TrevC
Established member
Forgot to mention - the price I quoted in my earlier post was the kit including waterpump.
Technical Cambelt Change
- Thread starter gaurav500
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Technical Cambelt Change
The problem is that you get a receptionist to book the service these days, not a technician. They won’t even put me through to a technician to have a chat with them. Common sense would dictate that a water pump is accessible during a cambelt change so shouldn’t really be quoted separately, but maybe quite a few people do fall for it? If I went with what the dealer quoted me it’s about 1/3 of the value of my car!! On top of that every time I call a different person gives me a different quote. I’d definitely go to the dealer if they quoted me around £230.
This aspect of "interfacing" with main dealers is a big problem for me - and I think anyone who has a technical interest in their vehicle. I hadn't bought a brand new car since the 1970's and my recent experience buying our new Ibiza has been very interesting.
I found that sales staff in the several garages I visited were, in my view, astonishingly ignorant of pretty much anything to do with the mechanical and associated electronics aspects. They knew a lot about the infotainment systems and other, to me, almost superfluous aspects. When I pushed things a couple of them referred me to the parts department. Only one suggested I speak to service reception and that was a waste of time as not one of them had a scoobie what I was talking about and wouldn't call a technician through (of course they wouldn't because that would, in their limited outlook, loose money. Doesn't occur to them to factor in how much money they might then make from me subsequently as a result of me buying the car and using their workshop. I spent a lot of time researching and speaking to specialists and subsequently bought from a small broker - The dealer lost out (I would have been happy to buy from them if they had satisfied my inquiries or referred me to someone in their workshop who could.
The same problem is encountered at the service reception desk. The whole thing is too sanitized and staff who are "front of house" don't have the knowledge or experience to satisfy people like us. Probably most of the customers who use main dealers don't want to discuss their vehicle's problems in depth - and wouldn't have the knowledge to understand what they were being told. In this respect it would be a waste of money to pay a skilled technician rate for doing a job where it's only occasionally going to be needed, but there badly needs to be provision for the infrequent - but significant - times when someone like us finds themselves at the reception desk with an issue requiring a knowledgeable technician's input.
I was reflecting on all this as a result of your post and it took me back to when I left the "shop floor" working as a mechanic and became a "trainer" teaching basic automotive skills. For me this was an enormous cultural shock. I moved, literally overnight, from the workshop environment (workshop doors often open even in the depths of winter so you needed to be physically robust and a "manly" relationship with colleagues where a fair amount of leg pulling etc went on - to say nothing of being out in the snow in winter when on recovery maybe lying under a vehicle with the snow melting down your neck!) to the office environment (central heating - far too hot and stuffy most of the time - and a completely different, much more "politically correct" relationship with co-workers.) As I've got older I came to appreciate the physically less arduous conditions but I've always missed the "crack" which was an everyday feature of the workshop.
So for me it's got to be the marque specific independent who wins the day. Here you are always, in my experience anyway, going to have access to a man who really knows what he's talking about and where, in the unlikely event of a dispute, you will find yourself talking directly to the man who makes the decisions. A quick and satisfactory resolution is likely.
Just thought I'd add that I find all this a great shame because there are many very capable mechanic/techie guys working in these main dealers.
It is so true what you say about sales staff these days. I went to test drive a 500x with a main dealer a month ago and even though I had an appointment booked it took them half an hour to get the car prepped. While on the test drive (which they only take you out for 5 mins down the local road), the sales guy looking after us just sat there and playing on his phone, no mention of how some of the stuff works in the car etc, nothing! I do my research and am tech savvy so was fine but my wife said to me after the appointment that even if we liked the car we wouldn’t be buying from that dealer as the service was just appalling.
i just change the cambelt for my fiat ,
- cambelt kit CONTITEC
- water pump HEPU
- 2 l of coolant HEPU
- belts kit CONTITEC
All this patys cost me 108 euro + cambelt tools for my engine 105 euro and about 5 hours of work.
That because i am not mecanic and was the first cambelt change,I admit I have some knowledge about the mechanics gained from the previous car
- cambelt kit CONTITEC
- water pump HEPU
- 2 l of coolant HEPU
- belts kit CONTITEC
All this patys cost me 108 euro + cambelt tools for my engine 105 euro and about 5 hours of work.
That because i am not mecanic and was the first cambelt change,I admit I have some knowledge about the mechanics gained from the previous car
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Well pretty much 110% with you here.
Main dealers can be good and willing to technically engage with customers who want this but finding them is the real problem.
The current dealer industry is focussed on selling a vehicle in the first place. Fixing under warranty is guaranteed bonus for them. I don't really think they every really consider the long term "customer relationship" journey and if they do it is probably focused on those who change cars every 3 or 4 years, buying new again, and for these a nice smile, cup of coffee and a load car it all it takes.
