Just curious what people are paying for a yearly service? I have a 22 supersport s and have just got the normal yearly service done, no brake fluid, so not the 2 yearly one. It was done at Dundee which i know is part of the glasgow/preston/manchester/worcester group. I was just wondering if I was getting bent over because im in scotland. £377 for a yearly service. I was expecting around the £250 mark but that was taking the piss. And before anyone says do it yourself, i am more than capable but I wanted to keep the full service history on the bike electronically come resale time. However today I lost my cool and I kicked off a bit. £100 on parts, 215 on labour ( 2 hours) and then VAT on top. Ducati have lost a customer today I'm afraid, and I've got 2 of them.
Yes,it's getting silly now, but talking to other riders on other brands they to are very pricey .Not sure theirs much difference between Ducati and others.
I paid £374 at Chris Walker in June for my V4PP, annual service, engine oil and filter, brake and clutch fluid changed and MOT, I was there about 3 hours including them taking it down the road for the MOT as they don't do them. So does make yours seem a bit pricey I'm afraid
See if I had had all that done I wouldn't mind, but just for an oil change, a health check and a look over. Crazy.
I posted this in another thread on service charges the other day but I’ll post it here too. You can see for yourself what Ducati state as the time for the service and it’s nigh on impossible to actually get done (thoroughly and diligently) everything that’s on the sheet within that time. I don’t think 2 hrs is unreasonable. I suspect what you’re objecting to is the hourly rate charged and the cost of the parts. Again £100 for the oil, filter, sundries & environmental disposal charges doesn’t seem unreasonable. However, as others have said, those rates are not vastly different from what other premium marques charge. I can’t even begin to think what the overheads of having a Ducati dealership complete with showroom, stock, clothing etc etc and all in the Ducati branding must be, horrendous I’m sure. If the dealership can’t make a profit then they’ll close down. If they close down you then have to factor in additional costs to get the bike to another dealer some distance away, or use an independent who doesn’t have the overheads an official franchised dealer has.
I posted a thread last week which touches on the the Glasgow dealer charging over twice the price that Ducati in Carlisle do. The thread is titled " Taking the piss"
2 hours labour for an oil change? On the STrom if I don't do it myself, my man charges about £60.00. That's for Motul oil and HiFlo filter including labour. It probably takes him 20 minutes to drain, change the filter, fill and run and check. Free cuppa too! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.
Indi service once bike is out of warranty is my approach. I get the Ducati digital service record up to a point but IMHO, if buying a used bike out of warranty, I would have just as much faith in a bike serviced by a reputable indi mechanic than a franchised dealership.
I'm with you there, but I reckon that all those costs should be reflected in the bike-sale price only. I'd rather the 'garage' side of the dealer were a separate non-bling operation where you could feel like there would be value for money.
gonna ring round a few other dealers today just to get so Exactly, you pay a premium when you buy, get humped when you do trade in, and again to keep the servicing record up to date.
I don't think that it is unique to Ducati, although some of the work on valves is more difficult and takes longer. The only thing I would say is buy older and either use an independant or do it yourself. I worked at a Honda dealer many, many moons ago. Getting bikes in and on the stand, together with cleaning up after the last job and putting tools away clean. takes time and although not chargeable to your specific job, still has to be made up. Wages, tools, diagnostics, NI, insurance, electricity and heating in the Winter, all have to somehow get covered. If it was such good business, more and more dealers would be opening up. Instead, closing down is the fashion. I certainly would not want to put money into any bike dealer! Bristol has Fowlers for most makes, with Riders for Ducati and Harley. I dunno if they really make much money, but with land at such mad prices, the temptation to give it an "Ahh, Fuck It" and just sell up must be very strong! I think now that PP for housing is almost a dead cert in Bristol, so demolition and building flats must be a temptation!
If that were the case, then there wouldn't be any dealers. The workshop tends to be the bread and butter of keeping a shop going. Margins on new bikes are poor at best before discounts and freebies that get sorted just to sell a machine. Workshop overheads are likely to be the highest of the operation in terms of resource, tooling, operating costs and labour. Most shops charge internally for finance reasons etc. so sales get charged by the workshop and parts, service get charged for parts that go into a job etc. The only measurable income of a workshop is labour and that has to cover the costs mentioned already, before the "surplus" is thrown into the pot to finance the rest of the operation. Good labour is hard to find and even harder to keep, so wages tend to be higher than "front of house" where they tend to be on a bonus structure.
I don't know, but I would think that covering the warranty period servicing for free would drive up the price of a new bike by enough to put people off. What seems to work is making selling new bikes (cars, or whatever) mad cheap. All these PCP deals (that I think are a rip) naking buying new seem real cheap and affordable seems to work. I would think that "front-loading" all the servicing cost for the next three or more years would just kill sales! Remember, many people don't seem to keep their bikes more than a year or two, judging by the used stock that I see in dealers!
So this morning i phoned around to see if my feelings were justified. So apart from a new sump plug which was £10 I just had a normal service. £377. Carlisle £279, Leeds £320 Sunderland £348. Manchester 3-350. (Same group) I just struggle with the disparity and being penalised because my nearest dealer (which is still 3.5 hrs away from me) is prepared to milk their customers dry. I am well aware of the "prestige mark" tax that comes with these things and none of us are struggling or we would pick cheaper bikes, but I think people have lost site of what you are getting for your money. I.e. not a fuckin lot. Im up and down the country a bit so will be using Carlisle for any other issues I have. As they were by far the cheapest by some margin. Think Ill be looking at a service reset tool and just do it myself as the cost of that will pay for itself in one service almost
Sadly it’s also about what your brain tells you you used to pay. I was shocked when a set of tyres cost me £400, my brain was telling me a front was about £80-100 and a rear £120-£150. Sadly inflation, wages and overheads drive prices up beyond ‘brain cost’. Bikes are expensive hobbies…
Last year when I had my Monster I was charged £175 for the first year service. That was with 10% discount with buying the bike from that dealer. J&S Carlisle. Laurence will not take your eyes out !
