[Closed] £269 for an oil and filter change....

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.

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

It's not a conspiracy theory, servicing can make more money than car sales (wife manages 17 Kia dealerships). As for the dealerships, they are very tightly controlled by the manufacturer, so the coffee, wifi, separate waiting area, video footage of cars etc is all mandated and audited. All their tool and spare parts are audited as well (I've even processed the paper work for tool audits helping the wife), so their cost base is higher than an independent; but so is the standard of work (hopefully). All the courses the technicians go one are mandated and audited as well. Dealerships aren't particularly profitable, so they're certainly not raking it in; barely scraping by would be a better description.

I took my smoking BMW to a back Street BMW specialist in Inverness.

They plugged in a laptop and told me what the problem was. For free.

They couldn't do the work there and then and pointed me to the main dealers. The main dealers couldn't even look at it and suggested I leave it with them for 2 weeks before they could do so.

I drove to Edinbrugh where the main dealers charged me £130 for an hour's labour to plug a laptop in and tell me what was wrong with the car. The same think the nice man in Inverness had told me for free. I was not best pleased!

I worked in main dealers garages doing training for a while. The man who had made one group the most money was not a sales executive, it was the parts manager who had hooked up a deal to supply genuine parts to various places. His dealer principal struggled to get a pay rise for him. This was from the super car owning boss of the franchises.

I also witnessed some willy waving over which of the main dealerships head office crew were getting a super car for their company car.

Someone was making excellent money from main dealerships. It frequently was not the folk you get to walk into, or even complain to after going up 3 levels.

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

Not worth a jot.

I had a 9yo Audi TT, rust at leading edge of sills and inside lip of bootlid.

Not covered apparently. Sills was road rash so not covered as it was not treated (no note from any firmer inspection to say it needed treating).

Boot lid not covered as it was from the inside out, not the outside in.

Work that one out.

As I said, worthless. I will never darken the door of a main dealer for servicing ever again.

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?

This is the difference between and oil and filter change and a service, right here.

Again, as mentioned above, I'd go for a quality independent.

My dad used to change the oil in his car, and from watching it seems like an easy thing to do.
Remove plug under the gearbox, allow it to drain, unscrew filter thing using some tool that looked like a chain whip. Replaced that, put the plug back in the gearbox and fill to the required level.

I reckon many here would happily strip down a modern fork, so changing the oil in your car is likely a doddle

I think you need to undo the plug under the sump rather than the gearbox 🙂

I think you need to undo the plug under the sump rather than the gearbox 🙂

Depends if you've filled up the gearbox through the timing inspection port or not though.

I find the price between the local dealer (Citroen) and independents isn't too far off on routine servicing.

Proper incompetence during my last main dealer service (Audi).
After being told I needed the auto box fluid changing I was expecting a big bill.
I collected the car and paid, without really thinking. It was only when I was filing the paperwork a couple of weeks later that I noticed that they hadn’t charged for any labour - only parts. 🤪

If they had fixed or modular priced servicing this wouldn’t happen - some make the pricing too complicated so it becomes opaque. A bit like Howdens. KISS

Remove plug under the gearbox,

Sounds about right given some of the fork servicing stories on here 🙂

I bought two services for my Koraq when I picked it up. £100 each. Since it's done 900 miles in four months I think that's me sorted for two of the four years of the contract. I can't remember if you have to get Skoda to service it if it's under contract.

Nearest Skoda dealers to be are both 30 min drive. Neither are great. But Skoda UK have been really good at getting stuff sorted (third Skoda, has irritating issues with each one).  My wife's 16 Fabia we get done at a local Indy. We rang round including main dealers and it was about 30% less and it's a lot closer.

£345 for 2nd service and brake fluid change (19 plate) Peugeot yesterday.

I asked for battery to be replaced if needed - "no problem sir, we will order one and check if needed, but they are £200 due to Stop Start and coding required" On collection 4 hours later "We have taken £100 off the bill because you did not need a new battery, that will be £445 please."
I raised both eyebrows to the ceiling and asked what the £100 was for. "Diagnostics and a charge".
In that case add on £100 and fit a new battery please, resulted in the £100 being swiftly dropped.

My local independent is reliable, does a great job and I have been using them for 30 years. Guess where I will be going next time. Lesson learnt.

I’ve had my issues with main dealers in the past, but they are not always rip off merchants. Just had MOT done locally by an indie as I felt driving 25 miles to my usual dealer wasn’t an essential journey under current circumstances.

Cost at indie £54

Cost at dealer £39
(which includes wash & valet, car health check, the cliched coffee/WiFi, use of an office cubicle while they do the work or a lift to the local station or courtesy car - thought that’s probably £10 for insurance)

I always use main dealer for servicing but not necessarily for other work. Last service they did was 'just' an oil change. But they also put it on the lift and do a full inspection, video it and send it to me. The nice chappy pointed out that one of the rear drop links had a bit of play developing. So I bought a new one for about £30 or so, and fitted it myself. It would never have been spotted if I'd just gone to a local garage and asked only for an oil change, though I might have saved myself £100 or so. So there are pros and cons to it...

I’ve had 2 vehicles paintwork damaged by main dealers “washing” them after a service so don’t think you’re getting an extra bonus there.

We bought a new Civic with a 5 year/5 main dealer service pack for an extra £500 which I thought was a bargain. Excludes MOT's and non service parts but includes decent breakdown/recovery cover after 3 years as it's main dealer serviced.

