Here is how it works with my local dealer and Ducati, You take your bike in with what you believe is a warranty claim, My dealer takes pictures of the damaged parts and files a warranty claim with Ducati, if its a week day Mon-Thur then a response is normally forthcoming within 24-48hrs which will either be yes they uphold the claim or no they won't, I will give my dealer their due, I took my bike in with a problem, they had dealt with another Ducati within the past 6 months that had the same problem and it was OK'd on warranty so they put the claim in and didn't wait for the response but did my bike anyway with no charge to me as they expected the claim to pass through as per previous issue (and yes claim was upheld). Initially it comes out of the dealers pocket and Ducati reimburse them within a year of the claim date. So if the claim is made July 2014 the dealer is likely to receive reimbursement June 2015. Ducati leave it till the last minute. If you are making a warranty claim as far as I am aware you don't have to take it to the dealer you brought it from you can use any official Ducati dealer. So if you are not happy with the service you are getting if there is another dealer near by give them a ring.
But if it's the dealer that has to stump up initially, then wait a year to get paid for it, I doubt very much another dealer would be willing to take on the claim. Unless of course there's a profit in it for them...
Here’s my (longish ) crap dealership story/saga concerning my Mitsubishi SUV being with the main dealer for 7 months, yep 7 months, when it was 2.5yrs old and had done 22k miles. I bought the car as one those “Direct from our HQ Sir” cars, which was a lie of course because it’s an ex-rental, not that I cared. It was 6mths old had done 8k miles and had 2.5yrs warranty on it so what’s not to like. I’ve got several friends in the trade so knew the game most manufacturers play with the rental companies, they can be very cheap cars so it doesn’t bother me. In fact it can be great fun buying one, the salesmen are so full of it when you start to push about the origins of these cars. Try to get them to explain why so many of their nearly new car stock (across all their branches too) have the same reg prefix and “they’re ex management cars Sir” is the most common answer you'll get, are the f*ck. It was hilarious when I bought mine, after the test driver and the Salesman insisting the car was ex-management he lifted the spare wheel cover only to reveal a Hertz “what to do in the event of an accident” pack. I said "tah dah !!!, time to discuss price I think" and he just burst out laughing. The fact is that a huge proportion of the nearly new car on sale at most of the manufacturer’s dealerships throughout the UK are ex rental. Yes they can be great value but what’s very wrong is that they can be sold as 1 owner without having to state the ex-rental/numerous driver’s part, they even register them to holding companies now too . Some owners are genuinely horrified when/if they find out and by then it’s too late and in these days of fair trading etc. it’s WRONG!!! Anyway, back to my car. It went in for a recall alternator change, they called that pm to say it was making a “funny noise” and they’d call me the next day, I’d been given a courtesy car so no worries. The next day I called in to see them and they said “it’s the new alternator Sir but when they ran it I knew straight away it wasn’t. I’ve been messing/building car engines since I was a kid and knew it was far more serious than that so suggested they run it without the belt on, so they removed it and sure enough it still sounded bearing rumble sick. I won’t bother going through the next 5 months worth of laughable mechanical theories, the head being removed twice, VVT valve gear being refitted wrong and destroying a head, new turbo etc. So now we’re 5 months in, I’d given up being pissed off after month 2, I’d put nearly 7k miles on their courtesy car and the knobhead of a Service Manager had been sacked. The new guy Paul was superb, he was a real petrol head and my car became like our own build project and I was now calling in every week for tea and to look at the latest findings. Paul had insisted Mitsubishi UK authorised (they couldn’t claim any labour cost unless every step was approved 1st) the motor was pulled out and it soon became clear the whole thing was FUBAR. The oil pick-up pipe had been fractured so had been sucking air and the more they’d run it the more damage it’d done. We both thought the mechanic (also gone) who’d fitted the alternator must have put enough pressure on the sump (trying to align the Alt. bolt holes we guessed) to cause the fracture and they’d since done nearly 100 miles “testing” it after various “repairs”. When Paul told me that he’d been asked to tell his customer that they’ll supply a complete new engine we both agreed way way more was due now. It was time to be clear & firm in what I expected from them in compensation for the crap customer service, incompetent dealership inconvenience etc. My car had been off the road for 7 months by now, even though it hadn’t actually made any difference to me really plus I’d put 9k miles on their car, that wasn’t the point. I started off by aiming high and sent Mitsubishi UK Customer Services Manager (we knew each other quite well by now) a copy of all my records plus the dealer job cards regarding the past 7 months. I told them I thought it wasn’t an unreasonable compensation request for them to replace the car with a new one. I knew it was unlikely they agree but you have to start high. They came back offering an identical replacement 6 month old car (ex-rental of course J) for which I’d need to pay £1500 towards. The cost difference then between mine and the replacement was about £6k, I offered £1000 plus I wanted a 3yr service pack FOC and that’s how we settled it. Several friends & colleagues thought I was mad for putting up with this for so long. I knew full well there’s was nothing more I could do other than record facts and call both the dealer & Mitsubishi weekly which I did and just totally refused to allow it to wind me up. Once Paul took over as Service Manager it was all sorted within 9 weeks which proved that the dealership was to blame. I asked the overall Manager of the dealership what he thought about their crap performance and what went wrong (pre Paul) and his comment was “that’s an internal matter”, yet another wanker who's long gone too.
