Dealers - Rip Off merchants ?

[JAMSXR]

Had my bike booked in for a few parts being fitted at steve jordan Suzuki, I was quoted 1.5 hours labor and a cost of £110. Decided i would give my local garage a call, been using them on and off for 5 years they also quoted 1.5 hours but a cost of £50 . I new they were more expencive but over twice the price "WTF".
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Honda SFX50 > Aprilia SR125 > Aprilia RS125 > Honda RFV400 > K4 GSXR600 > KTM Duke > C1H 636 > K3 GSXR1000 > Aprilia RSV-R > Triumph Street Triple R > Ducati 899 Panigale > Aprilia Tuono 1100 > Triumph Daytona 675R > KTM SuperDuke 1290 2.0

[froggeh]

And the worst part...
Your local guy is very often a mechanic who has been in the business for years while...

Your main dealer is a spotty work experience spod who doesn't know what the feck they are doing...

[JAMSXR]

Very true all the gyes at my local place are 30+, and have done top end re builds ect... and i have never had any problems. They are always very friendly and will do small jobs (Chain tighten) for no charge . The dealer had no time for me and apart from 1 bloke everyone was -25.
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Honda SFX50 > Aprilia SR125 > Aprilia RS125 > Honda RFV400 > K4 GSXR600 > KTM Duke > C1H 636 > K3 GSXR1000 > Aprilia RSV-R > Triumph Street Triple R > Ducati 899 Panigale > Aprilia Tuono 1100 > Triumph Daytona 675R > KTM SuperDuke 1290 2.0

[Villers]

Fact of life that the dealer will charge more, often you would belive you are getting a better service for it too. some may be better, some may just live off the fact they are the dealership and expect people to come to them.

Ive seen poor work everywhere, cars and bikes, at dealers and independant places. It boils down to who you trust (unless its a warranty issue) and where I live theres only 4 places to go to, one of which is a very disreputable bike dealer (although I did shag his bird to get my own back - despite him not doing anything to me it was a service to the local biking community I feel ).
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RS125 > CBR6 > SV650S > ZX636R > GSX1300RZ Hayabusa > 06 RSVR Mille > SV1000S > Street Triple 765 RS

[Zimbo]

Steve Jorday m/c is a very welll renowned dealer with an excellent reputation. I've never heard of your independant, of course, if he gives excellent service keep using him, but I'm pretty sure you'd get more backup from Jordans if things go wrong, and their mechanics will have had specialised dealer training and have all the right service tools and diagnostic equipment, all of which costs.

[Jack_Cheese]

I Kind of agree with zimbo here, while the independant mechanic has experience (good for low tech bikes) he often won't have the tools necessary to work on more modern bikes. By this i mean the special tools that are produced, and the diagnostics computers.

However, i will never ever use a main dealer. When i last took my bike to an independant dealer, i was ofered a cup of coffee and a selection of mags to read while my bike was MOTd, and since i was damn near skint, the MOT charge was somewhat reduced. A main dealer would have done none of those things. Another thing which is always lacking at a main dealer is the personal touch. Phone a main dealer while they've got your bike and they have to put you on hold while they find out what your bike is, who's working on it and what's wrong with it. Phone an independant garage in the same situation, and the guy you speak to will most probably just ask you your name, and then he'll tell you all about your bike without having to ask which bike is yours.

Dealers charge more for less imho they also make money from selling bikes and customers returning for their fist service etc. and will also no doubt have rider training schemes to make money from, too. A trustworthy independant garage deserves your money more than a main dealer
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Quacker_boy: "Jack, you really are a dick!"

[nrml76]

To be fair to the dealers, they have much higher overheads and more employees to pay etc. Quality of service is a completey different issue altogether.
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Everyone who lives dies, yet not everyone who dies has lived. We take these risks not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping us.

[map]

FWIW I work on an estimate of £30 to £40 an hour for a mechanic. This gives me a ballpark figure for costs. Then add up the cost of parts. Given that any oil, plugs, etc. supplied by the garage are bulk buys so should be a lot cheaper than Joe Public can get (depends if VAT registered as well).

So at least I've and idea if I'm being ripped off.

If I read it right you're supplying the parts.
IMO the £110 is OTT. The £50 is in the right ballpark.

HTH
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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[mrchips]

Another thing is that while you're sitting in your nice dealers waiting room with your cup of tea and magazine remember that's all getting paid by you too.

I'd always trust an independant mechanic before a dealer. Fair enough you get the odd cowboy but less chance of a 16 year old putting pads in the wrong way round.
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Northern Irish? www.nibikers.com

[moonym20]

when i was using the dealer i bought my NSR off to do the work i was being charged £60 an hour labour i was told that for the bigger bikes 600cc+ it was £90!
my other local mech who now does all my work is a honda trained mech so is his buddy and labour there is £30 - £35 an hour

the only good thing with dealers is that they have all the knowlage, training and tools.... the reason i am against bikes controlled by ECU's etc.. is that only a registered dealer can really play with them... with high costs i was told two months ago that Aprilia charged one local dealer £18,000 for the gameboy data cartridge!
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A scientist crossed a skunk with an owl. He's got a bird that smells but doesn't give a hoot

[JAMSXR]

[G]

Often dealers do hideously over charge for a very poor service.

As mentioned above, the Jordans I would at least trust to give a good service. I've used them before for stuff on my race bike and they have a good reputation in the race paddock for knowing what they're doing.