Main Dealer Servicing Costs.

[Thrustyjust]

Anyone else had any howlers. Just had Skoda ( you know, the cheap one in the VAG chain ( think they were trying at pulling mine)) 

So, our 999cc of sheer power is due a service next month . Its only done 10 k miles. The lady called me said it also needs an air con service.

My reply was ' I am in the air con trade, so do you think it needs a service ? ' 

Skoda girlie ' Er............ no, it wont need one then' .

(Thats a great money spinner )

Skoda girlie ' But the car requires an annual service '

Me ' Yes, that is correct, next month'

Skoda girlie ' Would you like me to book it in'

Me ' Can you tell me the cost for this ?'

Skoda girlie ' For an oil change ( 3.5 litres) , oil filter and pollen filter , its £260 ' 

Me ' hahahahahahahahahahahahaha'

Skoda girlie ' er..................'

Me ' Thanks for the costs. Can you email this to me please'

On another note, when I get the service costs, I have an email saying that I will get a half price service due to the mongs washing my car , when it went in for warranty work, so happy days............But £260 for a noddy car service !!  Must be thousands for the big cars...................I used to pay £250 fixed price for our 10 plate Volvo XC60 and that used 8 litres alone.

 

[XTR2Turbo]

If you want a laugh get a quote from a land rover main dealer for a defender second service 

[Thrustyjust]

Mmmm, just had a letter through the door saying they had changed franchises, so my half price service is potentially no more. I worked out that the pollen filter, oil filter and 5 litres of oil is £60 from Eurocarparts. You cant tell me their retail costs are more than theirs . So I have £200 unaccounted for , for labour to do that  work. I need to use Skoda parts , as under warranty, but think my local shop at £160 is going to get the job. Skoda do take the wheels off to check the brakes. By all accounts they take the wheels off and put them back on. I can see the pad wear. Its done 9600 miles from new. So, a sensible guess is 50% left. Thats it. Nothing else. No new 3 X spark plugs or air filter. Thats the bigger service next year.........

What really annoys, is this money making scam of saying your aircon needs a service. Its just comical. As long as the condenser is clean and the pollen filter is too, then leave alone until it stops, which could be 10 years away. Don't let any garage say it needs a service and I am in the game of air conditioning.

I am sure other manufacturers do it and people go with it, which is why they do it.

The letter also states that they will price match any garage ( vat registered) with the service as long as I show them the quote with the Skoda OEM parts listed . So, they obviously wont flag up in the parts dept , when they call with my reg number to get the parts, obviously 

[KugaWestie]

You need to try harder

The last three Fabia's the wife has had have been £99 for the first/12 month service 

[Thrustyjust]

7 minutes ago, Gary (KugaWestie) - North Oxfordshire AO said:

You need to try harder

The last three Fabia's the wife has had have been £99 for the first/12 month service 

Thanks Gary..................... I am trying..................... the wife said so..............

[jeff oakley]

Just so you are aware you do not have to take any car into a main dealer for servicing these days. Due to EU laws (Block Exemption) the manufacturers cannot refuse any warranty work if you have the car serviced in accordance with the schedule and use parts that are or equivalent OE quality.

There have been a few MD who have fallen foul of that rule.

I do have some sympathy with MD as the cost of having a franchise now is huge. A new Audi dealership will cost you £3million before you sell a car and the workshops are controlled by the rules they put in place with regards to training, tooling etc. When you then add in huge business rates and the cost of staff it is easy to see why they need to charge more than a good independent does.

They all offer air con servicing, brake fluid changes etc. as an add on again as many of the manufacturers specify it.

[Blatman]

Pretty sure VW have a few hundred million pound fine to pay. Scalping a few million customers this way means it won't take long  

[Kingster]

What about lease or contract hire? Do you have to service at a franchised dealer or can you also go as you please (within reason)?

[Marcus Barlow - Show and Events Co-ordinator]

Took my Skoda for first MOT at Skoda main dealer, the cost was £39 , it passed and they also washed it!  no complaints

[jeff oakley]

1 hour ago, Chris King - Webmaster and Joint North East AO said:

What about lease or contract hire? Do you have to service at a franchised dealer or can you also go as you please (within reason)?

Quite a few lease companies use the independents as the costs are a lot less, pretty sure one had a deal with Halfords for example.

It will all depend on the choice of the companies who actually own the cars as some people will pay a premium in the secondhand market for a car with dealer service history, but when you are talking 100k plus miles for a company car the difference will be less.

[Thrustyjust]

I own this car outright and this , in 3 years time be given to Mini TJ. But as being 2 years old,  dont want to scupper any warranty , by not using OEM parts. So, this would potentially only be an oil filter, as a pollen filter wont kill the engine if it has a Crossland one fitted (£10) . As for oil, as long as its in the spec for low ash 0-30w , then they cant complain (£30) . I have just seen a 'how to' for the the pollen filter on youtube and a lady put a message underneath of it ' took me 40 secs to change it' , so the plot thickens on the cost thing even moreso. I am sure Skoda dont buy a 5 ltr can to put 3.5l in the engine, but a 50 gallon drum . We do intend to keep this car for a long while, to which service history will be potentially irrelevant as long as its carried out on an annual basis. I regulary check all tyres / pressures and brake wear on all 4 cars we have . 

I guess this thread was started as I had seen varying prices from people on various Skoda forums , so does seem to be numbers in a hat, of which mine is in the highest range. 

Oh and also have the £20 VED to pay at the end of the month too........

[Kingster]

I'll have to look it up, but from memory my last service on my Civic diesel at the dealer was about £280. This was nothing special, just oil, filters etc. If I recall the oil was charged by the litre at something ridiculous like £16-18 per litre (maybe more). They used 6 litres too! I did feel utterly ripped off but being a contract hire car I just sucked it up as I figured that a dealer service is the requirement. Must read small print!

[jim_l]

Are they building in parts wear and tear now to make the dealers some money?   My mates Merc needed pads all round and the front discs were worn below spec after 26k, and he is no boy racer, disc replacements after 26k is normal apparently! 

Merc quoted £580, we did the job in 3 hours incl. a couple of coffee breaks and a test drive, cost £130!

Always try CES if you have one near you, Eurocarparts can be expensive. 

[Thrustyjust]

I have a name on the letter they sent, so I am going to 'work' on this and see how good a customer interest they have . I will email him on Monday from work ( free time ) and see what response I get. I will copy the email onto here and any response back from him. 

 

[CraigHew]

Isn't it just a case of "charge what you want / can for labour" ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/financial-services/motoring/car-repairs/garage-labour-costs-soar/

£99 per hour average for francised dealerships.