Im talking true wholesale cost . Not including any bonus's for registration and employee incentives as a dealer isn't supporting them. They come from the manufacturer. I can buy a fiesta that's rrp of 13500 for 9k. But that's not because we have that kind of mark up its because ford have a employee scheme.
Bang on Figaro. Dealers generally won't touch ongoing warranty issues started at another dealer with a bargepole. If you take your bike into a new dealership they will want to restart the warranty claim - rediagnose etc. No dealership will 'carry over' a claim from another dealership, but as Cipid says, you're not bound to the dealer you bought it from. Classic story in point: FCL Motorcycles in Cranleigh surrey used to be an Aprilia and Yamaha delaership. Aprilia issued a warranty recall on some bike or other, and they had a customer turn up with said bike demanding warranty work be carried out immediately. Dick the owner, now long retired, politely offered to book it in for three or four weeks from said date. Bloke went nuts- crp service blah blah. Dick reminded him that he hadn't bought the bike from him, but from Motorcycle city despite using his demonstrator, so with respect sir... his own customers came first. The warranty was a recall, so there was no quibble that Aprilia in this instance would pay.
30% was wholesale. There was a separate employee scheme in place, but the outright purchase was the wholesale price but had to be bought through a dealership. Most were loathed to offer it as they made nothing, so a designated dealer was appointed. True BOM (bill of material cost) is even less that that. If a car which retails at £90,000.00 was sold to dealer for 60K, then the BOM production cost would be around 15 - 20 as in merc's case they would want to see min 100-200% markup on that depending on model. Like any employee scheme, Ford won't sell you that car for the Build cost alone, you'll find that even with that discount of yours Ford will still make some money - ultimately it cost what 10-20 million to develop a model? crash testing, certifications for all markets etc. so that'll be spread out and recovered across the model run.
bottom line is this - never think that the dealership is directly related to and thereby an extension of the manufacturer. They sell the manufacturers product that all. If you have a grievance you can take it straight to the manufacturer if the dealers' response is a poor one.
yip, used to drive my old boss bonkers, he had to sell cars to customers who worked for any subsidiary of fiat for 10%less in our case it was a company called worms which was a paper/pulp mill in fortwilliam. so he would make nothing on the sale then lose money on any warranty work. then fin would get right pissed aff come pay rise time.
No, you've got me wrong sev, I wasn't talking about ongoing warranty claims, I was talking about fresh ones. Cupid stunt suggested that you could take your bike to another dealer for a warranty claim, and I was responding to that. If you buy a bike at one dealer, then try to get warranty work done at another dealer you can rightfully expect a frosty reception.
personally i'd ask for your money back on the bike. Or ask for a straight swap for a new one in March
Im in a similar situation to the op. Had a battery fault within first 2 months ofmownership but breakdown got it going then corrosions issues which Ducati stated was acceptable. 2 months ago bone wouldn't start agin and had to be collected and taken to dealer (this wasn't the dealer I'd bought it from and so far they have been much better than dealer I bought from) and they replaced battery as it was knackered at my cost unfortunatly. I've know done a further 800 miles and the bike has developed a fueling problem where it hesitates quite physically on occasions like it's running out of fuel and others just slight surging and hesitation at constant throttle. Essentially it's horrible to ride. As a result it's being collected by Ducati breakdown again and taken to the dealer. Fingers crossed. Trouble is I'm sort of at the point where im starting not to trust the bike any More or the manufacturer
Fpmsl all these motor manufacurers making lots of money. Check their accounts, all the profit is in spares, financeand apperal, not in metal
sorry fig, misread! yes, you're right, any new dealer will want to initiate his own warranty claim. they won't carry over from one parish to another so to speak. @bradders, I know!
Remember that the VW/AUDI group make about 10 billion Euro profit P.A, yes profit, not turnover. Despite the tales of miniscule margins, which might be true for the dealers, someone is making a nice living. Actually, if the was no profit to be made at dealership level why are so many interested in getting a franchise for a flagship brand? Bikes are a mach smaller market of course.
"Ducati London" as they liked to be called, Ducati welwyn in other words have been gone for a great many years now. The site is a Volvo dealership. Oh the stories......
Ah, "Ducati Breakdown". I remember when Ducati UK sent them out to pick up my 2 month old 748S with its blown up engine and take it back to the main dealer. "Ducati Breakdown" turned out to be a local farmer who turned up in a 30 year old Range Rover with knackered suspension and an ancient motorbike trailer hooked on the back of it. Bearing in mind my bike had never seen rain and it was p!ssing it down I wasnt overly pleased that it was going to spend a couple of hours out in the open on this death trap of a car & trailer. In fact I wasnt even sure this guy was from Ducati as he looked more like he was from the local travellers park, so in the end I went with him on the trek to Ducati to make sure the bike arrived in one piece. Yeah I did wonder why they were calling themselves "Ducati London" when they were miles away from London! Glad I wasnt the only one who had problems there!
