dave said:

its not the servicing where they are going to make the money, its in the years just after warranty runs out and all the ecu's and sensors start playing up.

what they are getting away with atm is outrageous, even if you just fit a new air filter to a modern Mercedes its has to be introduced using star.

Click to expand...

If you buy a mini or BMW, you do t get a service book, it's all recorded on the key, which is accessed by a dealer only reading device.....

It's got nothing to do with cars being electric, hybrid or otherwise, all cars are going this way.

All these things are to try to keep the car in the dealer network. It is short-sighted and manufacturers keep trying. There's been a cycle of this for many years. There was a move to keep all repair procedures and servicing data secret, until the EU stepped in and made them legally obliged to make it available. That was a long time ago.

As cars get older, repairs are more expensive as a proportion of the car's value. Smaller garages help prolong the car's life by repairing it cheaper. This keeps the cars going longer, and helps maintain their resale value, so reducing the depreciation slope. Making it difficult to service in later years eventually causes higher depreciation. Some manufacturers see this and make it easy to service in later years. Seen this cycle many times over the years.

Smaller garages are often better at diagnosing and rectifying faults, especially in popular models, as they see the older cars. Dealers only see newer lower mileage ones, so don't see the faults, so are less able to diagnose and repair. As an example, see how many times on this forum answers are presented where garages have failed.

AndyRKett said:

If you buy a mini or BMW, you do t get a service book, it's all recorded on the key, which is accessed by a dealer only reading device.....

It's got nothing to do with cars being electric, hybrid or otherwise, all cars are going this way.

Click to expand...

Mazda do similar, as do Toyota with the DSR system. Although once you've registered you can access the information via either an app on a smart phone or a computer. You can download it on PDF and print it out if you must have it on paper. That and it's registered onto the vin on the centralised system not the key itself.
If you use an independent if they are registered with Mazda they can update as well...they just put a marker on to say not done at a franchise dealer. So it doesn't have to stay in the dealer network.

I know you think I'm anti German in general and VW in particular...but I'm mainly anti taking the **** out of paying customers.