Car dealers -The best and the worse

[kinaero]

Car dealers - the best and the worst | Auto Express

Mercedes 12th
Audi 23rd
BMW 24th

Yay!!

 

[Giantvanman]

Surprised they rated that high.

On the way back from another trip to the MB dealer today, my wife commented on the fact that she still would trust a Citroen dealer much more than an MB one.

 

[gIzzE]

BMW - but owners don’t feel they’re getting good value for money. “They charge too much for the services they offer,” one told us.


BMW offer really cheap servicing. Imagine the shock they would have had coming from a Vauxhall into a Merc!!

 

[Dryce]

Biggest gripes are scarily consistent.

Either they can't find the fault or don't asnwer the phones.

 

[gIzzE]

Maybe they all should employ some mechanics again?

 

[DSB SL AMG]

Yep i see the stealer's are doing the brand proud “worst customer service ever experienced” NOT

I didn't really need to look at who would be no1, year upon year always the same...surely MB need to employ Lexus dealer trainers as consultants

MB definitely need a dealer strategy change as it clearly aint working, damaging to the brand and product...backed by the number of complaints seen on UK wide MB forums...i did note Jaguar faired quite well.

 

[MWCLS]

It's hard to generalise tbf, I've had faultless service from my local MB dealer....

 

[Deleted member 37751]

These sorts of replies always make me laugh (taken from the Land Rover section);

“The prices quoted are sometimes three times more than somewhere else,” said one owner. “Good overall, but very expensive,” another added.

Hmmm... So a car maker that's vehicles cost an average of about £50k is 'expensive'.

Fancy that.

Edit; I was quoted £420 for a 'big' service (oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, pollen filter, plus a few other checks like the Mercedes B service) from the LR main dealer which I didn't think was too bad.

 

[grober]

Biggest gripe= failed to identify fault ------in the majority of dealers of all makes !!:fail

Suggests to me the cars are now too complex or the staff repairing them are inadequately trained /under resourced for the task.

 

[gIzzE]

Biggest gripe= failed to identify fault ------in the majority of dealers of all makes !!:fail

Suggests to me the cars are now too complex or the staff repairing them are inadequately trained /under resourced for the task.

If the computer says 'no' what can we do sir?

I understand it doesn't start, but we have scanned it a few times now and it is not showing any faults so nothing we can do other than hand you the keys back.

 

[JasM]

These sorts of replies always make me laugh (taken from the Land Rover section);

“The prices quoted are sometimes three times more than somewhere else,” said one owner. “Good overall, but very expensive,” another added.

Hmmm... So a car maker that's vehicles cost an average of about £50k is 'expensive'.

Fancy that.

Edit; I was quoted £420 for a 'big' service (oil, oil filter, fuel filter, air filter, pollen filter, plus a few other checks like the Mercedes B service) from the LR main dealer which I didn't think was too bad.

I had that service carried out on my 07 RRS for £395 from my local LR dealer.

 

[John Jones Jr]

Biggest gripe= failed to identify fault ------in the majority of dealers of all makes !!:fail

Suggests to me the cars are now too complex or the staff repairing them are inadequately trained /under resourced for the task.

The bucks stops with the management, same with failing to answer the phone, which imo is actually worse.

 

[Rory]

I had that service carried out on my 07 RRS for £395 from my local LR dealer.

Was that in Scotland? I know it's not a tiny place so maybe there's some scope for variation, but I've seen comments elsewhere about insane service pricing in Scotland for Land Rover.

But it's the same with MB - I got a lot of work done on my car a couple of years ago at a price I was very happy with. Now it needs a basic service but there's a new service manager and he wants to pay more for an A service than I paid for a B last time.

 

[Touche]

I drive a Lexus and the wife has a Seat. Not hard to see why Lexus are top but tbh my experience of Seat dealers has been pretty decent and their prices are not extortionate. Alfa were the worst ive delt with by far... expensive and they act like theyre doing you a favor... I've only delt with 1 MB parts desk and they were pretty good about responding to my request for some cheap parts and had them ordered for collection quickly.

 

[markjay]

Over the past 20 years I had cars serviced at Mercedes, Vauxhall, Kia, and Toyota main dealers.

What I found they all had in common is the so-called 'Service Advisor' - essentially a glorified receptionist that understands very little about car mechanics and has little authority regarding other matters.

As result my encounters with this breed tend to be time-consuming and involve the Sales Advisor frequently disappearing into the 'staff only' area before coming back with answers to my very basic questions regarding the viscosity of oil used or the cost of a 4 wheel geometry etc.

I find this barrier between the public and the professionals rather pointless and thus prefer smaller indies where you can actually talk to the person working on your car.

But then again this is probably because forum members are naturally more savvy about cars and take greater interest in what is being done to their pride and joy.

I suppose that Joe Public just wants to hand the keys over and collect the car at the end of the day with the book stamped.

And for Joe Public 'satisfaction' might simply be the result of having a friendly 'Service Advisor' who was kind and courteous when booking the car in.

 

[markjay]

Incidentally... Vauxhall service and repairs at main dealers are very reasonably priced. Can't same the same about Toyota or Mercedes.

 

[kinaero]

I have no experience with Vauxhall, but previously I had 2 Toyota, Prius and Auris.

Servicing on both were very efficient and cheap, all done while you wait.

First service on my Prius cost less than a £100!! Second service was around £120, and they even fixed the slight oil leak under warranty all within a couple of hours while I waited at the dealership.

I always suggest to friends that if they wanted a cheap to run hassle free motoring, buy a Toyota

 

[markjay]

The Vauxhall service alternated between around £120 for minor service and £240 for major one.

The MB dealer charged £260 for A service under 'fixed price servicing' for cars under 4 years old, and £450 for a B service.

With Toyota, each service ended up costing £500-£600, but this was because of the additional items. For example they were changing the oil on the manual gearbox and diff every two years, claiming that the oil has 'burnt' smell due to short journeys and very low miles (the car was doing under 1,000 miles per year), which was odd.

 

[230K]

With Toyota, each service ended up costing claiming that the oil has 'burnt' smell due to short journeys and very low miles (the car was doing under 1,000 miles per year), which was odd.

Classic lol

230k

Sent from my GT-I9505 using MBClub UK

 

[cb1965]

Typical, the first time in 18 years I don't have a Subaru and their delaers get better.

As for Mercedes... 12th, based on my experiences how bad must BMW delaers be to come 24th???