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....oh, and they also change the cabin filter and inspect the car.
No, it's not an exotica, this is a two-year old 1.6tdi Skoda needing a "oil and filter inspection".
This is just a letting off steam rant. I can go elsewhere and maintain the warranty but it tots up to around £200 labour for an hour and half job. Main dealers eh? They did try to dissuade me from looking elsewhere, suggesting the warranty is void unless Skoda approved parts are used. It's an oil filter and oil.
And breathe..
And look for a local independent..
And look for a local independent..
Breathe in, and out.
A service is a lot more than oil and filter change. There will be a long checklist of things and those will be done by a main dealer. You will be able to get the full list. an independent may be cheaper but will they systematically work thru the inspection list?
Yes, I get that. But the £269 inc parts and vat is for oil, oil filter and cabin filter. I asked about staying with it, and it was quoted at 1.5 hours. It's around £100 an hour labour by my reckoning.
Dry ye eyes and get on with life.
Main dealer prices bro, the long checklist is just a tickbox exercise.
A decent indie will charge about £45 per hour labour, less than half price.
Ok they may not drive the car back to your doorstep fully valeted, but I assume you already own a vacume cleaner and a duster.
*disclaimer - do check what needed (and when) for major services, like cam belt etc.
You should report them to the OFT. An independent can repair any vehicle still under the manufacturers warranty provide they use OE (or equivalent parts). This was one of the great unsung bonuses of EU membership.
However . . .
When I worked on the front line I often had customers who wanted to avoid the main dealers. I told them to take it to the dealer. It was never going to be worth the hassle (to me) if the car had an issue and the dealership then tried to blame it on the independent.
And . . .I've heard of tales of the dealer refusing to honour the warranty because the independent didn't check something using a scan tool. The factory scan tool was course was the only tool that could do this 'check'. Not sure of the truth here, might just be a trade rumour, but see Kia and a (I think a Swedish) court case.
I used to own an Audi and used a main dealer once or twice. They at least showed the hourly labour charge on the bill. I think it was £69 an hour possibly ex vat. I sold it in 2003 so this would have been around 1999. My guy down the road charges £35 an hour but works out of a tumbledown garage with outdoor ramps etc and employs one other guy. He doesn’t wash the car either. He did fail to diagnose a heater fault once on the Smax that we had. Sent me to an electrician who spotted the coolant hose with a hole in...
Kia are just as bad, local stealer wanted 300 euros for annual service so I asked them to print off what it entailed. They were happy to print the spec, 3 pages, took it to my indie who did that and more for a lot less.
Someone has to pay for the shiny showroom, free coffee, WiFi....
The occasional main stealer offers are really good, I got oil and filter done for 99 euros once, but tney then made up loads of service work needing doing on top. Can't blame them really as it's a business but some more trusting folk would have paid up.
Espessialy when a car is less than 3 or 5 years old, your just paying for an oil and filter change.
1 hour labour tops, plus the cost of the oil and filter.
You should report them to the OFT. An independent can repair any vehicle still under the manufacturers warranty provide they use OE (or equivalent parts).
Which is what they told him.
Main dealers are expensive it’s one of the ways they make money do to that ‘special’ deal only if you sign today.
£150 for a service at my local ford garage . They do a thorough check and send me a video of the underside and wash it really well . Seems good value to me.
I see your £269 and raise you £700! One rear wheel bearing change for a 2l 06-plate Audi A3, quoted by a Bristol tyre and ex<s>haust</ s>tortion place for Sandwich jr. A local Audi independent did it for a couple of quid under £200 all in.
.....and that may include a charge for topping up your washer fluid. My last service receipt showed a £2 fee for this, despite the fact I had topped it up myself that morning🙄.
Washer fluid top up fee, I got caught once never again, Indie doesn't do it but main dealer did. Really annoyed me.
Actually, main dealer put one of those new advert boards on my rear number plate. Dropped some nuts inside my rear door. Had to go back twice to get them removed. That was a few years ago, just noticed last week the rear door inner card was hanging loose, they had pushed and damaged the fitting.
Renault Zoé annual service, main dealer = 120e. They plug it in and do a software update if necessary, change the cabin filter (they do too, I put a cross on one to check), top up the fluids (the year they found I'd already topped up the screen wash they put a bottle of washer fluid on the passenger seat), check tyre wear/pad wear and give it a once once over then give it a Karcher. Seems reasoable to me. And the lady who does it all wouldn't look out of place on a 70s tyre calendar. I like that the person doing the work is the one who takes the keys, gives you the bill and comments on what's been done.
