Cheaper service, same garage Bookmygarage

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Ash77

New Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2019
Messages
11
Location
Essex
Car
CLS 220d Shooting Brake
Hi All
Wondering if anyone has had any experience of this - I think the whole thing is pretty confusing.35
So, my 6 year old CLS is coming up to a MOT and Service B, including brake fluid replacement, - my local Mercedes franchised dealership where I have usually got it serviced is charging around £500 + approx £55 for the MOT, with availability next week.
Then I went on bookmygarage to see what local independent specialists might be charging and strangly I found the same Mercedes dealership, and another one within 6 miles or so, charging significantly cheaper - although it doesn't say service A or B, I was told the B is the same as a 'Major Service' - total including MOT was £350 with availability from tomorrow and all week this week!!

Spoke to the dealership to understand what is going on here, is it legit, is there some kind of parallel servicing system going on - is one inferior/quicker, less in depth than the other.
He said, no, servicing will be the same - the only thing you won't get is the 'stamp that it is done by a Mercedes Benz dealership', it won't go into the Digital Service Book and you won't get the 1 year roadside recovery assistance.

I don't mind about the latter, I asked - if it isn't stamped as being done by Mercedes Benz dealership - who is it stamped as being done by - the same technicians are doing it right? He kind of didn't really answer it and just said you will get more of a 'bookmygarage' service sheet with the usual dealership invoice. That seems fine to me, but it is a really strange business model, and confusing for the customer? If Mercedes Benz don't validate the service their own technicians are doing because it is done through a different route, but the same servicing quality is being undertaken, why wouldn't it be recordable in the DSB??
 
Interesting thing is bookmygarage's Major service includes air filter and fuel filter - did the MB direct price include those? I suspect not.

I know glass palace dealers have big costs etc but servicing at 'rack rate' prices is such a rip off.
 
Hi All
Wondering if anyone has had any experience of this - I think the whole thing is pretty confusing.35
So, my 6 year old CLS is coming up to a MOT and Service B, including brake fluid replacement, - my local Mercedes franchised dealership where I have usually got it serviced is charging around £500 + approx £55 for the MOT, with availability next week.
Then I went on bookmygarage to see what local independent specialists might be charging and strangly I found the same Mercedes dealership, and another one within 6 miles or so, charging significantly cheaper - although it doesn't say service A or B, I was told the B is the same as a 'Major Service' - total including MOT was £350 with availability from tomorrow and all week this week!!

Spoke to the dealership to understand what is going on here, is it legit, is there some kind of parallel servicing system going on - is one inferior/quicker, less in depth than the other.
He said, no, servicing will be the same - the only thing you won't get is the 'stamp that it is done by a Mercedes Benz dealership', it won't go into the Digital Service Book and you won't get the 1 year roadside recovery assistance.

I don't mind about the latter, I asked - if it isn't stamped as being done by Mercedes Benz dealership - who is it stamped as being done by - the same technicians are doing it right? He kind of didn't really answer it and just said you will get more of a 'bookmygarage' service sheet with the usual dealership invoice. That seems fine to me, but it is a really strange business model, and confusing for the customer? If Mercedes Benz don't validate the service their own technicians are doing because it is done through a different route, but the same servicing quality is being undertaken, why wouldn't it be recordable in the DSB??
@Ash77 Reading up about bookmygarage, it appears they bulk buy excess service slots from franchised dealers when there is surplus capacity (a bit like those hotel discounting websites where you don't get the exact name of the hotel until you book) and the franchised dealers offer this route because they don't want to be cutting prices formally as a brand, so they fill up spare capacity this way.

Reading this blurb about BookMyGarage, it implies that you have an older car, book a franchised dealer using their platform, but you are going to be paying 80% higher for the service vs the price they quote you when booking - do you also interpret this the same way? Do they find extra "work" to do in order to bring the cost back up to a level as if you had booked directly with the franchised dealer?

"BookMyGarage’s anonymised Secret Service offering – recently offered at a discounted rate to What Car? marketing portal customers – allows consumers to compare aftersales providers like-for-like claiming to reduce the risk “devaluing the brand”.

Customers can then book directly into a retailer’s diary in real time.

BookMyGarage claims that the platform give access to an older vehicle parc, with these slightly older vehicles generating invoice values 80% higher than the booking value with Final Invoice Values (FIV) 13% higher than the normal dealership average."

