Just had a quote for a 3 year / 30k mile service on the Yaris which has rather stunned me. They want £118.50 for the service and another £50 to change the coolant which is due at the 3 year mark.
According to the book, a 3 year service in an intermediate comprising oil and filter change with brake, tyre and light inspections. Also, as it's 30k there is an air filter change. To me, £118 for this sounds totally unreasonable - the parts are unlikely to cost more than £20 and surely it's not going to take 2 hours to do? Ditto for the coolant change TBH.
They did say that to maintain the extended warranty I got when I bought the car I would have to get it serviced at a main dealer. Is this correct? I'm sure I read somewhere that as long as you get it done at a reputable garage you are OK.
I must admit I find it odd that I was told when I was looking at one new that the *total* servicing costs for the first 3 years would be around £300 - not sure how they get this figure when this intermediate will cost over half that - I can't see a full service and an oil service coming to less than £150 somehow...
Do I need to bite the bullet and lighten my wallet, or can I save myself a lot of money and get it serviced at a reputable garage?
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I wouldn't say its totally unreasonable; it is expensive for the work involved - but I suppose that's the "free market" for you.......... I think they've got you on the extended warranty too, you will probably have to stay with the franchised dealer to maintain cover.
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It's expensive, sure, but you'd be looking at easily double that if you were to go for a new, independent warranty and have the car serviced by a third party.
Of course you may feel you have already paid for the extended warranty once... but you can't claim anything back on that. Stick with the franchise.
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Steve
Check the warranty requirements v carefully before you go to a rep garage - if you do and then have to claim under the warranty you'll probably find your claim is rejected. Try another main dealer perhaps?
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I raised the question of the 20 000 mile 2 year service on my corolla being £172 recently on this forum. Decided to have it done to keep the warranty but will not have any more.
Toyotas are fine cars but the servicing costs are ridiculous.
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This is not ?having a go? but it?s always been a puzzle to me why people who are happy to spend upwards of £8k on a car then start to complain about a service costing £150. In terms of total ownership costs this is a gnat-bite.
I know it?s my choice to own an older car, but if I get away with less than £250 when I take the Alfa 75 for a service I reckon I?ve done well. It?s a fact of life that keeping a car running costs money.
Risking your warranty to save £100 or so seems something of a false economy to me.
Don?t sweat the small stuff!!
:)
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It's a Toyota, the warranty is a piece of paper you'll never need, get it serviced where you like.
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That's a strange argument. You pay for the work done - it has nothing to do with the cost of the vehicle. It may be a small part of the total ownership costs, but that's not the point. Labour to change oil and do a few elementary checks should not amount to the best part of £100.
There was a member on here quoting the cost of an Avensis pollen filter at £65 - that's obscene in my view. Let's take a leaf out of the American book; over there the government steps in to regulate the price of certain car parts and services to prevent consumer exploitation.
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Have you tried asking another Toyota dealership for a quote?
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You will I think be very lucky to get the parts for £20. The air filter will probably cost that much. The air filter for my Honda Blackbird is over £25 and needs to be changed at 20,000 miles in my experience. The last full service at a Honda dealer came in at just over £200. £118, pay the money and dont worry about if the warrantys ok.
Bill
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When the plumber wants 50 quid an hour, the tv repair man wants 50 quid an hour? Ok you can argue that *all* service industries are too expensive, but against that for a car service and the consumables then i think 118 quid aint bad.
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The difference being that you don't have to go to 'Harry's Pipe Co Plumbers' to get their pipework repaired, or to Ferguson direct to get their TV repaired. I can get the oil changed for under £20 at a reputable high-street chain and I doubt a garage would charge me more than £50 or 60 to change air filter and coolant and even then I could do those myself if I felt so inclined.
Also, a number of people seem to have missed - it's *£168* not 118 - 118 is the basic intermediate service, but they charge an extra £50 as this is the 3 year service which means a coolant change as well.
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Granted Toyota parts may vary, but an air filter for my Tipo was about £7 and an oil filter about £4 or 5. The coolant cost is as bad - I think I paid about a tenner for antifreeze for the Tipo and it takes no time to drain and refill the system - I could do that myself! £50 for it is OTT.
330d: I actually emailed the 3 local dealerships about a fortnight ago asking for a quote so I had the costs in good time. None of them bothered to reply... However, as they are all part of the SmithKnightFay group, and my nearest non-SKF dealer is about 30 miles away, I doubt I'll get it cheaper.
Alfafan: It may not be much compared to the cost of the car, but all these things mount up. I pay around £1200 a year on the car loan (£5k over 5 years), yet insurance (£400), road tax (£100), MOT (£50) and now servicing (£168 for this one) make that figure up to nearly £2k just to have the thing sat infront of my house.
It's interesting that Toyota claim to have a policy of keeping the 'total cost of ownership' low...
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I'm with Toyota on this one. The 20000 mile service on my Avensis (franchised dealer) cost be about £140 I think. I wouldn't say it was a bargin, but it's not bad in comparison with my past experience.
That's about the same as Rover dealers charged in 1994. My experience of Nissan dealers is that they want £250+ for a minor service on a Micra. When I asked a Honda dealers for service costs (when shopping round for the avensis), they even made Nissan look good value.
This was all in the south.... maybe it's different elsewhere?
