We decided this year to have our Rangey MOT'd at our local garage, it needed a couple of things doing to get through, but passed OK. For the last 3 years its always been done at the Main Stealers, and they have put an advisory on the handbrake, which for the MOT was fine.

Yesterday we had it serviced at the same garage in the village (more of a one-man-band Workshop that a garage) and the car was fully serviced, inc parts, labour and VAT for just over £400 (which would have been the labour costs at the MD!)

The one odd thing is that Harry at the garage reckoned that the air filter has NEVER been changed, it was completely filthy and choked up with all sorts of debris, and he also reckoned that the spark plugs have also never been changed...........

Car is running very smoothly now though!!

very interesting point on dealers not changing parts.

when my CLK went in for its first service I marked the oil filter housing and It never got changed even tho I got charged for it, when my 5 series went to the main dealer for new pads and discs I marked everything . the pads and never got changed them even thou they charged me, I marked my Kawasaki oil filter when that went in and that never got changed.

last year my wife got a new ds3 and it went in for first service 3 weeks ago and guess what , the marked and dated oil filter with photos never got changed. Im currently talking to bbc watch dog about it. Citreon investigated the matter and the service manager received a final written warning and the tech got a first written . service manager wiped our details from the citroen database after I showed him the photos so we couldn't be contacted by citroen customer services and that's what he got his final written for , tech said he forgot about the filter , car was signed onto their service machine for 9 mins only .

Mark up your components , there are lots of dishonest dealers out there

There are some main dealers who do the right thing though to be fair. I've used The main Dealer in Edenbridge since 2000. Always do things properly and keep me informed and don't charge the earth. The 4 yr/48K service on the FFRR last year was a smidge over £500. To be honest, I'd never let a car as complex as a FFRR anywhere near a 'local man with a workshop', but then I keep a fairly recent car and its fully LR warranted.

Never had problems with our Mini dealer either, (once I made it clear I wasn't paying for new wipers to be fitted!) Now Ford or VW dealers, that's a whole different ball game in my experience.....

I don't think that we have had a service that has come out at under £1000! In fact the last time it went in (admittedly for a water pump replacement -which had been replaced by them less than 18 months before!) they charged us over £300 for 3 diagnostic checks! New policy, they charge £100 for each and every diagnostic check!

took my 2004 into MD in Bristol off Feeder Road a couple years back (can't remember the name ...Guy Salmon??) with a load of lights come up on the dash. After a lot of forelock tugging and "don't worry Sir.. sir this and Sir that, have a cup of coffee and sit in our real leather sofa Sir etc), I asked to accompany the mech to watch what they were doing (So sorry Sir, can't allow that.. Elf & Safety etc). HHHmmmmm, Not sure how Halfords manage to have different laws apply to them?

Upshot was, he came out after an hour and Said "ABS unit is gone sir, that'll be £1200 to replace" Me: Really? I think I'll have look myself. Opened the bonnet and they hadn't even opened the ABS unit. I did and saw a tiny spec of green corrosion on one spike. brush off and all is back to normal. Needless to say they never saw me again ever!

In my experience the 'local man in the workshop' is worth 10 MD techies.

My indy is an ex MD head techie and the stories he tells make your hair curl.

Wanna be a number? use a MD; wanna be a customer use an indy? 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

I wouldn't let an MD touch a push bike and if you want to blow money set fire to it as 30 years in the car trade md's are legal dick turpins as bad as quick fit centres and taking ten yr rangeys in MD's you need your bumps felt as they can cost enough at Indys to keep on the road without being robbed by stealers three fold! _____________________________________________________
Zambezi silver Vogue Se unique

We've all got horror stories from Main Dealers. All I'm saying is the one Land Rover main dealer I ve used has never once tried to shaft me on buying or servicing. They are open, will show me what's wrong on the car in the workshop, and will without fail sort out any problems. They don't cost the earth and I trust them with my expensive car over any man in a shed. Perhaps because this is a dealer in a small rural town with a background as an agricultural engineer along with a loyal customer base. Sure they're part of a big group now, but the important people are still there and like to look after you. To be honest I'd only ever go to this kind of dealer, I'd never buy or have a Land Rover serviced at a large urban chain dealership.

I always use the main dealer but having said that I do know the DP as a long time personal friend. All his staff know this too which does help. But I get my Skoda (work hack) serviced at the village garage some 300 yards form my house and he always does an excellent job too.

Now, if you're talking Hellfrauds auto centres and other similar places...........not so much as a fuse thanks. Illiterate greasemonkeys in my experience. I won't even take my mountain bike there.