I don't know about you, but I often hear people complaining about the cost of main dealer servicing, so perhaps the following might redress the balance slightly
My car (an A4 2.0T) is just coming up to 3 years old and so in need of an MOT in a few weeks. It should also have the brake fluid changed at 3 years and, as its done 40k miles, the pollen filter replaced. The car doesn't actually need a service for another 4,000 miles (its on the variable service schedule)
My local Audi dealer quoted £50 for the MOT and £49 for the brake fluid change. I forgot to ask about the pollen filter but, based on the cost for our A3 last month, I think it's around £20.
However I asked about having the service done early because I can't really be bothered with the hassle of having it MOT'ed, then serviced a few months later. The cost for that? The service is £129, and if done at the same time the MOT is free. The brake fluid is still £49, and they'll throw in the pollen filter for free.
So for £178 I get a service, an MOT, new pollen filter and brake fluid, a main dealer stamp, the car collected from home, cleaned and reurned. Now I realise that the 'service' is no more than an oil change and a whole list of checks, but I thought that was good value!
Or...have I just spent money getting the car serviced early...
Peter
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Sounds too good to be true but you know what they say about not looking gift horses in the mouth. Can't turn it down really can you ? Nice.
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We've had both cars for 3 years and always used the same dealer, so I have no reason to doubt them. But it did seem like a good deal, so I booked it. Even got an email confirmation of the booking and price.
Interestingly the A3 (a 1.6 petrol) was serviced and MOt'ed last month (it actually needed servicing). The cost for that, including brake fluid etc etc was £340, but that was for a 'major' service rather than oil change, and included spark plugs.
Peter
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Think you have a good deal. I keep going back to VW for the Sharan's service because they always have an offer of some sort on, and it gets a wash and vac!
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A lot depends on the dealer and you can't beat a family owned site, i get similarly very reasonable and competent servicing from Toyota dealer on the pick up, letting me supply my own bulk bought engine oil saves me a lot, and they don't manufacture work either.
If you find a good one, tell them and others so and stick with them.
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>> A lot depends on the dealer and you can't beat a family owned site,>>
I would agree with that. The long established family owned dealership I bought my Ceed from have been the best I have come across to date. I have just had my first service done, three TSB's were applicable to my car, two checked out OK, and a modified tailgate latch on order, car washed, invoice £113.63. When the time comes free MOTs and punctures for life.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 18 Jan 11 at 22:39
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As GB says it depends on the dealers.
For a while we had a Citroen franchised service place in the next village and a specialist in town. Both family businesses though I don't think I ever met the owner of the village business. Not much to choose between them on price and it was actually very helpful to be a valued customer in two establishments.
Unfortunately the village business folded at Xmas 09.
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>>As GB says it depends on the dealers. >>
Or rather on the quality or otherwise of the employees.
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i had my honda serviced with the local honda dealer, they had a half price mot £27 and had it serviced at the same time, as i already had a honda service plan with it.
they gave me a courtesy car f.o.c and issued two advisory the rear wiper split quoted £13 for it, and the front brake pads are 70 percent worn may need replacing later on.
I bought a rear wiper from a local shop for £9 but had problems with the rear wiper not clearing up the rear screen, leaving a gap in the middle, had that replaced, and same problem with the replacement wiper.
The dealer rang wanted some feedback on the service told him happy with it and mentioned the rear wiper, which i bought from the local car shop apparently the car shop owner who fitted the wiper the 2nd time said it maybe the rear arm spring weak, so i mentioned that to the manager who said to bring it in.
Brought the car in turned out the replacement wiper the fault and the service manager shown me the geniune honda wiper and the replacement, they fitted the geniune one for me free of charge and i got my money back over the other wiper.
moral of the story get geniune parts fitted pattern parts can be false economy
Last edited by: sajid on Wed 19 Jan 11 at 01:17
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I discovered that Adams & Son at Morcott who are about 15 miles from my home.
I was using the local Daihatsu dealer for the wifes Sirion but when they quoted me £210 for the 27k service which seemed steep, I rang Bob Gerard in Leicester, who quoted within a pound of the local dealer. A bit defleated I went slightly further out to Adams and the quoted me £165.
There wasnt a loan car for me, but they would do it while I waited and the mechanic must have been in his 50's and came out personally to say hello and run thro what he did. Its a family business as Im sure you can tell from the company name - we will be going back there in future, they won us over with a substantially cheaper bill and great service.
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Most of the dealers in our area for the cars that I own are part of the same chain;however the branches compete with each other on service prices.
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VW Dealer I use is part of a large group, however the staff are the same ones I have dealt with for the last 5 years - always happy and helpful, and always make a point of running through what they have done and pad / tyre wear etc - never pushy. I think in this case its down to the staff
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>> Or...have I just spent money getting the car serviced early...
>>
I always use the dealer for the car's 1st MOT as it's still under warranty so anything they do find should be covered. Of course it'll pass, no problem.
