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A friend has been quoted £300 for a 'big' service for a 6 year old Fabia.
Should he shop around? I have no idea as I do my own oil and filter changes so I dont really know how much a garage standard service costs. I also dont know yet if this quote includes anything like a timing belt change, which would I realise push the cost up.
Any idea if this is a fair charge or if its on the expensive side?
Sounds a bit rich to me. Find a local independant, don't ever bother with dealerships
He would need to get better details of what is being done rather than a big sevice. Normal oil changes small type service would be £100 anyway (from a dealer).
Depends what it includes.
Minor Service - Oil, Filter, air filter, inspection etc should be in the region of £100.
Major Service - All of the above plus brake fluid, spark plugs (if needed), diesel filters etc in the region of £200.
Cambelt change service - £300-£400 depending on condition of other components, water pump, pulleys etc.
Its a petrol engine if that helps. Looks like its not the cam belt change then, or they would be quoting more...
Are we talking an inspection 2 service? Derv or petrol? Fancy derv or the boggo kind?
£99 is the going rate round here for a basic service (which is probably less than an Inspection 1 specifies) at the Skoda dealer.
Really you need some specifics. I wouldn't be surprised if £300 was the dealer price for an inspection 2, but I can do one on our old Golf in a couple of hours, and that includes finding the spanners...
Mine (1.9 tdi) came with a £700 receipt for a cam belt change and service. Glad I didn't have to pay that one.
Paid £220 last year in a VW independent specialist.
Paid £32 for the parts to do it myself this year.
Yes, the quote is from a main dealer. I cant get much more info as my friend is not 'car minded' so just took the quote at face value and asked for no details of the work schedule.
Its a small engined petrol model. Maybe a 1.4 or less, cant remember the details.
If its a main dealer it is likely they have a book price for the service and that is it. A full service by the book from a dealer is likely to incorporate all sorts of minor stuff that the independent wouldn't do.
Right, friend has emailed me the quote from the dealer which only consists of:
"Costs for service are as follows
- 6th year service/brake fluid change £299 inc.
- MOT £54.85"
This is all the info he has been given by the garage.
For a medium service (standard + a couple of extra filter changes) mine was £170 including an MOT for a 5 year old VW golf from a good independant garage.
If you have a timing belt (NOT a cam belt) it shouldn't need changing for about 150,000 miles.
If its the 1.2 Fabia im pretty certain they have chain cam engines, so obviously wouldnt need a belt change.
TBH, thats about right as I was quoted £285ish for a big service recently on my Fabia. Ended up going for garage's own as now out of warranty and paid £249 which turned out much better value as had extras over and above the Skoda big service.
150,000 for a cam belt, really!
Are we allowed to hire East Europeans (EU) car mechanics?
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