Main Dealer Servicing Costs.

[darve]

When I took mine in just before 3 years old they showed me the two different pricing tables.

It's utter rubbish.

Brake fluid change under 3 years old was something silly like £179 + vat

One day later and it was £59 + vat

I kindly suggested they only charge me lower price or they can have it back when 3 years and 1 day old and have all the administration processing again, courtesy car, clean my car again......

I got it for £59 plus vat

To change the air filter it was something stupid like £70 plus vat. I said I can go buy the part for £20 and pop the lid off, change the element and pop it back on

I feel for all the uninitiated who get screwed over

OHs corsa needed one of the anti rollbar drip links changed. They quoted £180. It failed the MOT on this. 

I said that's fine I'll come pick it up. They were like "but sir it's failed and needs fixing". So I say "it's OK,  I'll bring it back tomorrow for its free retest"

I ordered a vax part for £12 with FREE same day delivery. Swap it over in the evening and take it back for the retest and passed

They were most perplexed how it could have been done. I proudly said it only cost £12 too

They always go into panic mode when you ask for a breakdown of the price lol

[SootySport]

On ‎22‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 19:27, DE04* said:

My daughter has a Audi A3,at the end of this month is 2 years old. At the beginning of this month a notice came on the dash saying it is due a oil change and inspection in 30 days.(2 yearly service) I phoned and booked it in where she bought it at Audi Bexley. They quoted £337 which I thought was expensive. So on Thursday I went to a Audi service centre as I was passing and asked for there service price. There price was £472. I asked what I got for that price,he said oil,oil filter and pollen filter. So I said that is about £50 where is my other £422 gone,he said we have to reset the computer,so l laughed and he just said it is what Audi charge. Then he said if it was OUT of warranty it would be £167. So I got up and walked out shaking my head. That is £305 difference between in and out of warranty. £337 doesn't seem so bad now.

Why don't you do it yourself Dean?

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

It wouldn't be quite so bad if you could be sure the job would be given to a workshop bod who's knowledgeable and competent, but it will be tossed out to the boy who has just been promoted from tea boy. Motco's Law of Universal Incompetence was formed during my period of running company cars maintained by main dealers (Henly's and Perry's mostly). It would be impossible to exaggerate when telling of their inability to find their own arses. Henly's had a Central School of Incompetence and everyone from Service Manager downwards graduated with honours. 

Little though I enjoy the job I do this sort of routine stuff myself. Oil, oil filter, fuel filter, pollen filter, and brake pads. What could be easier? Brake fluid changing on an Audi RS4 (my lad's) might make me hesitate, but only that.

[Thrustyjust]

Well, booked the car in for next month at my local independant. I need to give him some work, he currently only MOT's Ms TJ's Seat !! Went and had a chat today and sorted a car we can use ( usually a bit of a chewed up monster) but he's only 4 miles up the road. Just asked him to fit a Skoda oil filter, as I will be fitting the pollen at the weekend. I am more than certain, it will be in much better hands with Bob, than Marshalls Skoda , as still with no response from them, shows what kind of customer they are after. Thats one that wont question their hideous costs and like a knuckle dragging chimp washing their 'car' , rather than pride and joy . 

Makes you wonder why these garages change franchises on a regular basis. I think that locally, only Volvo has the same chain, everyone else in the last 2 years have group changed. 

[DamperMan]

As regards to the Audi....  the reset cost although clearly a con.. might be reset able by you without a tool.       My Seat was a weird combination of ignition key on off.. with some mileage reset button pressing.   I bought a cable and some VCS software for about £100.   Very useful when other lights came on.   Poor connector under the seat put the air bag light on... not only did it tell me which air bag allowed me to reset the light after.    That will have saved a huge amount of cash.. 

My bmw looks more complex as it stores the service history on the display and the BMW dealer number.   I’m sure their will be a cheep Chinese tool on eBay soon to do the job.   Another 15k and the cars out of warentee so i’ll be planning to either invest in some software or a diagnostic tool. 

[DE04*]

On 23/10/2017 at 22:25, SootySport said:

Why don't you do it yourself Dean?

I will when out of warranty. And I don't know how to reset the computer,it does worry me abit that they will void any thing goes wrong. But in reality it shouldn't 

[CraigHew]

I started servicing my own 8yr old 5 series a couple of years aog which I've had main dealer'd from new

The biggest bug-bear was the computer warning service messages, which you're able to reset via a manual interface (see google) but once past their due date were impossible to cancel without plugging them into a BMW dealership brain.

Then I had a sudden epiphany, and deployed an old PC trick by setting the date and time of the car back a few months, switching off and back on, then resetting the service intervals via the manual menu interface, switching off and on again and updating the date and time.

Worked a treat...!

[Thrustyjust]

Just had a card from the main dealer saying about the air con 'annual' service now .

1/How they will check the pollen filter ( is replaced annually, so whats the point in that ?)

2/Will check the seals ( what ? the ones with flippers ? as you cant check the connection seals without disassembly and then they need new.)

3/Change the oil in the system. Righto, so how you going to get that out ?The whole system is saturated in the oil. Dash out ?   

4/ Change the refrigerant. Its not like emptying a kettle of water , they are designed to last many years.

5/ Disinfect the bacteria growths . Now we are onto something. That smell of rotting cabbage, yes that's bacteria. Cleanliness of a pollen filter helps. Hang on, they just changed/ inspected that.

6/ Check that it is all working. Er, I can do that, by pressing the button on the dash. If I really wanted to push the boat out, i could check the air out the vents with a thermometer.

I am verging on calling them up and see whats happening , as I still havent had a reply, so they must have forgotten me  Its not the first time someone wants to forget me 

 

[SootySport]

On ‎25‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 11:30, DE04* said:

I will when out of warranty. And I don't know how to reset the computer,it does worry me abit that they will void any thing goes wrong. But in reality it shouldn't 

They can't 'Void' your warranty if you service yourself according to the Audi service schedule and use Audi parts.     I sign and date my service book and keep the parts bill.   Sure all this has been mentioned many times in the past as EEC anti monopoly laws called 'Block Exemption' .

If you read your handbook it should tell you how to reset the service indicator yourself, at least it does in mine.   You can also buy a OBD tool to reset the indicator and do many other functional tasks for about £12.

[jeff oakley]

3 hours ago, SootySport said:

They can't 'Void' your warranty if you service yourself according to the Audi service schedule and use Audi parts.     I sign and date my service book and keep the parts bill.   Sure all this has been mentioned many times in the past as EEC anti monopoly laws called 'Block Exemption' .

If you read your handbook it should tell you how to reset the service indicator yourself, at least it does in mine.   You can also buy a OBD tool to reset the indicator and do many other functional tasks for about £12.

Block exemption rules say it must be service with parts that equal with equivalent quality to OE. It does not say that you must use the dealer for anything other than warranty.

All you need to do is service to the schedule that is in the handbook. 

[Thrustyjust]

Well for me, this thread has finished, but you can still put your words here about main stealers. Bob has serviced the Skoda and inc VAT and an air filter too came to £115 . Happy to pay that kind of money. While the car still has resale value, i will get a proper garage service. We intend to keep the car for now ( although wife has a potential new job after an interview yesterday , which will involve motorways !!) but will be mini TJ's in a few years as his first car.