment to do)
They said the rack was about to fail.

A heavy clonking was on the steering which was not there before they had it in.

Quick trip to her usual garage and he had it for a day and charged her £30 to find the problem and fix it. It seemed the Ford mechanic had not tightened one of the bolts properly when he re fitted the steering parts.

Dealership reaction: So what?

 

[Red Light]

I have my still-in-warranty Skoda serviced by my local garage - they use Skoda parts while it is still in warranty to avoid invalidating the warranty.

They are not allowed to do that. Link

 

[Red Light]

I have to stand up for some dealers. I was exactly the same about avoiding rip-off dealers and still have the Merc serviced at the local garage for a fraction of the dealer price.

But when I got a Prius the tech was a bit beyond them so I took it to the Toyota main dealer for service. The do it for a very reasonable fixed priced. Initially when new tyres or an exhaust were needed I said I'd get it done elsewhere and they were fine about it but I found out they were actually cheaper than the local tyre or exhaust places plus they wash and valet the car while they're at it. So a good word for Toyota servicing anyway.

Also recently one of the suspension springs broke and was causing excess wear on one tyre. Phoned me up to say it had been replaced along with two new tyres all under warranty.

 

[Strick]

It's all dependant on the local dealer, in the same way it is with independant garages. There are good and bad with both.
I work in the motor trade, and have used one independant garage for most of my motoring life. Having bought an ex-demonstrator earlier in the year (the newest vehicle i have ever bought) I took the decision to have it dealer serviced.
We had a Seat a few years ago thinking VAG build quality, we were SO wrong! In 5 months we lost over £2000 when we finally got rid of it.
As this car is under a year old we thought that if that turned out to be a bad one, and had no dealer stamps in the book, this would put a LOT of people off.
As I say, i work in the trade so know all about block exemption, OE quality parts and so on, but the general public dont neccessarily.
Anyway, my dealer gave me a fixed price with trade discount, collected it and returned it. BUT, the main thing that my independant wouldnt have picked up were two little warranty issues. Nothing serious, just the ignition key receptacle is tight and one of the comfort features has a fault logged in the ECU.
Overall, I was very happy with the level of service I got from them. They know the specific model very well and do any software upgrades as required. The chances are that if for example they had said it needed brakes pads then I would have got them to price doing it, but most likely got my independant to fit some that I supply myself.
Horses for courses really. It depends on so many varying circumstances of what you own, what youre having done, and so on.

 

[Red Light]

I miss my old land rover so much, I'm going to have to get another , along with a Hayes manual.

For when you're feeling nostalgic

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmQ3f-l4wCg&feature=related[/media]

 

[tyred]

BMC/Leyland were always incapable of making a decent diesel engine.

 

[Night Train]

For when you're feeling nostalgic

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmQ3f-l4wCg&feature=related[/media]

There's a lovely Scammell Explorer in the background missing some timber from its rear body. Also looks to have a Scammell Constructor radiator on it the way the snow has covered the 'coffee pot'.