The nervousness of dealers doing servicing, and other MOTs, is that find additional work. Let's face it, they're not doing MOTs free out of the goodness of their hearts.
I think Audi have a scheme where they offer an MOT failure guarantee for your next MOT.
One thing quite a few manufacturers offer now is that they'll extend the breakdown cover with each service - that's quite a worthwhile saving if you would have to pay for breakdown cover.
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My Seat Altea will be 4 years old in June, it is well out manufacturer warranty but I bought an aftermarket warranty.
It's due its 50k mile service now and main dealer quoting £118 for this. This is the main dealer I bought it from and have always had it serviced from. They are handy for my work and I have had several warranty claims honoured by Seat over this time.
Now I believe this is a 10k service, probably consisting of oil and filter change and the usual checks etc. Should I now be looking for an indie to maybe save some dosh?
How much would an indie charge for the "special" PD oil etc? Are they able to hook up the diagnostics and get the latest updates from SEAT? or do SEAT keep all this info to main dealers only?
Thoughts?
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Do you know the labour rate? Round here (Northants) I'd plan on £75/hr at a dealer.
At that price, assuming it includes the right OEM consumables, I'd stick with the dealer.
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>> At that price, assuming it includes the right OEM consumables, I'd stick with the dealer.
>>
Absolutely!
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If your car is still in warranty it makes sense to go to the dealer for the MOT as it will pass unless you have bald tyres.!!
If out of warranty like 4yrs old still take it as they know if it fails you can argue for some compensation towards costs if it's something silly.
Main dealers are crying out for work and seem very competative, as in the past when they get to 3yrs i do my own servicing but not this year let them have it.
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>> My Seat Altea will be 4 years old in June, it is well out manufacturer
>> warranty but I bought an aftermarket warranty.
>>
>> It's due its 50k mile service now and main dealer quoting £118 for this.
Have a look at the service book and make sure it really is just an oil service that's required - on daughters SEAT Ibiza it's the 4yr/50K service that is the major one.
Strictly speaking the brake fluid ought to be changed every 2yrs.
Of all our cars I've been the most unhappy with SEAT - ours miserably failed its MOT at 4yrs although SEAT did eventually refund the cost. I'm convinced it was the dealer just making up work. They also pushed hardest of all garages I've dealt with to add on things like a/c service.
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...Of all our cars I've been the most unhappy with SEAT...
Are you now only 'most unhappy'?
The wounds are starting to heal then.
At one point, I feared one or two people in that Seat dealership weren't going to see their next birthday. :)
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>> Are you now only 'most unhappy'?
>>
No - I'm *the* most unhappy.
You should have seen the face on the service advisor when I used the SEAT credit letters to pay for the last service. It was worth going for that.
I have an issue with all car dealerships (with the exception of the Honda dealer we use) but the SEAT one is the worst after multiple levels of scam and attempted scam. Mind you, the Mitsubishi dealer who tried to steal money off my other daughter runs them a close 2nd.
Another dealership carrying SEAT opened up in Chester last year, which was handy, but it went bust within the year too.
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That sounds like the Seat equivalent of my £129 Audi Oil Service; at that price I'm not sure I could be be bothered to leave the dealer network, assuming you've been happy with the service so far!!
FYI, the Audi dealer invoiced me £8/unit (litre), discounted from £11.60, for the Longlife spec oil used in my car, though that is a petrol
Peter
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Remember to add another £36 for vat!
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Just a quick follow up on this; car collected at 09:30 and returned at 16:00 all clean and shiny. MOT passed, oil service, brake fluid and pollen filter change carried out. Actual cost was not the £178 quoted though...
...the invoice total was £176.33 :-)
Peter
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A further follow up on main dealer servicing for you all. Took the A3 for an MOT this morning at Worthing Audi so that we can sell it with 12 months MOT rather than 2 weeks ;-)
I expected to pay £50 - that's what their website said, and I'd opted for a specific slot so that I could have it done while I waited. Arrived at 08:30 this morning and had a couple of coffees - served in a cup and saucer; rather that the mug it comes in at VW or the paper cup at Skoda, or so I'm led to believe... ;-)
I was slightly surprised when they told me it had passed with no advisories, as it's only done 4k miles in the last year and I though the discs would be flagged as corroded. However, I was amazed when they presented me with the bill; the cost of the MOT was £0. Yes, that's right, £0. Because the car has a full Audi service history, all carried out by Worthing Audi, the MOT was carried out for free!
Now, they did flag that the front pads were 70% worn and the rears 40% worn, and that the discs were also showing signs of wear / corrosion, but there was no push to replace them immediately. Can't beat that - let's see if Merc dealers are as customer focused :-)
Peter
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>> BMW do the same.
>>
>>
I knew that the MOT was free if carried out with a service, since that's what I had done on the A4 at the beginning of the year, but didn't expect to just drive in and get a free MOT and a couple of cups of coffee!
