Following my earlier thread about service intervals, I had a look at the online booking form.
tinyurl.com/ycn7pwy
Looks like the service is £175 (I am assuming that the first 12 month service is an interim service), but on the form there are 4 items that they claim are "Ford recommendations", specifically:
* Air con treatment
* Pollen filter replacement
* Oil-top up
* Brake fluid change
Elsewhere on the page there are prices for the pollen filter (£39.99), the air con treatment (£29.99) and the brake fluid change (£55). There is no indication of a price for the oil top up.
Because these are not included in the main service price, I am guessing that they must purely be optional extras, so not having them done would still mean that the car had a full service history. Is that right?
I always thought that oil top up was something that you would do yourself (I checked it a while back and the level was fine). Maybe for the convenience it would be OK to have it done during the service, but as an optional extra I guess they would plan to charge (although I also expected that a bit of extra oil would be included, must only take a few seconds).
Just wondered if anybody had any thoughts on whether I should select any of these options, or just go for the standard service.
The car is an 09 reg Mondeo Zetec, with about 7,000 miles on the clock.
Any input appreciated. Thanks.
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The aircon won't need regassing, the blake fluid should be changed every two years I think so it dosn't need touching yet. Oil top up you can do yourself for nothing and a pollen filter is a £5 part which is usualy easy to do and your car is still too new.
Maybe next year have the extras done but I can't see any need for them on such a new car.
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I think you'll find these 4 optional *extras* are simply fast ca$h for the dealership.
The aircon service will likely be a proprietary antibacterial treatment, not 're-gassing' the system. A tenner spent in Halfords will get you much the same.
Pollen filters take 2 minutes to change and cost not much more to buy your own. Usually, if not changed, the recommendation is to simply throw them away as they are not necessary for the ventilation system, and if left unchanged for many years they can get clogged up.
Brake fluid changes take 15-20 minutes and use about £3 worth of fluid.
The oil top-up will simply be a 1 litre bottle of oil left on your passenger seat for you to keep in case a top-up is required before the next service. The service itself should include an oil change (and of course the level should be at the max on the dipstick).
A nice fat £140 worth of extra 'servicing' that takes under an hour for the least skilled tech to perform, at a materials outlay of around £20 to the dealership.
Any questions ? ;-)
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Thanks guys. I reckoned that this was just a bit of profiteering.
Continuing in that vein, is it possible that I am going to get a call from the dealer saying that they have found a bunch of things that should be or must be fixed, and that I will have to pay extra for?
Excuse my suspicion, but I always go into these kinds of situations expecting to be taking advantage of, and wanting to be prepared.
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At 7000 I should doubt it. On Mondeo too I can't see them being any wear at all unless you drive like a mad Italian racing driver. The car is still under warranty and although they may say brads are worn etc I don't see how they would get away with lying all the time.
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If they do find extra work, unless you are certain it needs done, I'd always get an opinion from another garage, either reputable Indy or another dealership.
If it's obvious the work needs done, eg. badly scored brake discs/broken spring, then unless it's a warranty job, I'd thank them for their quote but get a price from another garage as well.
You should still be able to get the service book stamped - any additional work advised will be on the service invoice (hence the lack of value of a 'stamped book' without corresponding invoices).
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At 1 year and 7000 miles none of those extras need doing, it is however a standard form that would apply to a three year old car.
With consideration to the fact that the oil will be changed as part of the service I reckon "oil top-up" is an extra 1 ltr of oil that you can keep in the boot or garage for top-ups (if required) between services. Undoubtedly you can buy the correct oil more cheaply elsewhere though for many people picking up the car with a ltr of the correct stuff in the boot is a convenience worth paying for.
EDIT: £175 is a reasonable price for a main dealer service on a new car.
Edited by cheddar on 15/02/2010 at 06:32
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Our 05 Galaxy gets an annual service at the Ford dealer. It only does about 6-7k a year and every time they ring up asking if I want an aircon service and a new pollen filter and every year I refuse.
I would do the pollen filter myself but it's a bit of a pain removing the scuttle panel apparently.
I have taken them up on the brake fluid change when that has been due however (unlikely on your 09 car)
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And don't let them put the oil and fuel additives in-they'll claim it's a FORD recommendation-it isn't!
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And don't let them put the oil and fuel additives in-they'll claim it's a FORD recommendation-it isn't!
A few years ago my mum was persuaded to part with an extra £20 for an "emissions optimisation" or something, by a certain main dealer. She thought it sounded great but when she later tried to describe the technical details to me, it sounded more like "shot of Redex".
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Are you saying the pollen filter on your 05 car has never been changed?
If that is the case, you will be shocked. It will be a disgusting filthy solid brick of muck.
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Phone 2/3 local Ford garages and ask their price - you might be surprised.
My Nissan varied from £175 to £270 for the 2nd yr service!!
I am not a fan of franchise garages a Nissan stamp from one outlet is likely to be as good/bad as the others.
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And if one of the better priced ones is an Inchcape dealer, consider buying 1000 of their shares (about £300). Entitles you to 15% discount on service and parts.
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SteelSpark -
Have a look at this link that was posted by another forum member.
It lists the service schedules and what needs doing.
www.etis.ford.com/fordservice/home.do
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SteelSpark - Have a look at this link that was posted by another forum member. It lists the service schedules and what needs doing. www.etis.ford.com/fordservice/home.do
Thanks, very useful. The thing that confuses me is that there is the "Interim Service" and the "Interim Service & Convenience Checks". Looking at the details of both, the Service only seems to consist of very little, but the Service and Convenience Checks looks far more detailed.
