40k servicing cost rip-off...

[Big Mikey]

Just phoned Alex Lawrie Skoda here in Liverpool to check how much I'll be paying for a 40k service - the guy on the phone quoted me £299!!! So - can someone tell me - what exactly does the 40k service entail - the guy on the phone said the brake fluid would be changed, but apart from that is it just the bog standard oil and filter change? 299 sounds a bit high. I asked how much to change the cambelt and he said another £269 which seemed more reasonable (I paid 400 for my old VW Bora), but I'm going to leave the cambelt for now as the car isn't 4 years old till November. Is this a good idea?

Also - should a service reminder have come on somewhere on the dash? Nothing has come up and I've inadvertantly let the car go nearly 2000 miles over from the last service (which was done at just over 31k, the car has now done nearly 43k). Is this likely to be a problem in future? Am I best off going somewhere cheaper?! I want a good job doing and I know Alex Lawrie will do a good job, but I'm loath to pay 300 when I reckon I could probably get it serviced for half the price! Sorry for all the questions, lol!

[ultra_joel88]

I was quouted £350 all in by a local independent garage for the 4 th year service and cambelt.

Does the water pump need to be changed as well at the 4 year service?

my car has done 37k.

[Skodaboy1983]

Price sounds about right by skoda prices think I paid about £299 as well before they condemned the brakes and bumping up the price.

[KenONeill]

40k is all filters, not just the oil filter. There's other jobs are every 40k as well I'm sure, and if you're that close to 4YO, brake fluid is about due.

The water pump isn't on the schedule, just a recommendation, and applies more to the petrol models anyway.

[ultra_joel88]

I've read water pump on here, but when mentioning it the chap said that he's never seen a water pump go on a PD engine with such low mileage

[AwesomeSarah]

I have had the cam belt and water pump done on mine

It is not so much the mileage , but the age

It is the plastic part that breaks away

It is only approx £30 + VAT for the part and about half hour to fit , at that is it worth the risk?

Sarah

[David 8]

I was quouted £350 all in by a local independent garage for the 4 th year service and cambelt.

Who was the local indy for future reference ???..........PM if you like

[Irf]

I use Roscoe Engineering off Park Road in Dingle for most of my work. They really know their stuff. Will be a bit cheaper than Alex Lawrie. Having said that, there a good bunch of guys in the dealership, not had too many problems with them.

[faboka vrs]

Its more the labour costs you pay for them to inspect the car. 20K service (40-60 etc) includes all the filters. Think the 10K is just an oil change. Again you pay for them to inspect the car. You can get a lub service which is just an oil change and is alot cheaper but that doesnt include checking the rest of the car.

Alex Lawrie always get my service. Guys on the Service desk are good people.

[Big Mikey]

Thanks guys - Guess I'll take it to AL then. I'm getting 10% knocked off as my bro used to work there anyhow.

[Vix]

I would try a Seat dealer also

[BJM]

Cost is nearly all Labour (current going rate in the trade is about £75 an hour, rising to £150 for "prestige" makes such as Mercs.), the majority of which is charged for use of the Mk I eyeball to visually check things over and tell you all the extra jobs that will probably need doing soon, "So shall we book it in for the work now Sir, would next Thursday suit?"

I'm sitting looking at a receipt for a 70k miles "DIY" service carried out at the weekend:

5 litres Oil £39

4 NGK plugs £26

Oil Filter £5

Air Filter £7.50

Pollen Filter £11.50

Inline fuel filter £10

Total £99 - and half of those items aren't even used at most intervals, but I wanted a point at which I knew the jobs had definitely been done, not just a stamp in the service book.

The work took about 2 hours (including 1/2 hour messing with the fuel filter), on the drive - no lifting table, which would have cut it in half.

The subsequent eyeball showed up that the front pads were getting thin, and the disks had started to dish on the inner face, so another £133 for new discs and Greenstuff pads, fitted tonight.

If I sound cynical about dealers - I am. I worked for one (NOT a Skoda dealer) for 18 months after taking severance / early retirement, and came into contact with scores more.

"Services" nearly always seem to be carried out by a 17 yr old apprentice on £5.50 an hour (if he's lucky) and only the eyeball gets the Techs attention.

Sorry - rant over. I just get a bit irate over the prices charged for what today is very little more than an oil change, swopping out a few filters and plugging in a laptop and doing as it says.

[Tailhappy]

This is one area that I feel modern cars/garages are not as good as they should be. It seems that the majority of the motorists are happy with sealed components, long service intervals and large quantities of plastic in the engine bay. Having everything 'tucked away neatly' lulls many into a false sense of security - they trust the garage too much and pay the often extortionate fee without flinching or questioning.

I agree with the previous poster about many technicians, and after a series of poor and expensive repairs on my 105 Estelle, I thought that I could not do any worse, so I tried myself. I started off small with a bulb replacement and then worked up to engine and brakes. By setting aside a morning I could replace a set of disks and pads and do the work to the highest standard - smears of grease on the threads, new split pins, the best components I could get and no force applied. After a few months I realised that my car was going better than ever and I still come across 'bodged' areas that the garage inflicted - and put them right. So, at the very least I would suggest closely reading your service schedule and asking the service manager some questions about the work when you pick up your car such as 'how was the old oil', 'what make of filter do you use', and don't feel bad about asking directly if a certain task was done. You may well need to push for an answer and read between the lines occasionally, as I recently found out. I had the 35,000 mile service done on my new to me vRS and afterwards asked had the air filter been changed. The reply was 'everything's been done' meaning the service regime had been followed, but they did not say 'yes - chucked a new one in there for you'. As the interval for air filters was 40,000 miles I changed it myself and got a shock when I saw the old filter – no wonder the car smoked!

Sadly the days of easy DIY repairs are over for many, but that does not mean that the service on your car should be bad value for money – don’t let the fact that some garages want you to feel that the service on your car is like some black art, carried out with huge computers, chanting and scattering of bones in some locked room from which you are barred and would not understand if you could see in. You should have all your questions answered without fudging and with a little effort you can speak with service on an equal footing with no chance of bamboozling or glossing over the hard truth.

Ian

[yegnold]

Garages are businesses like any other, and need to make profits. If you think the prices are expensive, take your custom elsewhere and garages will be forced to put their prices down to match. We control the market, remember! For the record £299 doesn't seem ridiculously expensive.. yes, you could probably have had it done cheaper elsewhere, but you certainly haven't been subjected to daylight robbery.

[foureyes]

Hi.

I had my 40K service done at a Skoda dealer. It was my last service before the warranty ran out and before I started going to independants.

As far as I know the brake fluid change is recommended every two years regardless of mileage. At the time my car was overdue for it and I had a price for it on its own of about £40. The total service inc BFC came to £285. Ths is back in October 2006.

The service (minus BFC) consisted of:

Oil, fuel, air and pollen filters

Oil

Sump plug

Screen wash

Brake spray (Clean?)

Number plate bulb

Thats about £110 in bits. The rest (£135) was labour for fitting and inspecting.

[ultra_joel88]

My advice is to go to a decent and well respected local indepedent if you arent confident in doing the work yourself.

[BoilingPoint]

My advice is to go to a decent and well respected local indepedent if you arent confident in doing the work yourself.

Absolutely.

[horkin]

Don't want to hi-jack you're thread but mine is a TDI PD 100 and will be 4 yrs old next service. From what I've seen on here it appears I'll need the cambelt even though I've only done 31,000. Is that right.

[Big Mikey]

Yeah, it's 4 years or 60000 miles.

[horkin]

Thanks for confirming that Mikey