Chauffeur Andy Dubberley tells TheChauffeur.com how, and why he made the jump from operating the popular S-Class to buying a fleet of BMW 7-Series…
“It’s a bit odd to be honest – I woke up one morning and decided I wanted a 7-Series!
Well, it wasn’t quite as spontaneous as that, but I have gone from someone who’s never shown one iota of interest in the big ‘Beemer’, to buying two of the brutes in six months, and I’m as happy as a pig in the mucky stuff as a result.
I’m going to blame a bloke called Alan for getting me interested in a badge change – we were on a driving course together and he’d blagged the use of a 7-Series for a few days. I’d seen a couple of the then brand-new shapes back in early 2016, but at that point there were very few around and there was more chance of seeing a National Express coach in the inside lane than witnessing a 7 out and about.
The 7-Series had always been a bit of a mystery to me and it certainly wasn’t a motor I’d ever had any inclination to buy. If I’m absolutely honest, every mention of a 7 series seemed to come with horror stories about catastrophic major component failures and lack of manufacturer support – plenty of reasons to do a Mo Farrah in the opposite direction. But, here was Alan, an experienced fleet manager with an unbiased view and a gorgeous long wheelbase 7 with more wow factor than you could shake a stick at.
Fast forward a few weeks and I’m driving one home from an East Midlands dealership with the biggest grin you can possibly imagine. Hand on heart, that evening was the most excited I’d been behind the wheel since I got my first, very orange Mini Clubman with one bucket seat and no air filter. Perhaps I’ve lived a sheltered life but when I pulled-up on my drive that night I felt like I finally owned the ultimate chauffeur car and months later, I still do!
It’s important for me to say that I’ve never had any loyalty to a particular brand, the cars our little firm has chosen have always been what suited our clients and our business, but like thousands of other chauffeurs, this invariably meant the pointy star.
I can be pretty succinct here because our clients fell in love with the 7-Series as much as I already had. I can, without doubt, say that we’ve never bought a car that made such an impact on those who use our services, the proof being that we had little choice but to purchase a second 7 to match just a few months later.
In the time we’ve been running the 7’s there’s been one annoyance that’s trumped all others and that’s the attitude of some chauffeur colleagues. ‘There’s no call for them in our industry’, ‘everybody wants a S-Class’, ‘wrong badge’…bore bore, yawn yawn.
For me personally, part of the appeal is having something different, especially in the Big Smoke where S classes are almost as common as black cabs thanks to the influx of pretend chauffeurs, but I find the Beemer’s presence turning heads like the S did in days gone by, (and I say that as someone who still runs a S as well).
So, how about the realities of using the 7 for our job? Another over-used phase is ‘it’s a driver’s car, not a passenger’s car’, but that is utter piffle because it’s most definitely both! The passenger experience is utterly breathtaking and we’ve not encountered any negative comments whatsoever. Quite the opposite in fact. We have regular clients who have been driven in the 7’s dozens of times now, who still suddenly look up halfway through a journey and feel the need to remind me just how much they love the car or how supremely comfortable it is.
The boot space is really practical and how it should be on such a beast of a chauffeur car. The bonus is the depth, it means you can fit even large hard cases on their edges, which makes full use of the space provided. There is a downside here though, there’s hardly any worthwhile storage under the boot mat so trying to find somewhere to discreetly stow all the vital car cleaning kit is almost impossible. That’s not a life changer of course but it is a bit of an annoyance in our line of work.
There’s a ton of gadgetry inside the 7, some phenomenal and some completely gimmicky, gimmicky but fun! Take the gesture controls for instance – you have a volume knob on the audio unit and another control of the steering wheel but that’s so yesterday when a spin of your finger in mid-air can turn the music up or down and change stations. Is it really necessary, heck no, but it’s a great talking point and clients love a demo.
The rear cabin is what matters in our game and the 7-Series LWB supplies the wow factor by the ton load. In both our 7’s we’ve opted for light leather and perhaps this adds to the overall impression and the reason clients have likened it to first class air travel or a private jet interior many times, it really is quite special.
There’s various trim levels but none can remotely be referred to as ‘basic’, what comes as so-called ‘standard’ will be way more than enough for many Chauffeurs. The tablet in the rear arm rest is indeed a nice touch and adds to the air of sheer opulence rear seat passengers experience with reclining seats, electric blinds, separate temperature controls and so forth.
We run a 730Ld and a 740Ld M Sport and in laymans terms there’s not a huge difference in fuel consumption when compared with our S320 diesel, certainly not enough to either rave about or cry over. Services flag-up about every 20,000 miles and main dealers are much of a muchness with Merc on price. One very irritating thing is the way the service symbol flashes up for various different reasons; on most cars the service indicator comes on and everything that needs doing at the time is encompassed within that service. On the 7 the service symbol lights up but it might be for something like a brake fluid change and that means another visit to the dealership in between services. Not a huge issue but when you want as little time off the road as possible in our trade, it is undoubtedly a pain and it’s because some things are related to time rather than mileage. It takes a bit of getting used to and when the service indicator appears it’s necessary to look through the menu to see what needs doing.
Sadly, most BMW dealerships are no more savvy about the chauffeur industry than Mercedes and the biggest issue we’ve found is trying to match time and mileage to book a service at the correct time. If you’re still within the free servicing period, you’ve got to have the car serviced with under a thousand miles left until it’s due or no more than a thousand over. This would be fine if you could call a dealership just a few days before to get a slot but they never have any short notice availability so trying to time everything right is nigh on impossible.
It’s only because we’ve now got an extremely understanding and accommodating service manager at a dealership who appreciates this dilemma, that the servicing schedule has been adhered to at the exact time. It really would be great to walk into any dealership, selling any marque and find sales or service staff who really understand what it’s like running their cars for our business but we live in hope.
Truth is, the 7 is still a niche car in the chauffeur industry and it shouldn’t be. In my own humble opinion it’s fear of the unknown for many Chauffeurs and I will gladly include myself in that bracket if we go back a year. Whilst Chauffeurs can reel off endless facts and figures about the S-Class from price to full specs, I’m still constantly coming across numerous colleagues who don’t even realise that the 7 now comes with a three year, unlimited mileage warranty to match Mercedes. Few know they also have a free servicing package up to 50,000 miles on the 7-Series, and just how much you get as standard that you pay through the nose for as optional extras on the S?
I’m not naïve enough to think that all S-Class operators could consider a 7 because we all know the big Mercedes equates to a safe pair of hands, especially for those who cover work for other operators. The experiences we’ve had since we’ve introduced the Beemer to our clients aren’t shared by all operators who try out the 7 and I do find that surprising.
In fairness, we’ve never experienced clients demanding an S, so a badge change on this level of car didn’t worry us. There are those S-Class owners teetering on the edge and ready to try something different, there are those who have already taken the plunge and love the 7, and there are those who will defend the S for all time and refuse to believe it’ll ever have a serious competitor.
I can only speak as I find and, hand on heart, in well over twenty five years of chauffeuring I have never driven or owned a car that has excited me or my clients as the 7-Series does.
I sometimes find myself staring out of my front room window at it sat on the driveway and finding it very difficult to believe there’s anything I’d enjoy doing the job in more because the 7 series BMW is an incredible piece of engineering.”
Andy Dubberley
