Your most expensive car service..

[Deebs]

Was time for my Audi to go in for a major service (every 40,000 miles) and also had to have a special gearbox service. Fine, not a problem.

Due to the mileage I also said for the Audi dealer to do the cambelt and tensioners. Quote came back at £770. Shopped around but no one would touch the multitronic box so had to let Audi do the service.

Had a phone call, car needs new pads and discs all round, work on the rear anti-roll bar and they found a coolant leak in the engine.

Total cost: £1800

Sigh. The thing that annoyed me most was parts came to about £530 and labour came to over a £1000, then the PLUS VAT.

Bastards.

 

[Wij]

Was time for my Audi to go in for a major service (every 40,000 miles) and also had to have a special gearbox service. Fine, not a problem.

Due to the mileage I also said for the Audi dealer to do the cambelt and tensioners. Quote came back at £770. Shopped around but no one would touch the multitronic box so had to let Audi do the service.

Had a phone call, car needs new pads and discs all round, work on the rear anti-roll bar and they found a coolant leak in the engine.

Total cost: £1800

Sigh. The thing that annoyed me most was parts came to about £530 and labour came to over a £1000, then the PLUS VAT.

Bastards.

You dick. You should refuse to pay it. Me and the Mrs did when Dixon tried to charge us a grand. We told them to fuck off and took it to another garage and got everything done for £250. Robbing fucking *****.

 

[throdgrain]

Pfft 40,000 miles.


The service interval for my Jeep is ...


7500

 

[Ch3tan]

Your new car has about as much stamina as you then Throd?

 

[Trem]

Your new car has about as much stamina as you then Throd?

Leave the old guy alone, his legs ain't what they used to be.

 

[Deebs]

You dick. You should refuse to pay it. Me and the Mrs did when Dixon tried to charge us a grand. We told them to fuck off and took it to another garage and got everything done for £250. Robbing fucking *****.

I knew it would be expensive as it was a main dealer but some parts of the work cannot be carried out by independants. I did actually ask around before allowing them to work on the gearbox.

At least the major services are every 40k. Next service is a simple one, my local independant can do that for £240 inc parts/labour/vat.

 

[throdgrain]

Your new car has about as much stamina as you then Throd?

No it just needs regular servicing to remain the massive powerhouse that it is.


Like me.


Ahem.

 

[Alan]

Just had a full service (80,000) and cam-belt change on my car, where we work they have a garage which does maintenance for all the plant and company cars - so as employees we can take ours to the same place.

£300 all in... not to shabby.

But they dont do MOT's so had to go to a proper garage for that, £700 !! ouch, new brakes, shocks and other stuff that doesn't mean much to me.

 

[Kryten]

I'm one of these folks that doesn't mind getting my hands dirty and doing it all myself. Mainly because I have a deep distrust of these garage folk who instantly assume you know jack about your own vehicle. I don't know the specifics, but regardless of the goodies inside your gearbox, "Special Gearbox Service" is likely to be a change of gearbox oil.

Every year my trusty old Rover has it's coolant drained and replaced with high end OAT coolant (cost £8), new air and oil filter (£5 for both) and an oil change (£10 semi synthetic). This year I had to replace the inlet manifold, throttle body and clutch hydraulics. Manifold cost £2.50, took me an hour to fit. Throttle body was done at the same time, upgrading to an alloy one, cost me £25. Clutch hydraulics come to £5 courtesy of Ebay. Also fitted a new cambelt last year, first time from new (!). £10 for the part and about 2 hours to fit.
102,000 miles on the clock and still running like new.

The same treatment from the last remaining Rover specialists in the midlands would have set me back a mere £700, but it's still wasted money.

You start buying things like Audi's and unfortunately that's the sort of treatment you tend to be subjected to - however you can be very grateful you don't own a Saab - their dealers are nothing short of fucking scandelous. Friend of mine needed a new pollen filter for their aircon in a recent Saab 95. Said I'd source one and fit it for a fiver or 2 pints at the local. He decided for warranty purposes he'd get it done by Saab. For £350.

 

[Alan]

I'm one of these folks that doesn't mind getting my hands dirty and doing it all myself.

wish I knew how but to be fair, i don't have the time to learn

 

[Chilly]

The labour charge isnt surprising, by the sounds of it they had to do a hell of a lot of pissing about in your engine and others places. Probably took em ages. £1000 for labour is a bit excessive, though. For that money youd assume they had 2-3 guys on it all day, or equivalent man hours.

