Tony Purslow

[Alfie]

Just had the CLK back from its A service at Tony Purslow.

Excellent service. The car had a total of a tad under £3,000 worth of work, including the A service at £244, brake fluid, filters etc. Total cost to me £350. Steering damper, knuckle joints, window module, seat motor etc etc. The bill comes to just under £3,000 as stated. The warranty picked up 90% of it without any quibble.

The car was ready when they said it would be, cleaned and hoovered. The bill explained to me. Very happy indeed. I think I'll keep the car.......for now

 

[BTB 500]

£3000 of work on a 4 year old car?!

Which branch of Tony Purslow? My R129 will be off to the Guildford one shortly.

 

[Rose Chap]

Good work Alfie!

I take it that's the Guildford Branch? I've just booked my CLK in for a B (for Big and costly presumably) Service at Purslows in Basingstoke, who straight off the bat quoted £120 less for the service than Greenoaks in Reading and Ascot. I've got nothing personally against Greenoaks but its a bit of a no brainer when its over a hundred quid difference for the same thing.

Just out of interest, £3ks worth of work is a lot! What needed doing?

RC

Edited to add if I had read your post properly I would have seen why it cost £3k.

 

[BTB 500]

Good work Alfie!

I take it that's the Guildford Branch? I've just booked my CLK in for a B (for Big and costly presumably) Service at Purslows in Basingstoke, who straight off the bat quoted £120 less for the service than Greenoaks in Reading and Ascot.

Nah, it's C for costly (that's what my R129 had last year)!

Presumably Greenoaks don't do the same age-related discounts that Tony Purslow do?

 

[Rose Chap]

Nah, it's C for costly (that's what my R129 had last year)!

Presumably Greenoaks don't do the same age-related discounts that Tony Purslow do?

You're absolutely right. I asked the question of Greenoaks and the (otherwise very helpful) chap ummed and ahhed for a bit before saying there was nothing he could do, but if I came back to him with a number he might be able to match it. I didn't bother as, a) I couldn't see them coming down £120, and b) life is too short.

Shame really as I've had good experiences from Greenoaks in Reading and aside from cost I've no reason to not want to use them.

I'm sure when they were Rivervale they used to do age related discounts? Must be a Greenoaks policy?

 

[Alfie]

£3000 of work on a 4 year old car?!

Which branch of Tony Purslow? My R129 will be off to the Guildford one shortly.

Guildford.

Apparently there were steering components that were worn, The bulk of the cost though was the labour to replace the seat motor and the rear O/S window module. I was chuffed to bits that the warranty covered it all except the service which of course you have to have done to keep the warranty!

Tony Purslow offer 20% discount on parts and labour for 4 yr old cars. I think it drops again at 6yrs!

 

[BTB 500]

Tony Purslow offer 20% discount on parts and labour for 4 yr old cars. I think it drops again at 6yrs!

It's 20% on labour but only 10% on parts. At 6 years it goes up to 40% on labour (still 10% on parts) - that brought the major C service (90k miles) on my R129 down to £628, including some extra bits and pieces (new radio aerial, brake system drain/refill, replace some instrument panel bulbs).

 

[uumode]

Just had the CLK back from its A service at Tony Purslow.

Excellent service. The car had a total of a tad under £3,000 worth of work, including the A service at £244, brake fluid, filters etc. Total cost to me £350. Steering damper, knuckle joints, window module, seat motor etc etc. The bill comes to just under £3,000 as stated. The warranty picked up 90% of it without any quibble.

The car was ready when they said it would be, cleaned and hoovered. The bill explained to me. Very happy indeed. I think I'll keep the car.......for now

Scary that it should need £3000 worth of work even though it was under warranty

 

[BarryS]

I'm confused - warranty is 3-years isn't it? Did you take out some additional cover Alfie?

 

[richard]

I'm sure when they were Rivervale they used to do age related discounts? Must be a Greenoaks policy?

Telling Greenoaks (in my case Bracknell) that MB London do 20% of labour and 10% of parts on 3 years older cars (I think it was 3, maybee 4) made them match the discount with no argument - (it is true of course, and I assume they knew it). ( MB london will do collect and deliver to where I am (I think from their branch near woking)

I didnt bother to find out if the MB london labour rate was different to the Greenoaks one ..

What I always do is to take in my own oil, and tell then not to do disks or pads or wiper blades - when the light goes on the disks/pads get done - rather than "because the light may come on before the next service". Wiper blades get done when they don't clean anymore.

I think Greenoaks of Ascot is superb - everyone is helpful, and faults are fixed 1st time.

Richard

 

[machasm]

Telling Greenoaks (in my case Bracknell) that MB London do 20% of labour and 10% of parts on 3 years older cars (I think it was 3, maybee 4) made them match the discount with no argument - (it is true of course, and I assume they knew it). ( MB london will do collect and deliver to where I am (I think from their branch near woking)

This sort of thing really annoys me.
Why is it up to me to shop around and find out about any loop holes/discounts
to then have it matched.
Why don't they all just provide that same level of service and pricing?
Particularly since they are all main MB dealers. The pricing should be standardised.
I only found out about the 40% discount on 6yr old vehicles from this forum and feel I have already been ripped off by Jacksons for not giving me that discount before I knew of its existence.
They just need to be fair to people and then their reputation may be restored.
Instead they are out to wring us dry of every pound they can get.
Greedy F***rs.
Mac.

