Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 93 total)
  • Car main dealer servicing.
  • sargey
    Full Member

    Took my Octavia in for a service today at my local skoda main dealer today and received a phone call from the service manager to say that during the service they had flagged up some items that needed addressing.
    1. bOth front tyres were worn and needed replacing
    2.All four disc are pitted and should be replaced along with the pads
    3.both lower front console suspension bushes are worn and need replacing

    The car has only done 36000 miles and is looked after well.
    The cost of all this extra work would come to£1000.32.

    When I told the service manager that they had mot’d the car 3 weeks ago the look on his face was priceless, and he told me they were only advisories and not that important.
    I said that they would get nothing more from me and would be contacting skoda UK.
    Just to say that I am a trained mechanic and used to be an mot tester.

    Trust skoda,not any more.

    v8ninety
    Full Member

    Trust skoda main dealers, not any more.

    FTFY.

    Ming the Merciless
    Free Member

    Nissan main stealers just as bad

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    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    Had similar from a ford dealer a couple of years ago. Wife’s car that she dropped in, same dealer I had used for years without trouble but a different branch.

    They called her with a very similar list.

    She was sceptical. I then called them… Brake discs 65% worn so another 3-4 years use then at her annual mileage/gentle applications, tyres at 4+mm etc

    I should have known this would end badly after I booked it in and they were adamant it needed a cam belt (a model that was AFAIK chain driven in every engine variant) . 🙄

    We now use a long established independent who are fantastic, although not stupidly cheap they are still not main dealer prices

    Its a shame really I have dealt with some great main dealers and had brilliant service from them (including another branch of that dealer who were very good indeed). That incident was the first time I have had a proper service problem ever.

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    No better or worse than any other dealer in my experience. Skoda UK will doubt tell you how much they care about your safety and give details of the minimum tread / brake material they recommend for optimum safety and comfort etc blah blah. Don’t expect them to give the dealer the hairdryer treatment, they were ones who told them to push the ‘extras’.

    Seat tried me on for some £100 wiper blades and discs and pads all around last time around – I fitted some OE spec Bosch wipers for £30, the brakes I let them do even though it was over-priced and probably unneeded but it came with a valet clean and I wasn’t paying.

    chewkw
    Free Member

    Crikey that quote is more expensive then mine …

    The last time I had full service I did the followings:

    1. Full auto gear box oil changed.
    2. Full motor oil changed.
    3. Two front ABS sensors replacement.
    4. Four new discs.
    5. All caliper pads replaced.
    6. Two new tires.
    7. New wiper blades.

    All that for £765 plus and I was told that I was being ripped off …

    😯

    notsospeedydaz
    Free Member

    Vauxhall wanted to change rear discs on my vivaro at 28,000 miles just passed mot at 96,0000 on same discs

    granny_ring
    Full Member

    I guess with cars under warranty you have to get them serviced at main dealers, if it’s not take it to a ‘reliable’ garage.

    Frankenstein
    Free Member

    Wonder how many others paid up?

    sargey
    Full Member

    yes lndipendant garages for me from now on.
    on a similar note my wife took her car in for a service at another trust dealer and they told her that the front brake pads were 50% worn.
    The car has only done 7300 miles ffs!

    Greybeard
    Free Member

    I guess with cars under warranty you have to get them serviced at main dealers

    I’ve just bought a new Ford, and warranty book says it must be serviced using Ford parts and doing all the right things, but nothing to say who has to do it. The salesman says it doesn’t have to be a main dealer (which I believe is EU law) but the garage has to be VAT registered. Not sure about that, I can’t see what VAT has to do with it. I’ve always done it myself or used a one man independent we’ve known for 30 years, but I’ve never had a car new enough to have a warranty before.

    wrightyson
    Free Member

    granny_ring – Member 

    I guess with cars under warranty you have to get them serviced at main dealers,

    Nope, I think they just have to be vat registered and use genuine parts

    nealglover
    Free Member

    I guess with cars under warranty you have to get them serviced at main dealer

    That’s what a main dealer would want you to think. But it’s not true.

    Proper servicing must be done, as scheduled by the manufacturer. But it can be done by any garage, not just main dealers.

    wilburt
    Free Member

    My skoda warranty requires only that the car is serviced within 500 miles of schedule, doesn’t say anything about a garage so I did it myself saving £200 and the sort of nonsense above.

    nealglover
    Free Member

    You do need to use genuine parts supplied by the manufacturer, and the specific oil specified by the manufacturer (not just the same grade) otherwise the warranty is no longer valid.

    wilburt
    Free Member

    Yep, to the above although that’s not in the warranty t@c’s .

    nealglover
    Free Member

    From my Skoda warranty terms:

    “Servicing. Your vehicle should be serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s technical guidelines.”

    I don’t have a copy of the technical guidelines, but they do state the exact parts and oil etc for every model and every type of service.

    mc
    Free Member

    To maintain warranty, a vehicle has to be serviced by a VAT registered garage, and using OE spec parts.
    IIRC the reasoning behind the VAT registered bit is a VAT registered garage is less like to be dodgy, and provides at least some sort of traceability.

