Car servicing charges, are they a ripp-off?
Posted: Thu 03 Apr, 2008 11:41 pm
My car had its 1st service today; here's the breakdown.
Service to manufacturer's specification £102
Filter - cabin air (never knew I had one) £11.54
Cleaner Windshield W £1.94
Cleaner £5.25
Filter, engine oil £5.70
Jeep oil - Mobil 1 (Fully Synthetic) £55
Jeep environmental £8.50 (disposing of old oil I suppose)
(It's not a jeep!)
VAT £33.24
Total £223.17
When I booked it in - after a reminder by post - I asked what the going rate was for a first service "About £230" they said. "Wow" I thought - remembering my last dealer service on an Austin Allegro in 1978! (That was the last time I bought a new car)
I was thinking £100 maybe.
Anyway - they said they'd like it there at 0830 - it's a train ride back here and a long walk, or taxi from the station this end and quite a long walk from the station that end to collect too. Not impossible but a hec of an embuggerance for us at that time of day.
I suggested I leave it there the night before and drop the keys, in an envelope, through their letterbox.
They don't have a letterbox, none of their branches have letterboxes - cars have been stolen by keys being fished back out!
But the guy says, as he does not live far from me, he could call after work the day before and collect a spare key, then I could park the car on their forecourt after work, and if I wanted he could leave that spare key in the glovebox and I could collect after hours.
He collected the key but I picked the car up mid afternoon.
It was immaculate. I'd given it a quick, but good wash and wipe, run a dustbuster over the interior - it was still pretty minging from the Corwall trip - and the Milton Keynes one. Couldn't send it to hospital with dirty underwear!
Bit like brushing your teeth before a visit to the dentist (got one of them tomorrow - crown - there's another £500)
The interior was as new - all the junk had been removed from storage nooks and crannies and replaced after cleaning and they put an air freshener in the cabin air filter - or somewhere - that smells like nothing you can buy, or nothing I have found anyway, and - if it's like when I bought it - lasts for ages.
It was gleaming outside, even the tyres had been scrubbed - wasn't expecting that - just the mechanical stuff.
Then I thought, in the time that they took and for the satisfaction they gave, I can't complain - I could easily knock out a frame costing more in that time withouit getting my hands dirty and probably with about the same outlay in materials and definitely less overheads.
Service to manufacturer's specification £102
Filter - cabin air (never knew I had one) £11.54
Cleaner Windshield W £1.94
Cleaner £5.25
Filter, engine oil £5.70
Jeep oil - Mobil 1 (Fully Synthetic) £55
Jeep environmental £8.50 (disposing of old oil I suppose)
(It's not a jeep!)
VAT £33.24
Total £223.17
When I booked it in - after a reminder by post - I asked what the going rate was for a first service "About £230" they said. "Wow" I thought - remembering my last dealer service on an Austin Allegro in 1978! (That was the last time I bought a new car)
I was thinking £100 maybe.
Anyway - they said they'd like it there at 0830 - it's a train ride back here and a long walk, or taxi from the station this end and quite a long walk from the station that end to collect too. Not impossible but a hec of an embuggerance for us at that time of day.
I suggested I leave it there the night before and drop the keys, in an envelope, through their letterbox.
They don't have a letterbox, none of their branches have letterboxes - cars have been stolen by keys being fished back out!
But the guy says, as he does not live far from me, he could call after work the day before and collect a spare key, then I could park the car on their forecourt after work, and if I wanted he could leave that spare key in the glovebox and I could collect after hours.
He collected the key but I picked the car up mid afternoon.
It was immaculate. I'd given it a quick, but good wash and wipe, run a dustbuster over the interior - it was still pretty minging from the Corwall trip - and the Milton Keynes one. Couldn't send it to hospital with dirty underwear!
Bit like brushing your teeth before a visit to the dentist (got one of them tomorrow - crown - there's another £500)
The interior was as new - all the junk had been removed from storage nooks and crannies and replaced after cleaning and they put an air freshener in the cabin air filter - or somewhere - that smells like nothing you can buy, or nothing I have found anyway, and - if it's like when I bought it - lasts for ages.
It was gleaming outside, even the tyres had been scrubbed - wasn't expecting that - just the mechanical stuff.
Then I thought, in the time that they took and for the satisfaction they gave, I can't complain - I could easily knock out a frame costing more in that time withouit getting my hands dirty and probably with about the same outlay in materials and definitely less overheads.
)
As a stopgap, I shoehorned one in that came from my old car (c.1989) and had been flat for three years at least. Charged it up and it's been going strong ever since. 
Languages were never my meteor.