Mo Dealers, Mo Problems | Main Dealers vs. Independents
Servicing
Over the last few years, a very clear pattern has emerged. Pretty much every new customer who walks through our door arrives armed with a main dealer horror story. Some of the team here have come through what I like to call “the system”, and when you mix their insider knowledge with my own time as a Service Advisor in the VAG world, you start to see how the sausage is made. Unfortunately, it’s not pretty.
As you can imagine, the difference between a main dealer and an independent garage like Hero Motor Company, is a very broad topic. So for the sake of brevity and digestibility, we’ll split this banquet into three courses: Service, Workshop and Sales.
Let’s start with Servicing and the obvious talking point, cost. Taking your car to a main dealer will cost more. Always. Whether you’re comparing it to an independent specialist like us, or the mythical “Fred in a shed”, the difference is usually enough to make your wallet wince. Main dealers have enormous overheads, shiny showrooms, and corporate profit targets to hit, which is why labour rates now comfortably live in the hundreds. Our local BMW and Porsche dealerships are currently charging around £200 an hour plus VAT. Yes, really.
Now onto Service Advisors and bonuses—because nothing says “customer-first” quite like a sales target. Most main dealers operate a bonus structure that rewards upselling, and while it varies slightly between brands, the principle remains the same.
Complimentary health checks are a staple of main dealers and, to be fair, they’re not entirely evil. For the average motorist who views their car as an appliance rather than a hobby, they serve a purpose. Tyres, brakes, oil levels, someone checks them and lets you know if something looks amiss. The technician feeds this information back to the Service Advisor, who then translates it into English for the customer.
These health checks usually use a traffic-light system. Green is good, amber is “keep an eye on it”, and red is “fix this now or the car will absolutely grenade itself and land you on the six o’clock news”. It’s the red work that really matters, because that’s what bonuses are built on. Workshops are usually at full capacity, so getting approval for anything non-essential is like trying to get Glastonbury tickets. As a result, advisors tend to focus heavily on red work, because that’s what pays. Pushing the workshop controller for amber work just isn’t worth the friction it causes.
Service plans are another favourite. On paper, they can save you £70–£150 over a typical three-year ownership period, and if your car is still under warranty, they often make a lot of sense. However, selling service plans is also a massive part of a Service Advisor’s bonus. In some dealerships, it even impacts other department’s bonuses too. Fail to sell enough plans and suddenly everyone’s very quiet at lunch.
Then there are customer satisfaction surveys. These are taken extremely seriously. A poor survey score doesn’t just hit the Service Advisor’s bonus, it can cost the dealership money as well as a slap on the wrist from the manufacturer. The important thing to understand is that these surveys don’t measure the quality and price of the repair, but whether the Service Advisor was good at their job. Tea, smiles, and polite phone calls often count for more than the actual repair.
So while main dealers certainly have their place, it’s worth understanding the mechanics behind the scenes. Because once you do, a lot of those “main dealer tales of woe” suddenly start to make a lot of sense.
So, Why Are Independents Different?
Independents operate in a very different universe. There are no marble floors, no corporate targets, and no bonus structure hinging on whether you bought a service plan or accepted “urgent” work. Quite simply, if we don’t do a good job and treat customers fairly, they don’t come back.
Without the pressure of upselling or manufacturer set targets, independent garages like us can focus on what actually matters: doing right by the customer and fixing cars properly. We can focus on clear, friendly communication, advising honestly, and prioritising work based on real-world driving rather than a traffic-light spreadsheet. Preventative maintenance gets discussed, not ignored, and decisions are made on engineering sense and maintaining the integrity of your investment, not its bonus earning potential.
Labour rates are lower, conversations are more transparent, and you’ll usually deal with the same people every time. It’s less polished, though we try our best, but it’s also more personal, more flexible, and far less likely to leave you wondering how a simple service turned into a four-figure invoice.
In short, independents survive on trust, not targets. And in the long run, that tends to work rather well.