To think main dealer service & repairs is not worth it for cars 5+ yrs old

[LifeExperimentation]

My car is now 5 years old. It's a Range Rover Evoque and has Land Rover service history apart from on 1 service (done by the dealer that I bought the car from). Just paid for a main dealer service - all fine except I'll need new brake pads (front and rear), which will cost £500. I'm not planning to change my car any time soon and annual mileage low.

AIBU just to use a non-main dealer for service/repairs from now on?

Main dealer on a 5 year old car is not necessary imo. Might help with resale price though?

@Whammyyammy yes, that's what I was thinking - so maybe you pay either way???

For a high-end marque, there may be value in maintaining it for credence with future buyers.

I would use for servicing, there's usually a reduced price for over 3 years old too (I work for Land Rover) as it does help with resale if you're planning to

OK, had quote from local garage (non main dealer) for new brake pads. Will be £200 + VAT/£300 + VAT (depending on the brake pad manufacturer)... versus £500 (inc VAT) from main dealer.

Not sure what to do for best!

Oh, just seen new messages! Thanks @Zilla1 and @QueenOllie.

What about the brake pads, @QueenOllie? Still Land Rover or local? Will take a look at their 3 yr plan.

Once our cars are out of warranty we use a local garage, we know the owner is scrupulously honest and he’s taken care of all our cars. For a higher end marque it may be worth keeping the service history but I’d get any repairs done elsewhere.

I wouldn't pay extra for Main dealer service records. My Land Rover had dealer history when I bought it - spent the first couple of years getting all the bits they had missed out or done badly sorted out at a local specialist.

Perhaps find a garage who specialise in your vehicle. They may be more expensive than local garage but cheaper than a main dealer.
I think it is important to find a garage who has the authorised diagnostic software (this isn't cheap!) they can sometimes prevent a potential problem from occurring and ensure the vehicles software is kept up to date.

Just to be clear - manufacturers can't decline warranty claims for non-dealer serving provided the schedule has been followed and genuine parts used.

Depends on how good the "non main dealer" is. I've been stung a few times by small garages who it turned out really didn't know what they were doing. At one, there was a problem with wheels and it was in several times as they replaced various parts (each time costing a couple of hundred or so), which never seemed to solve it - they were just putting new parts in and hoping for the best. Another time, a car was using a lot of water and they changed a few pipes, which didn't work, then they put in a new radiator which didn't solve it. Then the engine blew on the motorway due to over-heating, which was the end of that car. I've now got a local garage we use for routine servicing (oil, filters, MOT etc), but for anything else, we use the main dealer who have the experience and are far better at diagnostics etc.

Main dealers have always found a 'problem' when our cars are in for service which ends up costing £100s. Last time this happened they wanted £900 bor brake pads and discs. We used a local garage for a while but they were a bit flaky. We now use our local branch of ATS - they are usually half the price of the main dealer, use approved parts and don't spring surprise repairs on us (and are also much cheaper for the repairs they do). They charged £450 for brakes and discs that dealer wanted £900 for. They will also forewarn so check tyres for MOT and advise tyres will need replacing within 3 months etc.

I don't know whether ATS are franchised but our local branch are excellent.

I think as long as the service log is complete and good parts are used it doesn't really affect re-sale value if you use a non dealership garage.

The local garage mentioned is a Land Rover specialist. I don’t know anything about them though, so don’t know anything about their diagnostics software, etc.

I have all service history - all done at Land Rover except 1 last year (which was done by the non-main dealer that I bought car from). So, no longer 100% Land Rover service history. Latest 1 is though.

Car is out of warranty. Will be keeping for another 3 years perhaps.

Thanks for your comments, all. Mixed opinions!

Brakes just go to a tyre and exhaust place. Fraction of the cost of a main dealer.

For servicing a decent local garage over a franchised dealer any day. There is zero reason to go to the (very expensive) franchised garage for a service even when the car is brand new as the law was changed re warranty years ago. The only possible reason I can think of is a better loan car and maybe nicer coffee. It depends if you value that at several hundred pounds.

I would never have a dealer do basic maintenance issues like brakes or tyres, they just take the piss. Always cheaper at your local garage and it won't make any difference to the value of the car.

My last few cars came with free dealer servicing, great. But there is always that little voice that says you will be better keeping up the servicing with them to maintain value.

And then what. The last two cars were part exchanged, at different main dealers, and they didn't give two hoots about where it had been serviced. They actually don't even care about the condition. It is age and mileage value. You may get extra from a private sale, but it is often not worth the hassle.

If you have a good, competent, reliable, honest local garage, then use them every time. It's not even just the costs for the big tangible jobs, but if you have little niggles or queries, they'll often help you out for goodwill or for 'buying them a drink'. I had an issue with mine where I couldn't get the remote key to sync, called my regular garage and they told me to pop over, where they resolved it in less than a minute, smiled and wished me well. He commented that Audi (mine is 17 years old) would have just automatically charged me £1,000 for a new key fob and I could tell from his expression that he wasn't joking.

Main dealers will charge for anything they possibly can and will always go down the maximum-charge route e.g. if you have something that's 20% worn and that needs replacing once it gets to 80% worn, they'll strongly 'recommend' that you 'need' it doing now whereas your trusty local will tell you "It's perfectly OK - you've got another good year or two on that". And then there will be a connected/related part or two that 'they recommend' you always replace at the same time.

They want your repeat custom over the years. Big main dealers know that they're in the business of charging you absolute top whack and that, the older your car gets, the more likely they are to lose your custom anyway, so they strike whilst the iron is hot.

You can shop around for local service

They want your repeat custom over the years.

The independents, that is - that got a bit garbled.

Front and rear pads cost around £80 at retail prices and labour will be 1-1.5 hrs max. Even £200+vat is expensive, find a different independent garage, anyone can do brake pads, save the LR specialist for the more complicated stuff.

No reason why you should have a main dealer service at ANY time so YNBU.

We switched to local independent and have saved a fortune on servicing our Volvo. It started when the main dealer told us lots of expensive work needing doing and the car would fail the MOT without it. Having suspected that they had lied to us before we took it to the local guy, who has an excellent reputation, who looked and said that 80% of the quoted required work was fictional. We’ve been with them ever since. Car runs beautifully and two years later the part that was supposedly about to fail imminently is still absolutely fine.

I think you're always on a loser to nothing if you're desperate to maintain the resale value at all costs on a heavily depreciating asset. Of course get things fixed/replaced when they need to be, but if you look at the value of a 5/8/10yo car (that might have been kept immaculate, only driven 1,000 miles a year and feel like new) compared with its new price, you'll weep enough as it is, without chucking another fortune after full 'peace-of-mind' for the benefit of the person who scoops a massive bargain when they buy it from you for less than you spent on those main-dealer services, let alone the actual price of the car itself.

I've only used main delaers when I wasn't sure which local garages were good/trustworthy. Now we live in a village with one main local garage whose business is built on an excellent reputation throughout the village, so my (3 year old) car goes there.

If you find a good local garage, use them.

No brainer to use someone other than a main dealer for something like brakes I would have thought. No-one cares about things like that and it is not something people will check.

Servicing - yes to using a main dealer or specialist in that marque for cars 0-5 years but after that I really don't think who does it affects the price on resale because it is usually fairly low by then anyway.

To be honest, anyone who is prepared to pY dealer prices due to resale value would be much better off looking at leasing.

Fixed price every month. Vehie always u Derby warranty and likely a better cR for the same price when you factor in depreciation, tyres etc