I also get my V90 main dealer serviced but speak to the Service Manager about the price each time. Usually results in at least 20% off and again, breakdown/recovery after 3 years.

I know it's a highly visible pain but servicing pales into insignificance against depreciation and my bastard VED of £475 has just hit the mat (well Inbox) 😒

@boblo Bilmey. What options did you have to select to get a Civic (Type R?) North of £40k?

I have to use a main dealers, otherwise the car never gets washed and cleaned!!

tonyf1
Free Member
@boblo Bilmey. What options did you have to select to get a Civic (Type R?) North of £40k?

@tonyf1 Sorry stick-end-of-wrong

Two different cars. V90 has the nasty VED, Civic has the bargain service plan. Volvo's service plan was actually more than I pay the local main dealer... 🙄

£100inc VAT for labour isn't bad for a main dealer.

The local Bristol and Bath BMW branches are £135+vat, the local Independent is £65 (or it was a couple of years ago). If the car is in warranty, view it as a service and a £8/m fee to maintain the warranty. Once it's out of warranty, Do it yourself.

Mine uses 7l of oil, so it's still expensive as I use BMW parts and give it an oil service every 12months, despite it being 17y old.

My Mrs has an E Class Cabrio, 3.0 Diesel. 1st service was due last summer and the main stealer wanted £449. It had 6k on the clock.

I found a Merc specialist who didi it for £156 using petronas oils as per Mercedes dealer and it was registered on the mercedes system, she had a notification on the Mercedes Me app before I even got the car back home.

Only difference was I had to occupy myself for an hour whilst they did it instead of be given an A class to drive around in for the day.

I’ve had 2 vehicles paintwork damaged by main dealers “washing” them after a service so don’t think you’re getting an extra bonus there.

Used to work in a building opposite the local BMW place.

Post service valet routine appeared to contain:

1 drive car to jetwash at rear of building
2 lift bonnet
3 jetwash everything. EVERYTHING. as in, the entire engine.

"sorry sir, appears to have developed an electrical fault"

Didn't exactly sell the place or brand to lots working with me.

Sinclair VW in Cardiff are brilliant. I'm so sick of friendly honest looking 'back street' outfits who really don't have any idea how to diagnose a complex problem. Sinclair is the only place I've been who actually care about my repeat custom and have apparently well educated intelligent mechanics who understand what's going on. Minor service is £180 now, pretty sure it was £150 when I was last paying people to service my car. Back then we took it to a local in and out place that was £100, and it turned out they were just changing the oil, filter and air filter and not inspecting anything at all. They didn't offer a 'major service' or anything along those lines. Sinclair have a pretty long checklist, full of stuff I certainly don't check when doing it myself.

Re the expensive services - are they DSG autos? An oil change on those is expensive - the oil itself is something like £150, and you need a bit of kit to do it (although not much).

As cars have become more dependant on software the independant mechanics are being squeezed out. A friend ran the biggest bestest one locally up to 10 years ago and sold out because the profit margin wasn't there to jusify investing in the specific equipment.

Even main dealers don't always cover all the range, there are a limited number of Renault dealers who have all the kit/expertise for their electric range for example. My local dealer is one but even they don't have a 50kW charger on site so if there's a problem with fast charge they ask the customer to check the software fix has worked rather than drive it 2 x 80km to a charger to check.

"We have good news and bad news. The good news is that you wont be charged for the oil change. The bad news is that your car is on fire"

I've watched somebody set a van on fire while welding it on a ramp.
It was a prime example of witnessing somebody panic.
While I was calmly laying down the tools I was using, and walking down the workshop trying to spot a CO2 extinguisher, as I really didn't want to make a mess with the powder one I'd already picked up, he was running around like a headless chicken looking for a watering can.

I did also set my last van on fire while welding it. It cured the big dent in the side of it, just a shame it split open at the seems. Thankfully the hose wasn't far away, as my bike was still in the back of the van. If it wasn't for the bike, I'd have probably just let it burn!

Finding someone you trust is key but very hard to do at a main dealer, unless they have a good service manager that’s a bit of a lifer, as turnover of staff is high.

My neighbour is an ex BMW mechanic, now running his own mobile mechanic service, he’s got good integrity and a passion for what he does. We had a chat when he was handing my wife’s car back, and said that his Fiesta RS went to local Evans Halshaw Ford for a warranty fix and noticed they didn’t use Ford/approved parts. He was surprised. I wasn’t. Having worked in the industry in the past I have sat on the forecourt in a Kia/Hyundai as the parts manager is not-so-covertly helping unload the Motorpoint van. It’s been going on for years and the Manufacturers are terrible at imposing restrictions against non-adherence to brand standards. There is so much more money on offer in after sales as opposed to car sales but the franchisees are invariably poor at understanding how to get at it. Customer peception is very poor and these service departments are only selling grudge purchases.

Pfff! My VW group car oil service is $25000

https://www.bugatti-broward.com/service/service-information/bugatti-oil-change/

As cars have become more dependant on software the independant mechanics are being squeezed out.

Another policy I'd add to the already long list of things to do when I'm in charge - mandatory open source of all car software.

One other factor in main dealer history if you keep the car and it has a fault put of warranty your more likely yo get a goodwill payment from the manufacturer.

If you think its dear price up what the manufacturer charges a dealer.

You get slapped silly by dealer standards its insane.

Even the chairs you have have to be bought to spec.

Just to update, I’m taking it to another main dealer on Monday for the same work for £60 less. I assumed ( yes yes) that they would all be the same. Just to keep the surety of warranty, this time main dealer, next time probably not.