Certain parts of warranties can be void if you use an independent rather than a main dealer
Take Audi for example, their cars come with 12 years anti corrosion warranty but you have to have full Audi service history to qualify
Reason being is at every service they inspect the bodywork to try and catch anything early and fix it before it gets worse
Just picked up my car today from my local independent garage for its 48k (but actually 50K on the clock now) main service cost me £220, that is for a 5yr Skoda
Our local indi just charged a work mate ( we all use the same garage ) £225 for a service oil cabin and fuel filters + mot @ £45 and vat on a Mazda 5
I just buy cars that are old enough to be out of warranty and service them myself, saves on the depreciation and the labour.
Conspiracy theory a few years ago that car manufactures were looking to service and parts as a profit center as selling cars had a decreasing margin
Weirdly, the last service I had (Skoda Octavia estate) was cheaper at the main dealer than Kwikfit. Random. And my local independent is a bit more than main dealer, but worth it as it’s 5 mins on foot which makes everything very easy logistics wise. And they have someone just to answer the phone.
Porsche charge approx £1,200 for a Boxter/Cayman service.
But then that is also a 2 year warranty that means they will pretty much replace anything that goes wrong with the car in that time on cars up to 12 years old
Did they do the inspections they were supposed to do per the Skoda website? Did they do a full road test, and a wash and vacuum?
If so I don’t think that’s an unreasonable price at all. You could probably have saved £100 by going elsewhere, but if the car is 2 years old you presumably paid £10-15k for it, so why would you jeopardise that investment for £100?
No, it’s not an exotica, this is a two-year old 1.6tdi Skoda needing a “oil and filter inspection”.
Just had my VW Caddy Maxi serviced, oil/filter/inspection etc... The van is a year old, 18k, was due its first service, and have to stick with Main Dealer for the warranty etc...
£130 + VAT...
I think you're being shafted quite frankly!
Espessialy when a car is less than 3 or 5 years old, your just paying for an oil and filter change.
I asked the main dealer why they charge more for an oil and filter change when the car's under warranty... "if it's under warranty we have to use the proper oil".
Mercedes CL600 AMG with a drivers side headlight that stopped working two days after I bought it from an independent garage.
The garage said to put it into the local Merc dealer and they would pick up the tab. Local Southampton Merc dealer charged £150-ish to look at the car as it "wasn't one of theirs" and diagnosed the fault as the drivers side headlight not working plus the wind screen wiper blade was slightly perished.
Headlight repair was either a faulty projector unit at £1,200 or the joint control module at £1,800. They suggested I bought the projector unit first and then if that didn't fix it I should but the joint control unit. So I was looking at a possible £3,000 plus labour charge. I thought I better check back with the garage I bought it from as it had been freshly MOT'd when I bought it.
He sent a guy down, about 40 miles, to look at the car. The bloke loosened and re-tightened the headlight connector and solved the problem.
The main dealer tick lists are great for everyone but you
Mrs Pondo bought a 2 year old Colt a few years back, took it to the nearest dealer for a service, they quoted *more expensive figure* for a service with Mitsubishi bits, *less expensive figure* for service with non-OEM bits - we went non-OEM, and they wrote ECONOMY SERVICE in caps in the service history and highlit it with a pink highlighter. Don't know what markup they lost on the OEM bits but I'm dusre it wasn't as much as they lost on all the other services we had done elsewhere.
£269 doesn't seem way out there tbh.
Just buy a car with a service pack chucked in. Last Land Rover service was pain free!
We just get an independent garage to do it. Last time they collected and dropped off, did my MOT and replaced front pads and discs pretty much at cost.
We did have a warranty problem that required the main dealer. The heater cable wasn’t seated properly so couldn’t turn it all the way to cold & the backlight was broken. They fixed the heater cable, and replaced the bulbs but then charged me the £4 or so for them..... I’d expect them to last the lifetime of the car and/or be FOC as good will. Presenting me with an invoice for £4 wasn’t worth the time/hassle/card fees imo.
Next time still under warranty I had an intermittent issue (a very noisy front wiper motor) I didn’t bother with the dealer and just replaced it all myself. The back/forth “sorry we couldn’t find a fault” then rebooking it in etc would end up costing me more in fuel and time. Bought a new OE Denzo wiper motor assembly and replaced in a few hours myself.
Seems fair to me. I wouldn't expect any thing less. I can do it a bit cheaper myself...If I could be arsed.. on my drive, under a jacked up car with the sump a few inches off the end of my nose, in whatever weather might be present, then discarding of the oil and waste products. And that's the point. You think you can do it cheaper then set up your own company, Pay the monthly lease charges for a premises to do business from, pay the business insurance, pay thousands for the tools you need do the job, pay for marketing, advertising and battle to try to get a trustworthy reputation and alot more above that...oh and while you're at it put up your house as collateral against the money you borrow against your business on the basis you're going to get a few hundred services a month just to cover your costs.
