Hello,

 

I am now the proud owner of a Skoda Octavia and I'm really pleased with it. Anyway, it's telling me it's due an oil change. The last service was oil change + spark plugs + brake fluid at 50K. Previous to that was a 44K service with just an oil change.

 

Skoda Nottingham offer fixed servicing for £195 for oil + inspection, or £235 for oil + inspection + pollen filter. I called an indy garage which is about twice the distance away and the quote is £210 for oil + inspection + pollen filter. The garage has good reviews but I wasn't expecting it to be close to the dealership price. Does that quote sound reasonable? I'll do the pollen filter myself to save some money. I guess the other benefit to taking it to a VAG specialist with good reviews is that they generally take better care of your car and they have often have more knowledge/experience.

 

Thanks!

I can't edit the title but I meant to say '60K Oil Service - Quote from Indy'.

It is about right maybe slightly high. I got a “major service” at a VW specialist for £265 which was oil and filter, inspection, air filter, pollen filter and spark plugs. I got it done there as it was still covered by a used car warranty, I could buy the parts and oil for £140, less if I got cheaper oil and didn’t use Bosch or similar quality parts. When you consider they get parts and oil at trade price they are charging around £150 for the labour on a major service which will no doubt only take their mechanic about 1 hour.

This time I have just changed my own oil and filter 10,000 miles later for less than £50 using Castrol oil and a Bosch filter. I’m planning on running this car probably until 200,000 miles so I’m not bothered about a full garage service record.

The fact is a service history is helpful if you’re going to be selling it later down the line, so maybe the £100 or so extra a year is worthwhile. 

Edited 1 August, 20232 yr by classic

1 hour ago, classic said:

It is about right maybe slightly high. I got a “major service” at a VW specialist for £265 which was oil and filter, inspection, air filter, pollen filter and spark plugs. I got it done there as it was still covered by a used car warranty, I could buy the parts and oil for £140, less if I got cheaper oil and didn’t use Bosch or similar quality parts. When you consider they get parts and oil at trade price they are charging around £150 for the labour on a major service which will no doubt only take their mechanic about 1 hour.

This time I have just changed my own oil and filter 10,000 miles later for less than £50 using Castrol oil and a Bosch filter. I’m planning on running this car probably until 200,000 miles so I’m not bothered about a full garage service record.

The fact is a service history is helpful if you’re going to be selling it later down the line, so maybe the £100 or so extra a year is worthwhile. 

Thanks a lot for replying - it's put my mind at rest! I've read so many posts on various forums where the advice is not to get a car serviced at the dealership once it's out of warranty as you pay extortionate prices. I was therefore surprised when this VW specialist quoted only £25 cheaper than Skoda, so I just wanted to check that I'm not getting ripped off. Maybe Skoda aren't as greedy as other car dealerships. Anyway, thanks for the information and advice, which I'll take forward with me. The Octavia is a really great car - ticks all the boxes - and I can easily see myself keeping it for a few years now. Perhaps I should learn a few DIY jobs myself, such as changing the oil.

 

Anyway, thanks again for your help. Best of luck with your car and your 200,000 mile journey together.

No worries, only 111,000 more miles to go !

I'll just add my two pence to point out non-monetary points, which some people value, as I have to sometimes justify Indy prices to myself. This will be different to your situation.

 

Indy garage:

• may be more convenient / accessible during workday and can sometimes have better booking availability.
• may offer free courtesy car (which can indirectly give you a warm fuzzy feeling of their competence if you get given a 200,000 mile dinosaur that drives wonderfully)
• should update your SKODA digital service record
• Quality of their inspection report / photos / measurements may be of higher quality / value / assurance - eg wheels off brake inspection/measurement
• Service packages might do more work / inspection or use premium parts than main dealer so it costs more than you expected. Eg for some reason mine itemises an engine flush. Just ask them.
• Customer service / banter / technical talk - you can speak to the technician who actually worked on your car compared with receptionist who doesn't understand why water pump doesn't need replacing with timing belt change on EA211 engines.
• Will offer competitive prices for repairs.

 

Main dealer:

• At least 2 year parts and labour guarantee
• Should wash and vac
• Should have infinite free snacks and drinks
• give you FOMO/FOBO when looking around showroom
• "might" update software - I had "Recall 90k1" one year. Others may have different experience generally.
• Sometimes have fixed price offers (although I haven't seen one for ages).
• Might provide [office] space to sit and do remote work in
• Can give you opportunity to steal those tiny bottles of screenwash

I would be wary of "generally take better care of your car and they have often have more knowledge/experience" argument as you don't know how skoda technicians vs independent technicians are competent. You have to assure yourself on a case by case basis. In terms of quality of work / guarantees, I have zero worry with quality done at Skoda Main dealer and I know there's a path to complaints (if I'm paying the price for sure I'm going to make a fuss).

 

It's worth searching other skoda service centres. Prices for service oil and inspection can be as low as £156 (Sunderland). For new front pads and discs this ranges from £375 (a "maybe") to £435 (nope).