For example, checking for damage to fuel feed lines is in the Service & CCs but not in just the Service. I guess I just don't understand the term Convenience Check.
Should I expect that my service will include the Convenience Checks?
I would have added links to both, but the dynamic pages don't let me do that (I had to pick 2.0L Duratorq 2007).
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And if one of the better priced ones is an Inchcape dealer consider buying 1000 of their shares (about £300). Entitles you to 15% discount on service and parts.
Thanks Marlot. Interesting, a bought a couple of thousand shares in Inchcape a few months back. They haven't exactly helped me to retire yet, but perhaps they will help me re-tyre when the time comes :)
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"Should I expect that my service will include the Convenience Checks?"
To my knowledge no. The etis schedules show optional work as well. I checked this with Ford customer services when I kept getting asked about the extra cost pollen filter, even though it was on the schedule for my car.
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"Should I expect that my service will include the Convenience Checks?" To my knowledge no. The etis schedules show optional work as well. I checked this with Ford customer services when I kept getting asked about the extra cost pollen filter even though it was on the schedule for my car.
Surprising, because what is defined as the Service seems to contain very little, whereas the CCs seem to contain a much larger amount of stuff that I would have the thought a service would have been intended to look at, like checking for damage to various parts of the engine, topping up power steering fluid, that kind of thing.
Under both the Service and the "Service + CCs" it does list optional extras, which are the AC and Pollen filter.
If it is just what is defined as the Service, then all they are really doing is changing the oil, and checking the brakes, tyres, clutch, instruments and wipers.
Maybe that is all that needs to be done at 1 year, but doesn't seem to cover anything but the most basic faults (why you would not check the power steering fluid at 1 year, I don't know).
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"Are you saying the pollen filter on your 05 car has never been changed?"
Yes, unless it was done on the first service in 06 (unlikely due to age/mileage) or the service I agreed as part of the deal in 07 (highly unlikely)
To be honest I want to get it changed but have looked at what is required myself and it's fiddly - involving a fair bit of dismantling. I would get the dealer to do it (as the cost isn't an issue) but I don't want the car back with lots of broken clips and damaged trim.
I'm suspicious as you can probably gather.
Edited by Marc on 15/02/2010 at 16:09
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Here is a link to the what it is defined for the 1 year Service on 2.0L TDCI Mondeo (according to etis.ford.com):
tinyurl.com/y8va748
and here is what is defined for the Service and Convenience Checks:
tinyurl.com/yzso8h5
As I mentioned above, the latter seems substantially more indepth. So I am surprised that it seems that a standard service many only include that covered in the first link.
Edited by SteelSpark on 15/02/2010 at 16:56
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They don't do much for 175 quid do they? Seems to boil down to an oil change, tyre check and very basic brake check. Not even a visual inspection of brake pipes / condition of V belt or anything, and no emissions test.
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They don't do much for 175 quid do they? Seems to boil down to an oil change tyre check and very basic brake check. Not even a visual inspection of brake pipes / condition of V belt or anything and no emissions test.
Well, if all they do is the stuff in the first link, it seems like a scam to me. You are forced to do this to maintain the warranty, but there is almost no preventative work done. So it doesn't seem as if you are less likely to have something fail later, just because you had this "service".
Edited by SteelSpark on 15/02/2010 at 19:24
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You're lucky at £175 VW are over £200 for what's basicly an oil change only for a Polo. They also put in a container of screenwash charged at over twice the street price without asking. Needless to say I refuse to pay for it
Edited by Cymrogwyllt on 15/02/2010 at 19:32
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Just picked my 57 Mondeo Titanium 2.5 T up today from it's 25k service (but at 30k - oops). It cost a little under £230 at local Inchcape. Itemised items were:
25k service £107.28
Environmental charge £9.75 (What's that?)
Odour filter £13.93
Element Oil C £12.09
N/STK GTX Magnatec £51.68 (Wow!)
Total £194.73 plus VAT
I had to sign that I'd declined the brake fluid change, but I know my little man will be much cheaper.
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Environmental charge £9.75 (What's that?)
A fairly recent charge introduced for disposing of your old oil / AN Other fluids. Well it's fairly recent at my local Vauxhall garage - other garages may well have been charging for a while now.
When getting some new tyres the other day, I see that there is now an environmental charge for disposal of old exhausts.
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"Just picked my 57 Mondeo Titanium 2.5 T up today from it's 25k service"
Off topic but that sounds like a nice car smokie. It's the spec I'd personally go for - in white with the blue tinted glass.
What's the performance and economy like?
Edited by Marc on 15/02/2010 at 20:31
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The outrage is a lot of these intermediate services are simply an oil and filter change. The rest is just bluff. Independents for me every time.
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It's quick, but does it in an unbusy style and is smooth so you don''t notice the speed. Took me a while to get used to six gears, and to get best fun performance you need to use the gears a bit - not excessively though (and I now keep trying to go from fifth to reverse when driving SWMBOs Focus!)
Mine is in dark grey with the gangsta black windows - which I wouldn't have spec'd, but actually look v good IMO. It has all the Titanium X bits plus some extras - sun roof, reversing sensors front & rear, Converse display, inbuilt SatNav etc etc. Consumption is really best not talked about - I don't tend to welly it too much and I'm only getting around 28 mpg overall. In fact since losing the fuel card which I had when I bought the car, I am considering trying to find a straight(ish) swap for a 2.2 diesel - not too many about with the spec and reasonable mileage though.
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