It's a tough business and if you value the service then its a fair charge...why would you expect it to be cheaper?
“if it’s under warranty we have to use the proper oil”.
By the proper oil I assume they mean the manufacturer approved oil (total whatever etc) as opposed to some cheaper oil but to same specs ? Now I remember how I service my car myself.
on my drive, under a jacked up car with the sump a few inches off the end of my nose, in whatever weather might be present, then discarding of the oil and waste products.
Ah the price of knowing it's done right.
Our 3yr old Skoda Citigo , all 999cc of it needed an annual service. Main dealer wanted £270 for oil, oil filter, pollen filter and check rear brakes. I then shopped around at 3 other localish dealers and they varied by up to £100 !! So Oxford Skoda, you were £370 the most expensive !!.
And as under warranty ( just) , so my local garage fitted a skoda filter, I asked for Shell Helix oil, found the handbrake ( serviced by skoda before we bought it and was a skoda pool car) had been mal- adjusted, so adjusted the shoes then loosened the handbrake cable back to position for the grand sum of £110 inc VAT. I fitted a pollen Mann filter for £8.
As long as the garage is VAT registered and uses genuine parts , the warranty is still kept. Avoid Skoda main dealers but if you do use them, then shop around for prices !
I did email Skoda why the 3.5ltrs of oil,oil filter , pollen filter were more expensive than our Volvo service, which for £250 fix price included 8 ltres of oil air, oil, pollen, diesel filters and a years breakdown cover. They never responded.
Just do it yourself, £50 max and an hour of your time.
whats with people these days?
100ph bout right.
Your paying for training building's fancy coffe etc.
If your bitching about service costs you'll hate it when you work out your deprecation.
Dont buy a new car if you want cheap servicing.
are you sure its not the extended scope service that you'll pay 269 for not just the basic interim service.
I use Toyota main dealers.
£145 for intermediate
£265 for full
Fine with me.
Always ask them to price match. Last and only time I used a main dealer the VW dealer price matched national tyres price at £55. The oil would have cost me £30.
You went to a main dealer... Why expect any less than an over inflated bill. Its actually against the law for them to refuse to complete warranty work if the vehicle has been service with aftermarket parts, so long as they are of equivalent spec and correct grade of oils and other fluids is used
Its actually against the law for them to refuse to complete warranty work
While this is true of servicing and repair work is isn't true of all inspection work
As i said earlier in this thread Audi do a body work inspection at every service to catch any potential issues and fix them before they get any worse, this is part of their 12 year anti corrosion warranty
Miss one service and that 12 year body work warranty is void, i found this out when i took my 11 year old Audi to them when the front wing started to rust, the previous owner had the last 2 services done at an independent so the 12 year body work warranty was void
A note on Skoda: we had an '09 plate Octavia with an early 1.4tsi engine. This had a known fault with the timing chain tension pulley. Good if you owned a VW, as it was replaced on warranty or recall, not so good if it was in a Seat or Skoda. When ours failed, Skoda refused to have anything to do with it, although they suggested we should get it towed to a Skoda dealer and they might see if they could help us. In the mean time, because the car didn't show UK dealer service for the first few years of its life, they wouldn't consider it a warranty matter.
The first owner had been in the armed forces and stationed in Germany. It had main dealer stamps for regular service there, and we'd bought it from a UK main dealer. In the end, we got it done for a fraction of the price quoted by the local Skoda dealer at a reputable local place, and vowed to have as little to do with Skoda warranties as possible.
We eventually replaced the 09 when it died with another second hand Octavia, simply because they were the best combination of price and reliability (I know - but it's a family wagon, not something for fun). Unfortunately, I had to get one from a main dealer, but took a certain amount of pleasure in telling them the warranties were worth less than the paper they were written on during the negotiation. We're getting it serviced at a local indie we know and trust, and it's only been in to a main dealer once: shortly after we picked it up, because the dealership we bought it from promised they'd sorted the tracking and lied. They suggested we bring it back - a 140 mile round trip - but ended up grudgingly agreeing to pay when I said I'd bring it back for a full refund plus travel costs. They then need masses of chasing to cut a cheque for the work, and only coughed up after I spoke to Skoda UK.
The cars are good value, but seriously: Skoda and it's dealerships can go eff themselves with a rusty trowel.
My local Skoda dealership in Bournemouth did an oil and filter change on my 2.0 diesel Octavia for £100. I did specify that was all I wanted them to do though.
@erscs... You can actually have a 'body and paint check' done at any VAT registered garage and it will qualify. So long as said garage have crossed T's and dotted i's as far as a record goes its fine
Son's Fabia 1.2 Monte Carlo is due a cambelt change. Over £100 cheaper at the local garage using genuine service parts than the stealership.