 

 

Edited 3 August, 20232 yr by Xenon1024

On 03/08/2023 at 15:22, Xenon1024 said:

I'll just add my two pence to point out non-monetary points, which some people value, as I have to sometimes justify Indy prices to myself. This will be different to your situation.

 

Indy garage:

• may be more convenient / accessible during workday and can sometimes have better booking availability.
• may offer free courtesy car (which can indirectly give you a warm fuzzy feeling of their competence if you get given a 200,000 mile dinosaur that drives wonderfully)
• should update your SKODA digital service record
• Quality of their inspection report / photos / measurements may be of higher quality / value / assurance - eg wheels off brake inspection/measurement
• Service packages might do more work / inspection or use premium parts than main dealer so it costs more than you expected. Eg for some reason mine itemises an engine flush. Just ask them.
• Customer service / banter / technical talk - you can speak to the technician who actually worked on your car compared with receptionist who doesn't understand why water pump doesn't need replacing with timing belt change on EA211 engines.
• Will offer competitive prices for repairs.

 

Main dealer:

• At least 2 year parts and labour guarantee
• Should wash and vac
• Should have infinite free snacks and drinks
• give you FOMO/FOBO when looking around showroom
• "might" update software - I had "Recall 90k1" one year. Others may have different experience generally.
• Sometimes have fixed price offers (although I haven't seen one for ages).
• Might provide [office] space to sit and do remote work in
• Can give you opportunity to steal those tiny bottles of screenwash

I would be wary of "generally take better care of your car and they have often have more knowledge/experience" argument as you don't know how skoda technicians vs independent technicians are competent. You have to assure yourself on a case by case basis. In terms of quality of work / guarantees, I have zero worry with quality done at Skoda Main dealer and I know there's a path to complaints (if I'm paying the price for sure I'm going to make a fuss).

 

It's worth searching other skoda service centres. Prices for service oil and inspection can be as low as £156 (Sunderland). For new front pads and discs this ranges from £375 (a "maybe") to £435 (nope).

 

 

I meant to reply to this sooner so apologies for a late response. That really is an excellent summary comparing indies and dealers. I especially like the last main dealer point of having the opportunity to steal tiny bottles of screenwash.  Thanks again for taking the time to reply with your thoughts and experience. The information is really useful to me, and I'm sure it will be useful for anyone else that finds this thread when they're weighing up where to get their car serviced/fixed. 

Not sure if count the dealer wash/vac with a gritty sponge and dirty water a ‘plus’ point but hey ho. Different strokes for different folks 🤷🏻‍♂️

44 minutes ago, SC03OTT said:

Not sure if count the dealer wash/vac with a gritty sponge and dirty water a ‘plus’ point but hey ho. Different strokes for different folks 🤷🏻‍♂️

Yeah. I personally don't like randoms washing my car as I'm pretty sure that maintaining your paintwork is low on most people's agenda. 😄 I always wash my car prior to taking it in anywhere so that they don't bother, plus I always hope that if they see that the car is well looked after and clean then they'll treat it with more respect compared to taking it in looking all grubby. I guess you can't go wrong with vacuuming though.

Yup, I think we have to remember factors like convenience, time, assurance (confidence) when considering price. The fact that this forum is going to be mostly "knowledgeable enthusiasts" may skew that, but I think its great that there's lots of helpful info here that can help when weighing up options.

 

My car is a family workhorse, not really a "pride and joy", so I am willing to pay extra for convenience and assurance for service and repairs (I have a great relationship with my independent - a free courtesy car can be a lifesaver for unexpected repairs).

 

For "routine" stuff you can find competition with tyre replacement and MOTs. Things like battery or cabin filter or engine air filter replacement is easy DIY. Others say other repairs are easy but I don't have driveway, [decent] jack, axlestands, or [car] tools so that is limiting.

 

Also after passing its MOT I like to treat it with a jetwash and a full tank of premium petrol lol.

I took it to the indy I found in the end (Autotechz in Stapleford if anybody is in Nottingham and looking for a specialist). I could have saved some money by taking it to a non-specialist garage, but I'm really pleased that I did now because I got an excellent service. I thought it would just be an interim oil change but they did a proper inspection of the car, and cleared some fault codes from previous repairs. He even told me what had been replaced by the garage that I bought it from, so I knew he'd literally checked the whole car over. And he brought to my attention the potential issue with the silicone bag in the coolant bottle, which I wouldn't have been aware of unless it burst. I got that fixed at a later date and he showed me the old bottle that he'd removed. The guy spent around 15 minutes talking to me about Skodas and sharing his knowledge and anecdotes. It was a great experience and worth the extra money over a general back-street garage. I intend to keep the car for as long as possible so to have a garage that you trust to look after your car for the next x years is worth a little extra I think.

 

Just to say thanks to everyone who has chipped in on this post. Much appreciated!