    Vauxhall wanted to change rear discs on my vivaro at 28,000 miles just passed mot at 96,0000 on same discs

    In their defence, just because something passes an mot, doesn’t mean it’s not worn below the official allowable limit. For a brake disc to fail on wear, it has to be excessively worn and likely to fail I.e. worn well past the official limit.
    To fail an MOT requires parts to be likely to fail at the time of test, not that part is likely to last until the next MOT/service.

    konabunny
    Free Member

    Says who about VAT-registered?

    mc
    Free Member

    From what I remember, the actual requirement is serviced by a suitably trained/competent technician, but due to the lack of formal licensing at the time combined with lots of techs with little or no formal qualifications, the legal advise within the UK was a VAT registered garage.

    The ultimate thing is, beyond ensuring the vehicle has been serviced at the required intervals, it’s up to the manufacturer to prove it’s not been maintained correctly.
    As part of a warranty claim they can request invoices and details of any parts fitted that could affect the warranty claim i.e. if the engine goes bang, they could request details of what oil and filters had been used (if they suspect oil, they’re far more likely to just take a test sample from the engine), but if you’d been fitting rubbish brake pads they couldn’t use that to justify rejecting an engine claim.

    gobuchul
    Free Member

    n their defence, just because something passes an mot, doesn’t mean it’s not worn below the official allowable limit.

    What? The “official” limit is the MOT requirements.

    Vauxhall wanted to change rear discs on my vivaro at 28,000 miles just passed mot at 96,0000 on same discs

    Brake disks that don’t last 28,000 miles in a normal family car at not fit for purpose. the fact that they are still functioning 58,000 miles later would suggest that the main dealer was actually committing fraud when they stated they needed replacing.

    IME main dealers offer the worst level of servicing out there, if you have something a bit fancy then find an independant specialist, otherwise just find a good local garage.

    All have access to the makers service schedules and most have the ability to read the error codes.

    chestercopperpot
    Free Member

    Main stealers, sh1t haus rats the lot-of-em.

    Can I have duh most expensive service and loads of parts replaced that are perfectly ok at the highest possible price, “certainly sir we can fit you tomorrow what time is best for you” dry bummings so blatant even British Gas would be proud!

    There all electrical now and that aren’t they, even the mechanical bits 😆

    wilburt
    Free Member

    Unless the warranty or service schedule explicitly says the person carrying out the service has to be vat registered or have a certain qualification or use a certain brand of products then you dont have to, the wording is a legal contract, theres no “other rules” for either party.

    NZCol
    Full Member

    I had much woe with Audi, the final straw that ended up in a legal stoush was them refusing a warranty claim because non OEM parts had been put on – by them during a previous service. It was epic, thankfully I am a pedant and could prove it. They then ended up with a 10k warranty claim-it was an rs4 so everything we catastrophically expensive.
    Since then have used specialist indy

    spooky_b329
    Full Member

    I avoid dealers now…especially after being told I needed a full set of brake pads for well over £100, I bought the pads on the way home at a motor factors, but when I went to change them there was loads of meat left. I changed the front as I’d already gone to the effort of removing the old ones, a couple of years later we sold the car and I flogged the rear pads on ebay.

    I’ve not found a reliable independent so try and do everything myself apart from the odd cambelt. I use an MOT place that doesn’t do any work (apart from the odd bulb change) and I hardly ever get a fail.

    The only advantage of using a stealer is when you have a problem out of warranty (like the clutch distorting on my wifes six year old 90,000 mile Honda Civic) the Honda service history meant we only paid a couple of hundred quid for a replacement clutch. Free clutch and labour, we just paid for 2-3hrs labour at the warranty rate. But I have no doubt that all the money the first owner spent on dealer servicing will have been more expensive than the ‘goodwill gesture’ from Honda.

    surfer
    Free Member

    The only good experience of main dealers I have had is Alfa Romeo…. I know 😯

    sadexpunk
    Full Member

    just while we’re on the subject of services, can i ask where the limits of ‘FSH’ are please?
    ill possibly be selling my octavia soon and dont want to advertise wrongly.

    bought it 3 or 4 yrs ago and until then had been stamped by a main dealer. since i bought it i had it serviced first year at a local garage, then over the last 3 years its been serviced twice, so theres around 18 mths between services. ive just serviced it myself this year and kept receipts of oil/filters etc to prove it.

    is this FSH because ‘its got the full history of when its been serviced despite not being at official intervals’ or is it ‘some service history’ because it hasnt been serviced every 12 months on the nose and not by proper garages.

    is there a black and white criteria, or are the lines a bit grey?

    thanks

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    On the flip side our Skoda dealer in newbury said car needed new tyres and tracking done when last serviced and mot’d said they could do it but it would be cheaper to take it to kwik fit.

    hugo
    Free Member

    I had it with Kia, but saw it coming.

    Turned the wheels out when I parked and took a side picture of the disks and pads, all clear as day with wear indicator.