Never kept a BMW long enough for it to need an MOT, so haven't had the pleasure of their service :-)
Peter
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...Because the car has a full Audi service history, all carried out by Worthing Audi...
Should be a good secondhand buy for somebody.
As regards Merc dealers, I've heard a couple of complaints from Merc owners about high charges and lacklustre service.
Not that I take either complaint too seriously - there will be two sides to both stories, one of which I've not been told.
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Sounds like a pretty good deal! I wouldn't let them wash it though, some spotty youth rubbing a grit filled sponge over my car isn't a nice thought.
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>>I wouldn't let them wash it though, some spotty youth rubbing a grit filled sponge over my car isn't a nice thought.
Local Honda dealer washed my D-i-L car - needed a respray of bonnet / 2 x front wings.........just another problem in a long line of problems with the car/garage.
Headed off for the Toyota garage and T/I the new shape Civic (which looked immaculate - the s/man sold it to his dad!)
Car much better
That said the DiL's Rav4 has had 4 x alloys out of the local main dealer after fitting 2 x tyres and scratching the alloys badly- several times.
Toyota servicing OK price and they do not wash car - as per instructions
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Ere!!!, you just made me think ... my previous jamjar (black Almera) had these awful scratches on the front wings n' bonnet, and I could never make out where they came from, I did ask the missus what she got upto in it (innit) but she had no idea either, apart from suggesting it was the seagulls :)
Now I blimming well know.
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>> Because the car has a full Audi service history,
What I should also have said is that for a 4 year old / 39k miles Audi A3 a full service history consists of just two services, and new wiper blades all round at 20k miles!
The services consist of one 'oil change' service, including pollen filter, and one 'inspection' service, which included brake fluid, pollen filter and spark plugs. Total service cost has been just over £400, and the car has only needed one top-up of oil, which was early on in it's life - under 10k miles IIRC
Peter
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hyundia i 10 2nd service 22months 23 thousand miles £ 309 that included brake fluid thats all. just buying the warranty
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My local VW dealer used to be very competitive in comparison to my usual indy (i.e charging around £129 for a basic service for a Polo compare to the indys £100) which made it worthwhile.
I'm not sure what happened but they now charge way more than the indy - quoting £260 to fit new discs and pads to a polo (the smallest discs ever!) when the indy wanted £140.
Did it myself in the end for £55
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I thought I'd update this thread, more as a measure of the level of inflation in car servicing costs than anything, though it was RPs thread in the impact of the recession on car maintenance that prompted me to do so!
As I think I've mentioned in another thread, a couple of months ago, fuelled by sunshine and eBay (and possible a few glasses of wine...) I bought a 1994 Audi Cabriolet. I'd been missing having a convertible around, and this one looked OK in its silver/blue hood/blue interior combo. It's a 2.6 V6 with an old school 4 speed auto, and perhaps as a result sold for just £536!! The ad made no mention of service history, though it had only had 2 keepers, and it had just 2 months MOT left...buying it unseen was, perhaps, a bit cavalier...
As t happens the car has atually been service at Wimbledon Audi until 2011, with it's last (until now) service being out of the dealer network. So with that in mind I thought I'd book it into Audi for one of their fixed price services - now £159, up £30 since 2011 so more than 25% higher! Apart from advising that the front brakes were 70% worn, recommending new spark plugs and changing the fluid in the gearbox, no faults were found :-)
So I'm comfortable that mechanically the car is sound, and it is watertight. It also looks pretty good from anywhere up to about 6 feet away. Any closer and you can see the myriad of scratches that accrue over 18 years spent on the streets of SW London I guess, but still, for the money I'm delighted. Will almost hit 25 mpg as well!!
All we need now is some more sunshine...
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>> So I'm comfortable that mechanically the car is sound, and it is watertight. It also
>> looks pretty good from anywhere up to about 6 feet away. Any closer and you
>> can see the myriad of scratches that accrue over 18 years spent on the streets
>> of SW London I guess, but still, for the money I'm delighted. Will almost hit
>> 25 mpg as well!!
Those 80 based Audi's are very durable. I had a 90bhp Tdi estate. Painfully slow and rough but felt like it would last forever. Tough galvanised bodies and bank vault type doors. V6 auto should be a very pleasant thing with no worries about mpg considering the bargain price. Enjoy.
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I had two 80's (G plate B3 and L plate B4). G plate had 18 months until it was financially wrote off with 210,000 on the clock. Was left with a cheque for more than I paid for it and was left with the car. Sold to a friend for £20! and he ran for a year to take him to work and back - he never did fix it. Was scrapped after that.
The L plate one bought for £500, ran for 3 years from 100k to 165k, got rid when the front subframe cracked in half - noticed when changing oil. Got £225 as part ex (kept schtum) and according to DVLA was taxed for 6 months then not after that.
Dad had a model after P plate A4 1.8 which was nice and ran for 5 years.
Not much went wrong with either car considering they were high mileage and plus 10 year old cars.
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Main Dealer Servicing - Runfer D'Hills
