Older Cars. Wiser Pricing.

[Skd884]

Have my w202 c43 Amg booked in for an A service for £139, Platinum programme​

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Platinum Programme Offer | Mercedes-Benz & Smart Car Offers From Sandown

Take a look at the platinum programme offer at Sandown. Filter the offers online until you find the right car for you.

www.sandown-group.co.uk

Tier 3​

• 9+ year old vehicles
• 15% discount on all parts held in stock
• 40% labour discount - services and repairs
• £20 MOT

 

[Teego]

That's brilliant. Even better for my Tier 3 car.
It's good to see a creative dealer competing with the indies.
Too far from me but could be a useful negotiating tool. On major work I could save enough to stay at a Travelodge or Premier Inn and still be quids in.

 

[BTB 500]

Yup these discounts were started by the Tony Purslow Group originally (MB Guildford, Hindhead, & Basingstoke), then continued by the Sandown Group for all their dealerships when they merged. My R129 has gone to to MB Guildford since I bought it in 2004.

 

[Will]

MB Guildford are brilliant - great service and very competitive on price

 

[Tuercas viejas]

Well reading this I read/hear distant warning bells and the huffing & puffing of advertising .
My first thought is someone has been working at a Mopar/Fiat/ Mitsupussy dealer here Stateside.
Nothing new!
Ding Ding!

• 15% discount on all parts held in stock, (no parts for your "oldie but goodie" in stock 3 to 5 days to obtain. Sorry )
• 40% labour discount - services and repairs. (to make a profit ,and servicing is traditionally a bit of a loss leader, there has to be strong upsell on that aspect or minimum wage operatives OR subsidized by overcharge rates on legit jobs.) Gotta make something!
• Basic services done by what are called Lube Techs an entry position compensated by minimum wage operatives. (in my snot nosed kid entry into the UK trade 1960's we were called "Improvers" !
• (in fact I am interviewing a 19 year old Lube Tech from Lexus Lakewood , around the corner from me who wants to spread his wings out of the Lube Bay.
• 
  
• Quote:-Should your Sandown Programme Service highlight that any work is necessary, we’d like to reassure you that no additional work will be carried out without your prior authorisation.
• Struth, bloody well hope NOT! All work Must be authorized by the customer.
• 
  
• You can also rest assured that your car will still be worked on by Mercedes-Benz trained technicians using Mercedes-Benz. Question !!!??? What is the "trained bit and its content"? Here in the US its an on line instructional with a few multi choice answers for the tasks involved . Pied Piper of Hamelin stuff that!
• I have a longtime friend in the US business at a Mopar dealer . We would often discuss the inside story of all this "activity" to lure customers into the shop.
• Tuercas viejas

 

[Will]

You’re wrong with your assertion, they’re just a decent MB franchise that are slightly outside of M25/Greater London area and seem more grateful for the business IMHO.

Overheads are lower, hence labour costs to the customer can reflect that. Regardless of upsell there is always the chance of repeat business from satisfied customers, so promotions and offers can often be worthwhile especially those that may entice customers who may otherwise have been drawn to non authorised MB garages.

I’ve owned/worked on dozens of MBs over the years, and have never had cause for complaint at their quality of work or judgement.

Seems quite a negative/pessimistic assumption for someone who clearly has never used them?

 

[Athey]

Mb carlisle do a huge discount as well. its in the club directory p18 if i remember rightly. will look for my booklet and confirm.

 

[Tuercas viejas]

You’re wrong with your assertion, they’re just a decent MB franchise that are slightly outside of M25/Greater London area and seem more grateful for the business IMHO.

Overheads are lower, hence labour costs to the customer can reflect that. Regardless of upsell there is always the chance of repeat business from satisfied customers, so promotions and offers can often be worthwhile especially those that may entice customers who may otherwise have been drawn to non authorised MB garages.

I’ve owned/worked on dozens of MBs over the years, and have never had cause for complaint at their quality of work or judgement.

Seems quite a negative/pessimistic assumption for someone who clearly has never used them?

I am not saying they are not , but there are a significant set of contributors that that suggest RIP OFF by some dealers.
Now a question or two..
Based upon your quote ! I’ve owned/worked on dozens of MBs over the years,
This suggest you are a DIYr working on your own cars, but hardly a wrench wielding tech in a shop! Is that right?
Suffice to state the impression I get, is that you have never run your own shop with tech staff or one as an supervisory employee, say Service Manager .
So back to that opening question I asked was to what is the "up lift" on labor percentage content and parts uplift indexes in these shops which are advertised ?
What do you need to do,. as in any business, to make profit in auto service to satisfy the share holders or directors of the business?
I have do it daily and am a shareholder of a family business establish 30 odd years ago in the USA.

