Service - Better at dealer or indy?

[DC850]

Originally Posted by Paul240480

^^^^ Yes Peel Common Showroom, Phil Lawden ..... or it was, not sure if hes retired and sold it on by now.....

No he's still going, Just got the wife's V70 from him in November just gone.
He has another garage near Gosport Adsa where he carries out his MOTs and servicing under the name of Elite.

But he would not service my XC90 as I didn't buy from him. :-(
So I use Swallows for that.

[Mistero]

Typical!!! I post on here how wonderful P&R Cars are and then phoned them re a job on the car.
Guess what? They're all booked up!
(Face palm)

[A lex]

Originally Posted by DC850

But he would not service my XC90 as I didn't buy from him. :-(

WTF.

Any arse with an attitude like that deserves to go out of business.

[Paul240480]

Originally Posted by DC850

No he's still going, Just got the wife's V70 from him in November just gone.
He has another garage near Gosport Adsa where he carries out his MOTs and servicing under the name of Elite.

But he would not service my XC90 as I didn't buy from him. :-(
So I use Swallows for that.

I have heard that some find him a tad abrupt..... I had a GLT saloon that I bought privately, he serviced and MOT'd that for me.

He bought the T5 I got from him back from me just before I left UK. But now you mention it, I replaced said T5 with a 240 (the one I still have) . I wanted a clutch fitted and cambelt, but he was 'fully booked'. I was 'in need' as due to leave the country... and beleived him... I had that work done by Steve at Swallows. He too is good.

Yeh I knew about Elite, Thornbrake Road rings a bell. Phil used to get his MOT's done in a garage further up Newgate Lane towards Fareham before he got his licence.

I did a reference sort of thing for him, I was a copper then.....

[DC850]

Originally Posted by Paul240480

He bought the T5 I got from him back from me just before I left UK. But now you mention it, I replaced said T5 with a 240 (the one I still have) . I wanted a clutch fitted and cambelt, but he was 'fully booked'. I was 'in need' as due to leave the country... and beleived him... I had that work done by Steve at Swallows. He too is good.....

I use Steve for all my work, even though as I purchased the wife's car from Phil, he would now do the work on the XC90. But when the wife's car went in for a couple of things on the warrantee. We ask what was done, the bloke at the garage (Elite) didn't know. So we rang Phil and left a number of messages (in Feb) still waiting for the return call.

As for Steve. had a strange failure of the full dash no dials, lights, centre console, central locking and electrical windows working. I pulled a few fuses to check but found none blown, but the system did come back on line. (reset I think when fuse pulled). Talk to Steve, he hooked the car up to the computer and spent a good half hour checking and retesting the whole system. And as I use him for all my work on two Volvos the cost was £0 yes no charge.

He's got my work while I drive volvos Plus Steve's garage is within walking distance from my house.

Do not get me wrong I found Phil to be a nice chap, (Ex-RN myself) but I think its becoming a hobby type business for him. And if I did get the response, I would of continued to use him for the wife's car.

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Clan

the retail of 0w/50 is around £13 a litre so with filter is going to be just over £100 alone with tax .

I strongly disagree with the above in red , You are a bit out of date with the knowledge and technology required these days :-) Some independants do pay to go on volvo courses however, and have the correct equipment so seek those out .. NOBODY has more knowledge than the dealer they are in direct contact with volvo and their problems on a daily basis ..

Maybe times have changed. When I bought my 1991 940 TD the main dealer in Dulwich told me Volvo said it had to go to a diesel specialist for a repair as they did not have the expertise to do it, and they could take it and add on 10% or I could take it to them myself and save a bit of money.

My present indi does have more knowledge than the main dealer. He's always repairing stuff the main dealer will tell you is unrepairable and fixing cars that the main dealer has failed to do.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

Maybe times have changed. When I bought my 1991 940 TD the main dealer in Dulwich told me Volvo said it had to go to a diesel specialist for a repair as they did not have the expertise to do it, and they could take it and add on 10% or I could take it to them myself and save a bit of money.

My present indi does have more knowledge than the main dealer. He's always repairing stuff the main dealer will tell you is unrepairable and fixing cars that the main dealer has failed to do.

I remember when the 940 diesel came out , the only diesel before then was the 340 and only sold in Ireland , As it was a VW van engine ... at that time that was probably the best move , send it to the experts ! There is no way Volvo UK would have told them to sub contract it though .. The dealars all had the tools and the training ...

[Alfredtupper]

Originally Posted by volvo for ever

me personally would use volvo garage ,,the indy chaps ok at oil and filters but at problems they usaually send to volvo deallership

What a crock of poo my local indy has all the diagnostic kit that the stealers have and no doubt the same goes for most of the decent indys plus there all ex main dealer guys with years of experiance ...

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Alfredtupper

What a crock of poo my local indy has all the diagnostic kit that the stealers have and no doubt the same goes for most of the decent indys plus there all ex main dealer guys with years of experiance ...

I know of an independant in a big city which advertises as having volvo trained mechanics and also that they use genuine volvo parts .. The former was true in 1990 which isnt much good now , and when i see a car they have previously serviced it certainly doesnt have genuine volvo parts ... also they charge more than retail price for parts .( i they do happen to be genuine volvo parts i guess ! ) one car they charged £800 for fitting just one new diesel injector ..You have to be careful unless you either know them well or at least check what they are doing and fitting ..

[Alfredtupper]

Originally Posted by Clan

I know of an independant in a big city which advertises as having volvo trained mechanics and also that they use genuine volvo parts .. The former was true in 1990 which isnt much good now , and when i see a car they have previously serviced it certainly doesnt have genuine volvo parts ... also they charge more than retail price for parts .( i they do happen to be genuine volvo parts i guess ! ) one car they charged £800 for fitting just one new diesel injector ..You have to be careful unless you either know them well or at least check what they are doing and fitting ..

And dodgy and incompetent main stealers are unknown in volvo land are they ?