>>They didnt even want to use the correct oil
This is the real* problem with longlife servicing; people, including some dealers, not using the correct specification of oil. Perhaps the mistake made by Vauxhall was by giving people the choice, and allowing them to be confused into making incorrect oil selections.
* as opposed to the mythical problem which is just to say that long life servicing is bad per se.
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In my experience all dealers lie about servicing costs when your buying a car
Can't agree with that unless as in my case the bill for first service was cheaper than the original quote, and that service included a fuel filter change not normally part of the service, but done at my request.
I can only speak for Toyota and my opinion only, but if you felt that you had been lied to/misled by the dealer and reported that to Toyo head office, all hell would break loose.
I have so far been treated very fairly and truthfully and at very reasonable costs for a reliable and tough product, i have no complaints at all only praise.
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VAT inc prices for servicing at Daihatsu main dealer for our 1.3 auto Sirion, which the salesman pulled up on the system without quibble.
10k £113
20k £195
30k £160
40k £195
50k £113
60k £235
Certainly nothing beyond reasonable there I dont think. The lack of a cambelt change certainly makes for a cheaper service schedule mind you. The 60k service is the only one out of the ordinary as its is the gearbox fluid change which is only every 6 years.
More than happy to pay these kinda prices which include free loan car with insurance.
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Yaris diesel £115/£00 ish every 10k miles/Toyota dealers.#
Chain driven and auxiliary belt is inspect only - should last 60k miles+
#DIY about £30 each.
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A friend has been quoted £700 for her 60k service on her Clio!! That does include new tyres but the rest seems to be a basic service, new cambelt, new water pump and thats it :(. It does inc the MOT too.
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Given that of the £700 £50 will be for the MOT and at least £150 could be for tyres I don't think that the cost is at all unreasonable for a main dealer. £250 for the service and £250 for a cambelt/water pump... Not sure how much less you expect it to cost...
Peter
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new tyres 200
cambelt and waterpump change 250
mot 40
60k service 210
It adds up
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It does not matter which make of car - it pays to phone around - the difference can be remarkable.
Nissan 1st service in Edinburgh Franchise £195+VAT
Nissan Coatbridge - £135 Inc VAT
Guess who got the business?
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I put the mower and the motorbike in for servicing recently. The lawnmower was well over £100 (£120 I think), the bike less than £90. The bike included 4 new spark plugs and an MOT! The mower just one spark plug. I suggested to the bike mech that he also did lawnmowers!
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The lawnmower was well over £100 (£120 I think)
My next door neighbour still talks about the time, years ago now, that he put his Suffolk Punch in for service and the bill was over £200!
I always call a couple of dealers before I buy a car and check service prices. Didn't stop a Mitsubishi dealer trying to charge a lot more, and that was despite 2 people there quoting £125+VAT, they presented a bill for £199.
Servicing is a big test of a dealership to me, problem is I'm rapidly running out of local dealerships to try as they're all (with the honourable exception of TwoMillsHonda) useless thieves.
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I have said this before but manufacturers and dealers need to make profits somewhere along the line.
Huge surplus of pre-reg cars, cars sold to fleets etc as no one will pay top dollar for them. A large number of people going to brokers etc that don't do servicing but refer you to your nearest dealer. Well there won't be a dealer if he doesn't make a profit somewhere!
Everyone wants their cars to be super reliable with no broken parts ever experienced.
But we then want an oil change to cost the trade price of the oil and no more!
We need to be realistic here, if you buy a car it's, in most instances, going to cost you a bit of money.
I recently looked at buying a new £500 TV and Curry's wanted £240 or so for a 5 year warranty. Based on that, I don't think it unfair to ask £150 for a dealer oil/filter change, hook up to the computer for any recalls or ECU changes, a stamp in the book, the warranty validated etc.
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I recently looked at buying a new £500 TV and Curry's wanted £240 or so for a 5 year warranty. Based on that I don't think it unfair to ask £150 for a dealer oil/filter change hook up to the computer for any recalls or ECU changes a stamp in the book the warranty validated etc.
Best buy - Sony 40" V model (i.e. 1080p!!! not the U model which is 1080i))- John Lewis £599 inc 5 yr warranty
Other places sell them for less - eg DABS but this is not including extended warranty
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>It does not matter which make of car - the difference can be remarkable.
It is clearly possible to get different quotes from different dealers in the same marque. But I don't believe one can generalise about standards of service - some places care, others don't. It must depend on the 'attitude' which evolves in each place over the years. I suspect the attitude in the big glass impersonal places which almost have greeters on the doormat may be more distant than that in the smaller, perhaps more chaotic-looking garages which have occupied a site for decades and have a loyal following. If you try to talk to the staff and get the feeling that you are being kept at arm's length, suspect that you may be fleeced - in the nicest possible way, of course.
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My friend works for a large Ford Main Dealer in Birmingham and he said they now use the same oil for petrol and diesel cars (Castrol). I always thought they had to use different oil? Perhaps technology has changed and only one type of oil is now needed?
I agree with above posts about overpricing in main dealers. I once had an Audi A6 and main dealer wanted £398 for service. I did it myself for £48.
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General servicing (but not repairs), has become easier over the years.
