Booking a Service

[MichaelM]

I recently phoned my local dealer to book the second annual service for my Prius.  The first question I was asked was ”How do you pay for your service?”   Not the obvious  “When would you like it done?” or “What is your registration?”  

I bought my car when Three Free Services were on offer and some drivers have a Service Plan with fixed payments so I know there are different methods of paying.

However,  why would they first ask about payment unless there was some form of preferencing of certain customers?  Surely there couldn’t be different standards or methods of servicing depending on how you paid?

[ian rooke]

Hi my dealer asked the same on my 20,000  mile service, I took it that if I had a service plan the next question was going to be  "what's the reg number" as I don't  have a service plan the next question was" what's the reg number " So it did seem to be a redundant question  never thought of it that way until you questioned it. 

[CPN]

It could just be something as innocent as that they have 2 lists to look up your car on? Those who are plan/prepaid and those who are not; just saving time looking you up?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[FROSTYBALLS]

Doubt whether there is anything untoward in that question being asked first. We've had service plans on our last three Toyotas and a service pack on our current Hyundai, and the question always occurs at some point in the conversation.

[Parts-King]

1 hour ago, MichaelM said:

 

However,  why would they first ask about payment unless there was some form of preferencing of certain customers?  Surely there couldn’t be different standards or methods of servicing depending on how you paid?

You are over thinking things, there is no conspiracy

When you ring up one of the first questions you will be asked is your registration number, this is asked to start the job card process off, depending on how the dealer works, one of the next questions is how do you pay. This is so the job card/invoice is set up correctly, and if you have free servicing or some sort of plan, it enables the service advisor to set the job card to the correct account code, otherwise, there is a chance that the job card is set "cash" but in fact you have a "service plan" and the account will be different. You may then end up being presented with an invoice when in fact you should not have had a bill, it looks unprofessional, embarrassing and takes up extra time to re-invoice and faff about with. The modern way to pay for servicing is via service plans, no problem if it does not suit you, but it does suit the dealer for you to pay this way for many reasons, if you are a cash customer, they can then explain the features and benefits of service plans

So no conspiracy, just a process that takes place. The next big thing will be explaining GDPR and what it means as a customer/dealer relationship, most people are not too interested in GDPR, but it is very important to the dealer to get that right, so you will be asked. 

Kingo

 

[MichaelM]

1 hour ago, Parts-King said:

You are over thinking things, there is no conspiracy

When you ring up one of the first questions you will be asked is your registration number, this is asked to start the job card process off, depending on how the dealer works, one of the next questions is how do you pay. This is so the job card/invoice is set up correctly, and if you have free servicing or some sort of plan, it enables the service advisor to set the job card to the correct account code, otherwise, there is a chance that the job card is set "cash" but in fact you have a "service plan" and the account will be different. You may then end up being presented with an invoice when in fact you should not have had a bill, it looks unprofessional, embarrassing and takes up extra time to re-invoice and faff about with. The modern way to pay for servicing is via service plans, no problem if it does not suit you, but it does suit the dealer for you to pay this way for many reasons, if you are a cash customer, they can then explain the features and benefits of service plans

So no conspiracy, just a process that takes place. The next big thing will be explaining GDPR and what it means as a customer/dealer relationship, most people are not too interested in GDPR, but it is very important to the dealer to get that right, so you will be asked. 

Kingo

 

This is reassuring. 

Last year the service department did present me with an invoice and it took a bit of persuading that I was entitled to a free service.   So hopefully this year things will be easier.

[Parts-King]

This used to happen all the time in the bad old days, especially from fleet customers. They book the car in, collect the car, then tell the advisor that it is a fleet car and the fleet company will be paying! Then the advisor would have to start ringing round to get authority for payment, then you get authority but the fleet company didnt hold an account...........nightmare!!! 

So most dealerships (any franchise) will have processes to handle inbound phone calls and bookings, that way, they ensure legal compliance and that customers are charged correctly 

[Starmans]

I got my Gen 4 '67 in December last year and now am nearly at 9500 miles - Can anyone confirm the service interval?

I'm assuming its 10,000 and the car will start warning me shortly.

[Parts-King]

3 minutes ago, Starmans said:

I got my Gen 4 '67 in December last year and now am nearly at 9500 miles - Can anyone confirm the service interval?

I'm assuming its 10,000 and the car will start warning me shortly.

10,000 miles or 12 months, whichever is the sooner

Kingo  

[PeteB]

2 hours ago, Starmans said:

I got my Gen 4 '67 in December last year and now am nearly at 9500 miles - Can anyone confirm the service interval?

I'm assuming its 10,000 and the car will start warning me shortly.

I don't think the car warns about impending services - mine certainly hasn't and it's due for it's 30k soon.

[Starmans]

13 minutes ago, PeteB said:

I don't think the car warns about impending services - mine certainly hasn't and it's due for it's 30k soon.

That's interesting I thought every new car for nearly 10 years notified of service due - I'll find out soon I suppose.

Its a company car so I'll be contacting the transport department and seeing what they state 🙂

[FROSTYBALLS]

With Toyota, some diesel models had oil change reminders but other variants didn't. Our 2015 i20 is the first car we've had which has a service reminder, and it is the 7th car we've had in the last ten years.