You know Napoleon said once Brits are a nation of shoppe keepers, I am just one Brit, owning several business off shore of the UK .
For me profit is the name is the game because if you have no cash flow you have no business .
And as a frequent buyer of parts from the UK, if you don't answer the bloody phone during business hours you are not in business.
Tuercas viejas

 

[PhantomF4]

Jaguar offer a similar scheme of discounts called "3+" for cars over three years old.

The savings can mean the difference between going to a franchised dealer or A.N.Other garage. We always found the prices really competitive with assurance of the warranty of genuine parts.

 

[Rory]

• 40% labour discount - services and repairs. (to make a profit ,and servicing is traditionally a bit of a loss leader, there has to be strong upsell on that aspect or minimum wage operatives OR subsidized by overcharge rates on legit jobs.) Gotta make something!
• 
  

Servicing (at least in UK, I have no experience elsewhere) is fantastically profitable - I waited while daughter's Golf had its first service. Car was in the workshop 20mins. In the rush to bundle me out of the place they accidentally gave me the service plan invoice they send to VW - it was for £68, inc parts labour and VAT. If you were a paying customer is would be almost 3x that. Same service on a Mercedes (same work, same dealer group, just a different car) would be 4 to 5x.


MB dealers here used to be up for a discussion on cost - I've had some very reasonable cost major service work inc ATF changes etc. But these days you generally get connected to a call centre and you can't get to anyone with the authority or interest to discuss cost. It was when that happened that I switched to using an indie.

 

[Tuercas viejas]

Servicing (at least in UK, I have no experience elsewhere) is fantastically profitable - I waited while daughter's Golf had its first service. Car was in the workshop 20mins. In the rush to bundle me out of the place they accidentally gave me the service plan invoice they send to VW - it was for £68, inc parts labour and VAT. If you were a paying customer is would be almost 3x that. Same service on a Mercedes (same work, same dealer group, just a different car) would be 4 to 5x.


MB dealers here used to be up for a discussion on cost - I've had some very reasonable cost major service work inc ATF changes etc. But these days you generally get connected to a call centre and you can't get to anyone with the authority or interest to discuss cost. It was when that happened that I switched to using an indie.

Rory
Thanks for the post and the profit angle .
20 minutes is the magic number across the board.
I hired a Lube Tech yesterday from our local Lexus dealer, a 19 year old wanting to spread his wings .
Doing basic A service on Lexus platforms, the book shop time is 1,5 hours.
A raw entry level Lube Tech is shown how to do the job, plus brakes and tyre rotations.
The target to be given a full time position on legal minimum wage is that the tech MUST do the service job in 20 minutes when the hood/bonnet is slammed shut.
Most crankcase oil is slurped out by vacuum pump and a measured dispense gun completes the oiling part done in 3 minutes.
As for certification! That is done by the dealer .
The MB dealer we work with closely charges $220 /hr rack rate, but a quick service is discounted by 45% because we "Love our returning MB customers".
Now everyone loves a discount and made to be felt "special" . Its part of sales & marketing.

Now a big Honda dealer in the Denver metro area does on average 900 A & B services weekly over two 8 hours shifts in a 24 hour period.
With volume discounts on materials like oil & filters, the price can be driven down to very small overheads, so profits can be maximized.
Normally the standard uplift index on say a filter from a recognized trade price out of the parts counter to workshop bench retail is 1,5 minimum factor , but with volume discounts of say 900 filters /week we are talking pennies for that filter.
Cheers
Tuercas Viejas

 

[Rory]

A raw entry level Lube Tech is shown how to do the job, plus brakes and tyre rotations.

UK doesn't do tyre rotation and on a basic service the brakes get the most cursory glance. Mercedes service schedule here hasn't been a "wheels off" service even on the B for years.

Makes me laugh when some garages list "stripping and cleaning" the brakes on a service. I've asked about it a few times at various types of garage and been looked at like I'm mad. Even the cheeky practice of charging for a can of brake cleaner (which was rarely used) isn't done any more.

 

[mioba]

MB dealers have been offering this for years under another name. It does not maintain Mobilo.

 

[BTB 500]

MB dealers have been offering this for years under another name. It does not maintain Mobilo.

Yes, something like 'value service' IIRC, which you could book online in the normal way.

 

[Athey]

Just to confirm, as i've got this months gazette with the new club directory,
cars more than 3 years old-10 percent off parts, 20 percent off labour, free MOT voucher when car serviced.
Cars 8 years and older- service discount increased to 42 percent.