Yes it is confusing to the customer when booking. I just checked their Secret Service Mercedes Slough (which is Vertu MB Slough) and all it says is "You are booking a BookMyGarage service, NOT a Mercedes-Benz manufacturers service" - One could infer that the customer wouldn't get the DSB updated or the 12 months MB roadside assistance as a result, but they should really make that explicit. Although when I checked another secret service dealer page in Beaconsfield (don't know which brand), then it does state the franchised dealer will stamp the service book.
 
A lot of reviews on BookMyGarage Mercedes franchised dealer pages seem to be positive, but some are not. These two reviews from August 2020 are from Vertu MB Slough under BookMyGarage scheme.

"Having booked an interim service, I was expecting just that. When I turned up at the Mercedes dealership, there was a concerted effort to ensure I was told many times that this was NOT a Mercedes service, but a Book My Garage health check, and my e-book would not be stamped. That wasn't clear at all on the booking. I was quoted £203 extra to make it a 'service'. Annoying no. of times 'your Book My Garage health check' was used. No stamp, so service not valid. Won't be rushing to book again."

"Dropped the car as booked with no concerns. An hour later I get a call saying if I proceed with the book my garage service they will not update my digital service book and the mobilo roadside cover would not be extended (this part I was okay with!) Given my car is relatively new (2019) I had to fork out the £200 extra for the same service but just so I could get the digital service book updated - absolutely crazy!"
 
Keep the dealer invoice to show that the service was done by a main dealer. Personally, I'd rather have a wad of main dealer invoices than a DSB printout if it was an either/or choice, though if the invoice would simply show "Book My Garage health check" I'd wash my hands of the whole dubious sharp practice proceeding and find an accredited decent indie - who will update the DSB...
 
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A bit like my last tyre purchase . I went into local franchised tyre shop and he could not beat the prices on blackcircles website and said I could book the tyre fitment online there and then on my phone and get the same tyres fitted at the same place by his blokes for less money. That's what I did.

It makes sense somewhere I guess .🤷‍♂️
 
Oh ho
It seems yet another practice has swam across the pond. 👿 Breast stroke or wallet stoke???
I get inundated with sales phones calls from time to time, by "organizations", doing/offering the same thing, all nefariously promising increased customer flow and PROFITS.
Look into the small print and disclaimers, & if you do have a service related problem/dispute you often have to go through this middleman .
Tuercas Viejas
 
I used Bookmygarage to find my specialist a few years ago. He used to work at my local MB dealer but set up on his own and has a team working with him now. He has all of the same equipment as the dealer but his prices are better. The digital history is completed as well. I also get a written invoice of what they have done too which I didn't always get at MB. It's actually a nice place to visit unlike any other garages I've been to.
I didn't realise the main dealers were available through Bookmygarage, they haven't come up when I've booked at my specialist but I wouldn't go back there anyway after finding a garage I'm happy with.
I get the digital book filled in but don't get Mobilo so just take out breakdown cover for the uk. I never go abroad so don't need a fancy breakdown cover. A basic breakdown cover will do for me.
 
The pandemic has hit every business hard and I guess it’s a model that means dealers still get customers parting with their money in the dealerships. I wonder if such a service uses MB parts - I would doubt it to keep the costs down and profits up.

As above I had the same above with tyres. Black circles with fitting was almost 20% less as the same tyre place. The black circle discount must come from volume orders
 
The pandemic has hit every business hard and I guess it’s a model that means dealers still get customers parting with their money in the dealerships. I wonder if such a service uses MB parts - I would doubt it to keep the costs down and profits up.

As above I had the same above with tyres. Black circles with fitting was almost 20% less as the same tyre place. The black circle discount must come from volume orders
@mioba Their website doesn't mention whether they use MB parts or not, but on their secret service MB franchised dealer page, simply states "you get manufacturer trained qualified technicians, but at independent-garage prices" - the assumption is that they would be using MB parts - would be good to confirm if that's true if anyone on here has used them?
 