    Phone call as expected: “your disks are 87% worn, blah blah”

    Sent the picture by text.

    Funny that….. didn’t get a call back arguing.

    mattbee
    Full Member

    Our local Ford main dealer (Hendy Portsmouth in Ocean Village) is on the other hand rather good.
    Use them for servicing of my wife’s Focus, principally because it’s a 1.6 tdci so I want it to be serviced correctly and for Ford to have no wriggle room on servicing should the oil starvation woes it is known for cause issues.
    They aren’t much more price wise than my local indy and are always good to deal with, wife gets a decent courtesy car and they haven’t tried to sell us replacement of random parts yet in approaching 3 years.

    Breeze VW centre in Portsmouth though, are the classic awful incompetent robbing disingenuous slimy back tracking robbing useless bastards. I’d rather give my van to an IS car bomber to be serviced than to them.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    sadexpunk – it doesnt matter what you call it.

    it just means when someone looks through it, it shows good care before you had it then lax servicing in the 3 or 4 years you have had it – what else have you skipped in maintainance would be my thoughts.

    IMO it has got partial service history as services have been missed.

    a dealer would call it FSH – but then they call it FSH even if it doesnt have any service history…..

    ghostlymachine
    Free Member

    It’s not FSH, cos you missed two services. Or at least, did them 6 months late.

    And you’d be amazed what dealers get up to. It’s not just the customer they rob blind, the manufacturer (or their importers) get robbed blind too.

    Charging for warranty adjustments that haven’t been done, charging the manufacturer for a replacement part that is never fitted, or not even needed, so they get the labour, plus the physical part, then when a non-warranty replacement is needed, they already have one on the shelf, that was free. (One major midlands dealer wound the business up and sold everything off 8 or 9 years ago, when a 7 figure stash of unfitted warranty parts was found in a lock up!)

    Its one reason why warranty jobs take longer and longer these days, the manufacturer has to double check everything, VIN numbers, serial numbers, fault codes, before they’ll even authorize delivery of the parts.

    Rockhopper
    Free Member

    Just another point on brake disks and MOT’s – disk condition is no longer checked at MOT time, as long as the brakes pass the efficiency test then that’s good enough.

    konabunny
    Free Member

    the legal advise within the UK was a VAT registered garage.

    Who gave who that advice?

    ghostlymachine
    Free Member

    Lawyers.

    konabunny
    Free Member

    lol

    breatheeasy
    Free Member

    Slightly OT but I took out one of those £20 MOT ‘insurance’ policies with my old car – they basically say if you come back and do the MOT with us next yuear we’ll cover the costs of any MOT failure bits.

    Suffice to say, next year the service rep smugly handed me over a mahoosive list of ‘failures’, some I still think were made up. Seatbelt fastening for £350 etc.

    Look on her face when I told her about this insurance policy – she went from “making lots of money from this mug” to “I’ve got lots of paperwork and explaining to the boss and we’re out of pocket” was priceless…

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    sadexpunk – Member

    just while we’re on the subject of services, can i ask where the limits of ‘FSH’ are please?
    ill possibly be selling my octavia soon and dont want to advertise wrongly.

    bought it 3 or 4 yrs ago and until then had been stamped by a main dealer. since i bought it i had it serviced first year at a local garage, then over the last 3 years its been serviced twice, so theres around 18 mths between services. ive just serviced it myself this year and kept receipts of oil/filters etc to prove it.

    is this FSH because ‘its got the full history of when its been serviced despite not being at official intervals’ or is it ‘some service history’ because it hasnt been serviced every 12 months on the nose and not by proper garages.

    is there a black and white criteria, or are the lines a bit grey?

    thanks

    There is no hard and fast rules as to what ‘FSH’ means – you certainly could advertise it as having ‘FSH’ as it’s service history is documented – but it’s missed a service.

    Most people expect FSH to mean every service, completed roughly on time, by a garage, who stamp the book – but bills for oil filters and oil etc are more than acceptable on a car over a certain age.

    Newer Cars people want dealer stamps – as this thread illustrates, if you go to a dealer they’ll try to get you out with an “as new” car, even if it costs a fortune – might not be a bad thing, my Car is getting on for 5 years old and 60k miles, it’s like new, but it costs a bit to keep that up.

    wilburt
    Free Member

    I service the car better than a dealer would.

    btw MOT day today..just had the call, car past but the tyres are at 4mm and they recommend replacing them as a precaution 🙁

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    You do need to use genuine parts supplied by the manufacturer, and the specific oil specified by the manufacturer (not just the same grade) otherwise the warranty is no longer valid.

    Not convinced about the oil, I get my parts from the parts counter at the local ford dealer, Ford oil is very expensive (relative to just buying the correct synthetic from euro carp parts) but they often have other oils in at bargain prices. Last time it was Morris*. So the dealers obviously don’t use their own oil either.

    *odly, it was the diesel spec oil and I’ve a petrol car but they were happy it was correct. Presumably diesel spec oil is ‘better’ to cope with the Turbo?

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