Twenty-five years ago, when I serviced my first car, I had to adjust valve clearances, change the points, change spark plugs, as well as change all the filters and oil. The carburettor idle speed and mixture had to be checked, as well as the ignition timing.
Now when I carry out routine servicing, the only items which are changed are the oil, and the four filters - oil, air, fuel and pollen. (It?s a diesel, so no spark plugs)
All other service check items have remained pretty much the same - brakes, lights, suspension, checks for leaks and so on.
Twenty-five years ago, it took at least a morning to service the car. Now, I reckon, it takes just over an hour.
For an out of warranty car, and a reasonably mechanically minded person, it does make sense to carry out the servicing yourself.
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Renault (Scenic dCi):
£180 ("minor" A service) -
£350 ("major" B service)
£850 - 72k service (a B service with cambelt)
Volvo (S60 2.0T)
Standard services vary - usually around the £140-£180 mark
Majors come in around the £350-£450 mark.
Cambelt service (96k) £800 (thoughtfully paid by the last owner 13 months before I bought the car)
All at franchised dealers in the South (M4 and M3 corridors)
Cheers
DP
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If you look in the service book, the first service on many models is little more than an oil change and a check round the car. The prices that most garages charge is daylight robbery, ie charging for oil in half litre units.
If garages were not so greedy they would get more people returning for services. It is like restaurants trebling the cost of a bottle of wine.
I bought my TV from a local independent shop with a free stand and a 5 year manufacturer guarantee for an Internet price. Beware of buying from one of these well known large chains, where will you be if they go bust? Have you looked at the share price lately?
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Beware of buying from one of thesewell known large chains where will you be if they go bust? Have you looked at the share price lately?
Buy with a credit card and have invoice say inc 5 yr warranty.
If supplier / manufacturer goes bust you can fall back on the credit card co/bank - UNLESS they have gone belly up as well!
First sign of problems at Woolworths was suppliers did not get Invoice Insurance cover.
Some leading electrical sheds have been rumoured to be in similar ways.
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If you look in the service book the first service on many models is little more than an oil change and a check round the car. The prices that most garages charge is daylight robbery
Absolutely right!!
That is why I chose a local and trusted independent to do my 1st service.
The main dealer wanted £170 for basically an oil change.
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Its going to be interesting reading here in few months time when those dealers that are good, have gone broke and closed the doors.
Unable to make a profit on sales, and many buyers apparently not even prepared to let the dealer service whilst under warranty (many dealers are happy for you to buy the oil yourself for the service, its only about £12 a gallon IIRC from the Toyo dealer over the counter, that may have been on offer though and i stocked up).
When you've had your indy's servicing the car and then something goes wrong requiring warranty, where are you going to go? And what dealer goodwill do you expect?
I'm not having a go at anyone, we're all trying to make our hard earned go a bit further, but you have to wonder what the possibilities are.
Hopefully my own Toyo dealer will still be there, they don't rip me off, and i hope this never changes, but other makes dealers in my delivery area were going down like skittles before Christmas, goodness knows what the New Year will bring.
Maybe if we are lucky enough to have a competent decent main dealer we could at least try and put our business their way, maybe it would be worth having a word with the service manager re oil changing and supplying your own to help with costs, they i'm sure (in non glass palaces at least) would be prepared to help themselves stay in business.
Its not in our interests as car buyers that dealership should become so thinly spread out, inevitably the survivors will be bigger and stronger and ultimately we will have less choice.
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>>Its going to be interesting reading here in few months time when those dealers that >>are good, have gone broke and closed the doors.
Surely the good dealers will still be in business, won't it be the bad ones who go bust?
It is not the customers who are wrong not going to main dealers for services, it is the main dealers who have given very poor service at top whack prices. You only have to read posts on his site to find that many dealers are little more than incompetent crooks.
And talking of incompetent crooks, who got us into this economic mess in the first place? OK I know the answer, it is the bunch who always leave the country bankrupt, it has just taken a bit longer this time.
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You only have to read posts on his site to find that many dealers are little more than incompetent crooks.
I'm not arguing with you QM, i agree with what you say, but many people who complain about exhorbitant prices never had the nous to ask the dealer what their costs for servicing were, or for that matter to stand back and take a look at the type of dealership they were buying from.
Did they not go up to the service desk and ask a few pertinent questions?
If the probable school leaver on the service desk hadn't a clue and wasn't forthcoming i'd have been out like a shot.
How many people just looked at how nice those shiny cars were in that glass monstrosity of a showroom with those nicely cloloured tiles and pretty plants, and signed up to the easy payments plan without another thought, of course they only looked on the retail park where the glass palace dealers now congregate.
We've had dozens of threads where peoples buying experiences were dreadful, yet still bought from the place, didn't they wonder what the attitude might be once the dealer had got the money?
I'm not saying that this is a typical BR car buyers way of buying a car, but unless we try and do our little bit to keep our good dealers in business, they may well vanish forever.
Incidentally on the subject of dealers packing it in, 1 of my regulars has shut up shop as he didn't for some unimaginable reason want to invest a massive amount in a new glass palace which he was being pushed into.
I know of one dealership near a friend of mine, who's trick is to enable you to drive away in the car of your dreams 1 hour after choosing, new or used, only when the excitement wanes does the poor soul realise just what finance they have unwittingly agreed to.
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