I used Bookmygarage to find my specialist a few years ago. He used to work at my local MB dealer but set up on his own and has a team working with him now. He has all of the same equipment as the dealer but his prices are better. The digital history is completed as well. I also get a written invoice of what they have done too which I didn't always get at MB. It's actually a nice place to visit unlike any other garages I've been to.
I didn't realise the main dealers were available through Bookmygarage, they haven't come up when I've booked at my specialist but I wouldn't go back there anyway after finding a garage I'm happy with.
I get the digital book filled in but don't get Mobilo so just take out breakdown cover for the uk. I never go abroad so don't need a fancy breakdown cover. A basic breakdown cover will do for me.
@SarahAnn200 Not every MB dealer is available via this platform. They have only signed up three dealer groups in the UK, Vertu, Lookers and Pendragon, which is why a lot of people wouldn't get the MB franchised dealer option showing up locally when they search.
 
Interesting to read about BookMyGarage when it comes to their blurb for attracting franchised dealers to their platform.

Note the use of the term "invoiced value", i.e. the price that is invoiced could well be different from the price you book at.

"SecretService™ delivers conquest customers with an average invoiced value of:
  • £407 for Volkswagen;
  • £387 for Mercedes; and over
  • £200 for volume brands"
The fact that they mention upsell opportunities makes me think even more that the really cheap price quoted on booking is not necessarily how much the service will cost in the end.

"SecretService™ gets new and migrating customers into your workshops. It keeps your ramps busy as well as providing significant upsell opportunities."
 
Yes it is confusing to the customer when booking. I just checked their Secret Service Mercedes Slough (which is Vertu MB Slough) and all it says is "You are booking a BookMyGarage service, NOT a Mercedes-Benz manufacturers service" - One could infer that the customer wouldn't get the DSB updated or the 12 months MB roadside assistance as a result, but they should really make that explicit. Although when I checked another secret service dealer page in Beaconsfield (don't know which brand), then it does state the franchised dealer will stamp the service book.

Interesting that - but the listings I had were not 'secret' - they named the dealership fully, these are Vertu garages - it is the Beaconsfield one that told me that they won't stamp the book as a franchised dealership service. Where on bookmygarage did it say that they would stamp the service book - would love to find that and ask them what that is about...

Strangely my wife's BMW needs a brake fluid replacement, so we went to bookmygarage to find an independent - lo and behold, the Mercedes dealership came up again at a very good price - I asked her to ring them up and double check they actually do BMWs, they are a Merc dealership, why would they and why are they coming up on local searches for a BMW service - she rang them and they didn't say 'no we only do mercs its a bookmygarage mistake', they said something weird like 'we don't know anything about the bookmygarage process' but its legitimate. So she booked in for tmw - only to get an email just now saying 'it was a mistake, they have no idea why bookmygarage has allowed her to book the BMW for a brake fluid replacement at their garage, their mechanics are only trained to do Mercs'.

This bookmygarage thing seems very odd, not sure it is helping the consumer, nor is the lack of transparency from the dealerships.
 
in terms of upsell opportunities - what could they do to inflate the bill, apart from deliberately falsifying the inspection and creating repair bills when there wouldn't normally be, if they use the same technicians and same service workshop and schedule? And how would we know that wouldn't happen anyway with their main dealership price from the outset - I've often had a £500 service end up with a £700-800 bill because there is always 'something' found that needs rectification! Catch 22, no-win situation
 
Interesting that - but the listings I had were not 'secret' - they named the dealership fully, these are Vertu garages - it is the Beaconsfield one that told me that they won't stamp the book as a franchised dealership service. Where on bookmygarage did it say that they would stamp the service book - would love to find that and ask them what that is about...

Strangely my wife's BMW needs a brake fluid replacement, so we went to bookmygarage to find an independent - lo and behold, the Mercedes dealership came up again at a very good price - I asked her to ring them up and double check they actually do BMWs, they are a Merc dealership, why would they and why are they coming up on local searches for a BMW service - she rang them and they didn't say 'no we only do mercs its a bookmygarage mistake', they said something weird like 'we don't know anything about the bookmygarage process' but its legitimate. So she booked in for tmw - only to get an email just now saying 'it was a mistake, they have no idea why bookmygarage has allowed her to book the BMW for a brake fluid replacement at their garage, their mechanics are only trained to do Mercs'.

This bookmygarage thing seems very odd, not sure it is helping the consumer, nor is the lack of transparency from the dealerships.
@Ash77 Click on the link I shared in my earlier post. It takes you to the secret service page for the franchised dealer (probably not MB but another brand) in Beaconsfield that explicitly says it will stamp the book. It sounds like the decision to stamp or not is made by the individual dealer rather than bookmygarage
 

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