what is the advantage to taking the car back to where i bought it from (B&C) for its first service, versus taking it somewhere nearer (Sinclaires)?
The following is a “general” comment, as I do not know if Sinclaires are officially “Lotus Aprroved”.
It is advisable that the service is carried out by a Lotus approved dealer/service centre, otherwise you may have difficulty in the event of a warranty claim.
The above is not the law, but merely my pragmatic view of the situation!
B&C give 10% off (just labour?) to their customers.
They’re not cheap but I really trust them. They have been a leading Lotus dealer for many years, consistently selling more Lotus’ than establishments (often the most). They get the info that matters from the factory, with regular visits from Lotus engineers (my car has been seen by a Lotus engineer there on more than one occation).
That said, now my car is 4 years old, I feel this advance has subsided a bit and am happy to go to better value specialists instead.
Ian