Double dealing

My car is five years old now, perhaps a bit more. I haven’t had it that long since I didn’t buy it from new. Cars always strike me as such bad value as they lose so much of it as you drive it out of the showroom and so, when using my own money, second hand, or pre-loved is for me. 

I have been ‘writing off’ my car at £200 per month. The inverted commas are because I paid cash and so any depreciation is nominal. In a couple of years though it will owe me nothing and that is the time I will get it replaced. Until then I will continue to get it serviced at the main dealer, or will I?

I realise that is a costly option. There are much cheaper ways of maintaining your car but I feel that having the log book completed by a dealership is a worthwhile investment. I may well be wrong.

This has been a bit of a long way for a shortcut as the real reason for my story is how the dealership is using technology to keep me in contact with them and my car during its service. On booking the car in at reception I got a text to say that its service was now underway. This was all well and good yet sometime later I received a text taking me to a web page listing all of the things that they had found during the service, handley marked red for urgent and amber for less so. Each of the tyres was graded with recommendations as to when to replace them.

All part of the service yet the recommended works came with a price that was listed alongside. They made my eyes water, especially for some work on the front brakes. Although I could easily have checked the box to get the work done the prices had the opposite effect. I know it’s only business and the garage needs to make money but I am now left thinking that it is time to reconsider leaving the servicing to the dealership. It just seems such a bad practice, in fact I was quite upset by it. The text made me feel that they were trying to rip me off. Hopefully they weren’t but a customer will always remember how a business made them feel. Here I am,  a few days later and I am still feeling bad about it. 

Perhaps it’s time to take my business elsewhere.