 

[uumode]

This sort of thing really annoys me.
Why is it up to me to shop around and find out about any loop holes/discounts
to then have it matched.
Why don't they all just provide that same level of service and pricing?
Particularly since they are all main MB dealers. The pricing should be standardised.
I only found out about the 40% discount on 6yr old vehicles from this forum and feel I have already been ripped off by Jacksons for not giving me that discount before I knew of its existence.
They just need to be fair to people and then their reputation may be restored.
Instead they are out to wring us dry of every pound they can get.
Greedy F***rs.
Mac.

This is the case with most manufacturers. The dealerships aren't owned by them and there isn't a national standardised price. I think Whatcar did a survey on regional discrepancies in servicing cost, and found (unsurprisingly) variances in parts and labour cost. The only marque which was consistent across the board was BMW.

 

[machasm]

This is the case with most manufacturers. The dealerships aren't owned by them and there isn't a national standardised price. I think Whatcar did a survey on regional discrepancies in servicing cost, and found (unsurprisingly) variances in parts and labour cost. The only marque which was consistent across the board was BMW.

That still doesn't make it right.
I am sure that MB could stipulate that charges should not exceed a certain price and that servicing of vehicles should carry a certain discount.
If the Dealers do not subscribe to those guidlines then MB should withdraw their 'approved' status.
Surely MB have some clout in this matter.
How does BMW manage it?
Mac.

 

[uumode]

That still doesn't make it right.
I am sure that MB could stipulate that charges should not exceed a certain price and that servicing of vehicles should carry a certain discount.
If the Dealers do not subscribe to those guidlines then MB should withdraw their 'approved' status.
Surely MB have some clout in this matter.
How does BMW manage it?
Mac.

I don't work in the car industry, but I work in retail, and according to the Office of Fair Trading suppliers and manufacturers can't dictate pricing to retailers as that is interpreted as 'price fixing'

Hasbro in the past entered into price fixing
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2527267.stm
and with Argos and Littlewoods http://www.oft.gov.uk/Business/Competition+Act/Decisions/Argos.htm

They can 'recommend' a price to sell at, but if retailers discount then that's their affair, so I imagine that is the same for the car dealerships. Not sure how BMW do it though.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not defending high prices, if you think about it, if manufacturers were allowed to fix the price then there would be no discounting and no competition.

/EDIT the fines are not small amounts either, they are millions
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2779777.stm

and the other side of the coin against such regulation
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=040803M


.

 

[Rory]

I don't work in the car industry, but I work in retail, and according to the Office of Fair Trading suppliers and manufacturers can't dictate pricing to retailers as that is interpreted as 'price fixing'

Exactly - customers would soon complain if every dealer charged the same prices!

I used to work for a manufacturer who sold through distributors. We offered 'supported' pricing to high volume customers such that the distributor was basically getting a nominal handling charge. We had one customer who was determined to 'break this cartel', and one of the distributors did him a lower price. They then ran out of stock, and the customer tried to force us to get another distributor to also offer the same lower price!! The fact that he was reintroducing 'price fixing' was lost on him!!!

 

[Rose Chap]

I agree with Mac in that its a shame you seem to have to play the dealers off against each other.

I specifically asked Greenoaks whether they would do a discount for an older car and the response was come back with a quote and we'll see what we can do - even when I mentioned the MB dealer in Basingstoke did discount. Essentially I didn't want to spend any (more) time doing that so went for the very competitive Purslow option.

Had Greenoaks offered that same discount I would have used them no question, so that's at least £500 they've missed out on.

Again, I've got nothing against Greenoaks at all, but I think they could do better in this area. I wonder if they read these forums?

 

[bitonw]

I wonder if they read these forums?

He he, most dealers (retailers) don't even know what Internet is...

 

[Subyland]

I don't work in the car industry, but I work in retail, and according to the Office of Fair Trading suppliers and manufacturers can't dictate pricing to retailers as that is interpreted as 'price fixing

That is correct. Dealers are free to set whatever labour rate they want but are restricted in the amount of time they can charge to do a job. Each manufacturer publish a complete list of invoicing times for each and every thing that can be done on a car. If a dealer does it faster then all the better for them.

 

[BTB 500]

Well my SL went in to Tony Purslow (Guildford) today.

On the plus side, the service is done ... and no pressure to have any work carried out on the brakes. The pads have plenty of life left in them, and they recommend replacing the disks next year.

On the minus side ... when booked in 2 weeks ago I arranged to also have the check valve in the headlamp washer pipe replaced. Today they said they didn't have a valve in stock! So I will be without the car for at least another day

 

[BTB 500]

The SL was ready this morning, washed and valeted as usual .. looked good. Service, replace the leaking headlamp washer check valve, supply and fit locking wheel bolts - £411.