I was once talking to a guy who worked for a Toyota dealership. He came out with an interesting point ie that main dealers (of any marque) generally only see new cars or cars less than three years old and mostly do routine servicing so that if a problem car arrives they have no experience of many faults even though they get showered with technical notices by the manufacturer (which nobody reads). His view was that once out of warranty you should look for a good independent specialist who will be used to dealing with "problems" rather than just oil changes.

Makes sense?

I would agree with that 100%

Iain

Sounds sensible to me.

I disagree with that as I see many Land Rover cars going to the main dealer from independents who can't sort a specific problem. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

IME it depends on the dealer. Str@tst0nes etc, no, Duckworths no problem.  10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

My local main LR dealer allows customer to supply own oil, obviously the correct spec, this helps greatly to reduce costs.

A few years ago when I owned (from new) a well known make 4x4 I took it to main dealer for 1st annual service,
0-30 fully synthetic was correct oil and I found dealer was using bulk 5-30 semi synthetic.
His explanation was that this is a good enough oil and is perfectly ok.
Receptionist looked blank when I complained and told him reason for 0-30 was that new model had completely new engine and now had timing chain instead of belt. New generation engine, new spec oil.

In other words, main dealer uses wrong oil and warranty OK, I use correct oil and warranty void.
Dealer recently lost franchise (5 or 6 branches) for this make. All FL2's (3) Gone
2011 Mercedes C180 CGI Gone
FL2 GS Auto SD with heated leather, factory tints, alloy spare and a few other bits.

Porsche dealers allow you to bring your own oil for a service although it has to be Mobil 1 fully synth to keep the warranty. I have never understood why they do this as they could presumably buy it cheaper than you can anyway and still make something on it (and it takes 8+ litres for a 911!). Whenever I put a Freelander into the dealer for a service I am "given" a 1 litre bottle of castrol "edge" presumably for topping up. I never have to open it so will soon have enough for an oil change.

Actually I'd put it the other way round, my indie deals with stuff that the dealer can't hack. Forgot how much work is subbed out to him. Of course he charges the dealer his labour rate of £x per hour, they charge customer £2x per hour.