What is the difference between my current Land Rover Dealer and a Land Rover Service Centre.
Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre is the first and only independent Land Rover Approved Service Centre in the North East of England to be appointed by Land Rover.
Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre concentrates on the servicing and repair of your Land Rover. We do not sell cars, your Land Rover dealer sells cars.....this is the only difference between your current Land Rover Dealer and Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre.
At Team Valley Land Rover you can have your full manufacturer service - maintaining your full manufacturer service history; you will have your official Land Rover service stamps in your service record book, this is irrespective of which Land Rover Dealer you bought your Land Rover from, or which Land Rover Dealer last serviced your Land Rover.
Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre has exactly the same rights, privileges and responsibilities to Land Rover UK as the Aftersales function of the Land Rover Dealer where you may have bought your car from. Both Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre and the Dealers’ Aftersales have the same requirements to meet from Land Rover UK and are be checked and audited in the same way.
Over the next few weeks you will see the official Land Rover external signage installed on our building.
To become authorised by Land Rover UK, Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre had to provide Land Rover with over 400 evidences (the provision of over 500 Land Rover special tools is just one evidence!) and pass an extensive and exhaustive audit which is carried out by an audit team which was entirely independent of Land Rover. All this is designed to ensure that the Land Rover driver can rely on the highest standard of service from Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre.
Both the Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre and Dealers Aftersales have the same authority to:-
- service your Land Rover (maintaining your Full Manufacturer Service History)
- carry out all your warranty work on behalf of Land Rover UK
- carry out any VIP pack work
- check for outstanding recalls and carry out your recall work
- supply the full range of genuine parts directly from Land Rover UK.
Team Valley Land Rover believes its operation offers the Land Rover Driver a competitive price advantage over your current Land Rover Dealer why not contact us on 0191 4877361 for a quote.
How could Team Valley Land Rover become a Land Rover Service Centre
In October 2003 European legislation saw a change in the Block Exemption Regulation which had previously allowed vehicle manufacturers to restrict the number of Authorised Service Centres in a particular area – these Authorised Service Centres were usually incorporated within the dealers from which you bought your car. The Block Exemption changes were designed to bring about greater competition within the servicing and maintenance of cars within the European Union with the purpose of providing greater levels of customer service and reduce the cost of vehicle service and maintenance to the customer.
Team Valley Land Rover has met all the requirements of Land Rover and has been appointed as an Authorised Service Centre, able to carry out all the Aftersales work on your car as a full partner in the Aftersales Network of Land Rover.
Below is an explanation of the legislation which has allowed Team Valley Land Rover the begin trading at Gateshead as an Authorised Repairer; in competition with the current Land Rover Dealers in the North East.
The technical explanation
(European and UK legal position) What it means for customers of Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre
The BER (Block Exemption Regulation of the European Union which was introduced to all member countries in October 2003 after a 12 month transition period) of the Automotive Business, introduces the Authorised repairer as a new type of operator meaning a provider of service, repair and maintenance services for motor vehicles operating within the distribution system set up by the supplier of motor vehicles (Article 1(1)(1) of the BER). The supplier is in general the vehicle manufacturer or its importers – in this instance the supplier is Land Rover UK.
It is, under BER, possible for an operator to be a member of the network of a vehicle manufacturer and select to only service, repair and maintain motor vehicles as well as distribute spare parts.
With respect to service, repair and maintenance, one of the policy objectives of Regulation 1400/2002 was to enable Authorised repairers to concentrate on aftersales services only [without being obliged to also sell new cars of the brand, Article 4(1)(h) and recital 22 of the Regulation]
Where the market share of the car maker and its Authorised repair network exceeds 30% (as in the case of Land Rover), the Regulation only exempts (allows) the use of such selection criteria that are of purely qualitative nature (cf. Articles 3(1) and 1(1)(h) of the Regulation], the Authorised Repairer is appointed to the network of a manufacturer as part of a qualitative selective distribution channel.
Qualitative selective distribution means that the manufacturer appoints the distribution partners (Authorised Repairer) on the basis of selection criteria which are objectively necessary with a view to the nature of the product and the service in question [Article 1(1)(h) of the Regulation].
It also means that such purely qualitative criteria must be set out and applied in a uniform and non-discriminatory manner [Ibid].
From this it follows that manufacturers who wish to operate a qualitative selective system (as Land Rover does) that meets the conditions for block exemption under Article 3(1), must admit all candidates who fulfill the required qualitative criteria to their networks of Authorised Repairers. The rationale of this approach of the Regulation is to enable market forces to determine the density of the Authorised Repairer networks and the location of repair outlets in accordance with local demand, so that consumers can benefit from certified aftersales services in their proximity and effective competition between Authorised Repairers.
The BER offers the distributor (the Dealer) of new vehicles the possibility to provide after sales service through Authorised Repairers of the brand (Article 4(1)(g) of the new BER). In many cases the distributor will continue to exercise both activities i.e. they will at the same time sell new vehicles as distributor and repair and maintain vehicles as Authorised Repairer.
A service business which specialises in Land Rovers has the opportunity of becoming a Land Rover Service Centre, which includes Servicing, Repairing and offering full warranty services as part of the official Land Rover Dealer network.
Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre is a full member of the Land Rover Network for Service, repair and general maintenance (supplying Land Rover warranty, Genuine parts etc) though is not obliged to also sell new Land Rovers. Any customer with a Land Rover can use Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre and receive the full services of a Land Rover Service Centre network partner.
To become a Land Rover Service Centre we had to meet a significant number of quality requirements (commonly referred to as Standards) which are issued by Land Rover.
The Standards which Land Rover requires its Service Centres to meet are significant in number, depth and quality. They are judged necessary to protect the interests of the customer and their vehicle.
Because Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre meets or exceeds the Standards required by Land Rover, Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre was offered to become a member of the Land Rover network – with exactly the same rights, privileges and requirements as the current Land Rover Service Centres in the North East.
The standards are audited for Land Rover by independent auditors.
You as a customer now have a choice in the North East about which official Land Rover Service Centre you use for your service, repair, warranty and parts business – that is, all your Land Rover Service Requirements.
A full function Land Rover Dealer (who sells new cars and also provides service and repair) is a Service Centre when it comes to supplying you with your service, repair, warranty and parts business in exactly the same way as Team Valley Land Rover Service Centre.
