Anyone tried NVS - National Vehicle Servicing

[Cheeky]

Just booked my wife's A160 in for a service with these guys. www.nationalvehicleservicing.com

Apparently they are main dealer trained technicians, carry out exact manufacturers service schedules and use genuine parts. ..and they come to you and do the service outside your home or work...

Been quoted £210 incl. for a "B" service!

Anyone tried them? Feedback wanted....

 

[Cheeky]

Excellent Service - Recommended

Service technician arrived prompty in his high tech van and carried out the service on our front drive. The B service was carried out to Mercedes service schedule using genuine Mercedes parts. Total Cost £179.00 plus VAT. (Stealers wanted £489.00 for the same job - lol).

By the way, Service technician is a fully trained Mercedes employee of 13 years for a dealership in the Oxfordshire area and now works here with other ex-main dealer trained technicians from BMW & Renault, to provide this excellent at home or at work service.

Highly recommended.

 

[jberks]

Sounds ok - but - how do you guarantee that they have up to date factory trained technicians on your particular make? They are presumably not suggesting that they have a van and mechanic for every separate make? I would assume this is not economically viable. What stops them sending you a BMW or Ford trained guy?

To be honest, any decent mechanic with the right info and kit should be fine for servicing. It isn't rocket science and basic servicing these days is actually simpler that it's ever been. No plugs, no points, no grease nipples to worry about any more. Pretty much plug in the ECU (half the guys on the forum have appropriate laptops), change the oil and a couple of filters and job done.

My hesitation comes when you have a specific technical problem where they require longer term diagnostic. An indie can park your car in their workshop, leave it plugged in and running for the day if necessary etc. A mobile guy has to move to his next job, or else charge you by the hour for possibly several day's work (which he won't be free to do).

The prices, whilst good, are no better than I get at my indie and whilst this may be naive, I believe that by establishing myself as a good customer, by giving him all my service and maintenance work, he will be better disposed to go the extra yard if I do have a serious problem. All too often I hear of garages 'having a go' failing and handing the car back still faulty. This is when you really need a friend in the business. I'm just not so sure a mobile tech, no matter how skilled and willing, could be as helpful.

Also 'National' is an ambition - "London Vehicle Servicing" might be a better name at present!
Anyway, what happened to Hometune??

 

[Cheeky]

Recommended

The advantages of a mobile mechanic is that they come to you, you can watch what they are doing to make sure the job is done properly, and are generally cheaper.

They provide a schedule of all the work that is carried out to the exact manufacturers specification using genuine parts. They are equipped with all the latest diagnostic software for your car. What more can you ask for.

My wife and I are extremely happy with this service and would like to pass our good experience with this company for the benefit of others.
:-D

 

[jberks]

Absolutely, and I'm not knocking your choice and appreciate you taking the time to pass on your experience. Recommendation is always worth far more than a fancy web site after all. So please don't take my comments as a critisism of either your recommendation or the firm in question. I'm sure this firm is excellent. It is certainly going the extra yard to demonstrate their integrity and as you say, you can watch. My concern is more a question around the mobile guys in general.

I'm not so sure they are any cheaper than a garage based indie, but that's fine as if they were, I'd be questioning the quality of work they did. It is certainly very reasonable and I'm sure the quality of servicing work done is every bit as good as either an indie or for that matter, the dealer. Also the convenience of them coming to you is great I'm sure. Dragging over to the indie and then paying for the loan car is a pain.

My hesitation is if it requires longer term or more complex work. I've had a couple of occasions where my car has had to go into the workshops for major diagnostics over several days and clearly this would be impossible for a mobile guy to handle. No critisism of his skills or kit, but logistically he simply couldn't do it, it would cost him (or you) a fortune as he can only work on one car at a time and the bloke has to earn a living. It's really down to what value you put on a long term established relationship. In theory it shouldn't make any difference, but I've always suspected it may when the chips are down. As a fussy owner, I do take the odd liberty with garages from time to time, such as calling in at 5pm with a 'funny noise', so I rely on the fact that they see me as a long term loyal customer and tolerate me.

 

[Rory]

My issue with this kind of setup would be that they wouldn't know about all the service advisory's/ updates etc which need to be done when the car is serviced.