Ian
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SteveH take it like a man. Pay your money, take your choice. If you are looking to save money buy Polish/Italian/French or some other banger. But remember Buyer Beware. Buy a top name like Toyata and you pay top prices for service. I agree fully with Alfafan that people forget to budget for the total cost of ownership. I am reminded of the motorists who will save on tyres. Tyres are their contact with the road. And will save on brakes. I am amazed at how many people need hand holding to make simple decisions of everyday life.
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Why is everyone missing the point here? The dealers are basically adding extra cost on top of the warranty here by overpricing the servicing but not letting you go elsewhere. Plus, as I pointed out, I did ask about servicing costs when looking in to buying a Yaris and the figure I was quoted then appears to be totally wrong. I don't mind paying for things that need doing, I do mind paying massively OTT for something any competent mechanic could do for half the price.
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steve you said ...According to the book, a 3 year service in an intermediate comprising oil and filter change with brake, tyre and light inspections. Also, as it's 30k there is an air filter change. ....
Are you absolutely definitely sure about this. Looking at my (BMW) book, it lists about 40 items for an interim service. I can ask my mate to look up his Toyota service book to check if his book is any different to your book. I am sure from a previous chat with him that his interim service was quite extensive. Check again and list every item. Ah, if only every car came with Hiundai warranty of 5 years and free service for 3 years. Aha, Next time buy a Hiandie. Aha, aha.
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Intermediate:
Replace:
Oil and filter
Inspect:
Air filter
Brake pads and discs
Tyres and lights
Additional replacements:
Air filter @ 3 years / 30k
Spark plugs @ 4 years / 40k (n/a here)
Engine coolant @ 3rd year / 40k then every 2 years / 20k
Also the charcoal cannister (any ideas?) is to be inspected at 30k.
There are others, but I've not listed them as they don't apply yet. The full service is far more comprehensive in terms of inspections. I think the Yaris was designed to be pretty much 20k services with 10k 'oil services'.
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Intermediate: Replace: Oil and filter Inspect: Air filter, Brake pads and discs, Tyres and lights
Let's break this down.
Good quality oil ~ £20+
Oil filter ~ £5
Labour ~ 1½ hours @ £60 per hour = £90
Works out at approx £115 for the service.
Coolant change. £10 - £15 for the coolant. £40 for the labour.
Sounds about right to me.
I am basing this on my Vectra servicing costs/labour times.
1½ hours for a small service.
2 hours for a large service.
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Labour ~ 1½ hours @ £60 per hour = £90
I think this is really what my rant boils down to. Dealers will cheerfully charge such extortionate rates for labour, as well as stuff like rounding up to half hours. A smaller garage will charge more realistic rates and do just as good a job. However, the dealer knows they can charge pretty much what they like as you have no option if you want to keep the warranty in tact. (Plus, on more modern cars they are the only ones that have access to the computerised test equipment that most cars need)
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As I recall, my 12,500 service on the C5 (diesel) was about that, but my Citroen dealer (one of HJ's 'good garages') allows 10% discount on parts and servicing to customers who bought the car from them. I think that's a great idea - servicing is much more reasonable for me and the dealer knows he has a better chance of selling me another when the time comes.Everybody's happy!
Graeme
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I think this is really what my rant boils down to. Dealers will cheerfully charge such extortionate rates for labour, A smaller garage will charge more realistic rates and do just as good a job.....
Don't forget though a larger garage will also have larger overheads. Such as more staff means more outgoings in wages. Providing courtesy cars and maintaining their upkeep.
Whereas a smaller garage will only have a handful of staff, possibly no courtesy cars or at best jalopies to run around in.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that main dealer prices are expensive.
as well as stuff like rounding up to half hours.
The Vaux garage I use have a proceedures book of how long a job should take to do based on the average repair. For instance, if the book says changing front brake pads for example should take no longer than ¾ of an hour; but the mechanic takes 1¼ hours due to seized parts, then the garage has no choice but to charge the ¾ labour. If on the other hand the mechanic only takes ½ hour to do the job, then the garage should only charge the ½ hour labour. If the garage quote you a price before they start the job, then they have to give very good reasons if they then decide to increase that price when you come to pay the bill. They use the book as a price guideline, and I've generally found the actual price is less than the quoted one, which leads me to beleive that the garage I use doesn't round up to the nearest ½ hour. Other garages might do so though.
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Apparently the dealer I use now has a 'fixed price' servicing policy, so it shouldn't matter how long the service takes. I've booked it in and been told it will take about 1h30 for the whole service, including the coolant change, so assuming £50 for the parts, that's £118 for labour or about £80 an hour...
As mentioned in another thread, I like the sound of the American system where you can do your own servicing and still be in warranty - after all, the things being done in this service are all easily done DIY if you have even basic knowledge.
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OK, time to hold my hand up and admit I appear to have done my dealer an injustice. Rather than the £168 quoted, I was actually charged £108. It must be the case that 'fixed price' servicing means fixed *maximum* price rather than an actual fixed price regardless.
However, I must admit the old Toyota reliability thing is starting to take too many knocks for my liking. The latest problem is a report of an oil leak at the timing cover. Luckily this should be covered by my warranty as otherwise it's apparently a 3-4 hour job... OK, so nowt major has gone wrong with the car, but there have been quite a few niggles which is something I didn't expect from someone like Toyota. I only hope I'm the exception!
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