 

[Kryten]

There is that - I'm no expert by any means but a combination of mental ability to pick something up and get to know it instantly, and better still an internet full of service manuals, it's not always as difficult as it looks

 

[Chilly]

Depending on the job, the tools required could be very expensive. Your average tune up or service will probably only require a decent socket set and general tools.

Often the cost of tools is prohibitive to home tinkerers.

 

[old.user4556]

I think the most I paid was about £450 for my ford fiesta. That was when it needed front discs/pads, rear drums done, full service, thermostat housing gasket and a couple of new tyres.

The most expensive for the most little work was my £200 oil service at a BMW main dealer. About £35 for parts, the rest VAT and labour.

 

[Chilly]

thermostat housing gasket on a fiesta is about £1 They are made of cardboard...

 

[old.user4556]

It was £10 for the part, and £80 to fit.

 

[Kryten]

Well thats half the trouble with modern cars. Long gone are the days of using a pair of scissors and a packet of Frosties/Corn Flakes to knock up a fully functional gasket. These days you tend to need a laptop and diagnosis plug w/software to do all but the most simple things ;(

 

[Tom]

Was time for my Audi to go in for a major service (every 40,000 miles) and also had to have a special gearbox service. Fine, not a problem.

Due to the mileage I also said for the Audi dealer to do the cambelt and tensioners. Quote came back at £770. Shopped around but no one would touch the multitronic box so had to let Audi do the service.

Had a phone call, car needs new pads and discs all round, work on the rear anti-roll bar and they found a coolant leak in the engine.

Total cost: £1800

Sigh. The thing that annoyed me most was parts came to about £530 and labour came to over a £1000, then the PLUS VAT.

Bastards.

By all means let them do the gearbox, but the cambelt could be done by any VAG garage. Actually, I bet all they did to the gearbox was change the oil, probably a 20 minute job doable by anyone.

The discs and pads you could do yourself, its not hard. A coolant leak in the engine? I very much doubt it. More likely a leaking pipe, which again is a DIY job costing pounds.

You've been had. Its stories like yours that made me decide to do everything myself. I have an ATF leak on mine right now, been too busy working to sort it, but this week I should get the chance and theres no way some tosspot dealership is going anywhere near it.

The most expensive service I've had was £700 on the TVR, but you have to admit that its a bit specialist for any old garage to touch.

 

[Jupitus]

Well thats half the trouble with modern cars. Long gone are the days of using a pair of scissors and a packet of Frosties/Corn Flakes to knock up a fully functional gasket. These days you tend to need a laptop and diagnosis plug w/software to do all but the most simple things ;(

Very effing true! I am really pleased to be working on a 22 year old car again as there is no electronic wizardry to worry about. I recently had a battery problem on the mini but couldn't be assed to take the battery out of my vectra as I know it then needs all sorts of system resets!

Regarding tools, I've spent ALOT in the past 6 months on tools for doing maintenance and some fairly obscure jobs, but it's money up front as an investment which will pay off over time, especially when you look at those labour charges.

 

[evzy]

Bunch of no0bs imo !! Get a company car and it costs fuck all then I can crash em, bump em, fill the boot with bricks or soil etc, as long as I pay petrol and when I hand it back give it a clean then its all free for me Though the one shit thing is I begrudge washing a car that isnt mine so I end up driving stinking mud covered motors all year around!

 

[Tom]

Mate if you think company cars are free you have a somewhat limited view of economics.

 

[evzy]

Mate if you think company cars are free you have a somewhat limited view of economics.

Mebbe not "free" as such then but I wouldnt swap it for running my own car tbh by any stretch of the imagination - and I am aware of the economics considering I work for a bank.....and besides with it being a comp car if I want to drive on the rev limiter all day just to see what happens...I can

 

[Tom]

I've got a friend who works in a hospital, he knows nothing about brain surgery though.

 

[JBP|]

Personally i have no idea how a combustion engine works and i don't really want to know.

However i've been using my local garage for serveral years now and as such usually don't get too ripped off.

 

[1016blizzard]

I don't really know because I don't care about prices when it comes to my cars.



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Sheryll
The Mazda Bongo Catalogue