car servicing

frankie1star · 16 February 2008 at 6:31PM

I have approached a local Company (main dealer) in both Norwich and Lowestoft branches, asked them the price for a first service for my golf. The Lowestoft branch wanted £175.00 and the Norwich one £215.00.

I asked them what I would get for this and was quite horrified at the cost.

Lowestoft told me they would price match any other service within 5 miles of them, Norwich said the oil they would use is very very expensive but would try to price match Lowestoft, although they are the same company!!

In the meantime I spoke to a colleague who I work with and he told me his neighbour is a VW specialist and I should give them a ring. Obviously being wary of invalidating my warranty I asked him how much he would charge using genuine parts. He told me £60 all in, with the correct spec oil, but he didnt mention the screen wash the main dealers had mentioned, but I dont imagine screenwash being that expensive.

Norwich told me they wouldnt be able to price match that!!! However, could anyone advise me on this matter, as I really cant afford to have my car serviced regularly at the main dealers rates. Would I be doing wrong to go to an independant, I feel I have nothing to lose for £60, provided they use genuine parts. Is there anyway I can make sure everything is done correctly.

I would be really grateful for the advice of anyone who has knowledge of these matters.

daveyjp · 16 February 2008 at 6:44PM

Is your car on fixed service (10,000 or annually) or long life (when the car tells you or 2 yearly)?

If you do less than 10,000 a year you should be on annual servicing, doing 15,000 or more a year you should be on variable long life servicing.

Main stealers are never cheap, but if your car is on long servicing regime and uses long life oil there is no way your local guy could do it for £60.

The correct oil is about £13 a litre and the car needs over 4 litres, so thats your £60 gone. Ask your local guy if he is using 507 spec oil - Castrol Edge or Mobil 1 ESP.

If on 10,000 services the oil is cheaper and £60 MAY be possible.

chuckles1066 · 16 February 2008 at 6:51PM

frankie1star wrote: »

I have approached a local Company (main dealer) in both Norwich and Lowestoft branches, asked them the price for a first service for my golf. The Lowestoft branch wanted £175.00 and the Norwich one £215.00.

I asked them what I would get for this and was quite horrified at the cost.

Lowestoft told me they would price match any other service within 5 miles of them, Norwich said the oil they would use is very very expensive but would try to price match Lowestoft, although they are the same company!!

In the meantime I spoke to a colleague who I work with and he told me his neighbour is a VW specialist and I should give them a ring. Obviously being wary of invalidating my warranty I asked him how much he would charge using genuine parts. He told me £60 all in, with the correct spec oil, but he didnt mention the screen wash the main dealers had mentioned, but I dont imagine screenwash being that expensive.

Norwich told me they wouldnt be able to price match that!!! However, could anyone advise me on this matter, as I really cant afford to have my car serviced regularly at the main dealers rates. Would I be doing wrong to go to an independant, I feel I have nothing to lose for £60, provided they use genuine parts. Is there anyway I can make sure everything is done correctly.

I would be really grateful for the advice of anyone who has knowledge of these matters.

First service?

So it's new and under warranty?

I think you'll find if you have it done anywhere other than an authorised VW dealer then your warranty is null and void.

anewman · 16 February 2008 at 6:52PM

If you pop yourself off to the dealers parts desk you can buy the parts and oil yourself, they will be relatively cheap, and you will have a receipt for the genuine parts for each service. But if the independent is using genuine parts anyway that need not matter.

Screen wash is something any owner of a car should be able to top up themselves - only thing being the VW fan jets supposedly need a special screenwash and warranty repairs will be refused if a fault is found due to non-spec screen wash being used. But again, you can buy the bottle at GSF or a dealers.

But seriously, you have a nearly new VW Golf that would have cost you £10k+ and you grumble at £215 or less one year after buying it to keep it in tip-top condition? Didn't you budget for the servicing?

frankie1star · 16 February 2008 at 7:04PM

Thanks for replies, it was merely a question and I thought some people would be helpful, not critical. I was asking for advice not a lecture!! I certainly cant afford to throw money away, and this being a moneysaving site, it seemed a perfectly reasonable question to ask.
I think some people are missing the point, same company different price, shouldnt one be asking why? As mentioned main stealers.
Under new legislation, I believe and I maybe wrong that provided the car is serviced using genuine parts, this does not invalidate the warranty.

I purchased the car 2nd hand and the sticker on the window says its needs its first service at 10k, I purchased it with 12k on the clock, but no service light has shown.

chuckles1066 · 16 February 2008 at 7:06PM

frankie1star wrote: »

I purchased the car 2nd hand and the sticker on the window says its needs its first service at 10k, I purchased it with 12k on the clock, but no service light has shown.

Obvious question but was it serviced at 10k?

frankie1star · 16 February 2008 at 7:22PM

I will look at service history

FlameCloud · 16 February 2008 at 10:01PM

chuckles1066 wrote: »

I think you'll find if you have it done anywhere other than an authorised VW dealer then your warranty is null and void.

I think you'll find thats a load of rubbish!

As long as they service it to the schedule, use genuine parts and (I think) are vat registered the warrenty will be find.

daveyjp · 16 February 2008 at 10:30PM

frankie1star wrote: »

same company different price, shouldnt one be asking why?

No, all garages are run as seperate cost centres even if they are part of the same group. My wife's Toyota service was cheaper in Bradford than Leeds (both part of same group) as is my Audi service. Different cities have different rent and rates charges and all must be covered by the centres. I pay about £230 for a longlife service for my Audi, I have read of some garages in London charging nearly £500 for he same job!

HOWEVER, the difference in price could be down to the service they have quoted for. If one has quoted for a 10,000 service and one for a long life they will be different prices due to higher oil price for long life service. Long life may also have a pollen filter change, which could be up to £50 for the part.

So until you know both are quoting for the same service you can't say one is charging more than the other. Call them both again and ask for a price for a VW Golf 10,000 mile/annual service - confirm with them that this is what you want and not a long life service, unless you do more than 15,000 a year in whic case it may beneficial to you to go for a long life service regime - it saves you money as you have it done less often.

If the Golf is like an Audi if you pull the button which resets the trip meter it will give you miles/days to next service.

You don't have to have it serviced at a dealer. Under EU regs teeh warranty has to be honoured as long as it is serviced at any VAT registered garage using genuine OEM parts.

The_Economist · 16 February 2008 at 10:50PM

Under new legislation, I believe and I maybe wrong that provided the car is serviced using genuine parts, this does not invalidate the warranty.

I agree with the other posters and you that if the non main dealer is vat registerd and they use genuine parts, it shouldn't invalidate your warrenty.
The trouble is if you take it to a main dealer for a service the chances are the only components that will get changed is oil and oil filter. They say they do a so many point check on the car which you could do any way. If its due a major service it might be worth taking it to a main dealer.
Also i have found that original parts is not always best.

Conor_3 · 16 February 2008 at 10:53PM

frankie1star wrote: »

He told me £60 all in, with the correct spec oil, but he didnt mention the screen wash the main dealers had mentioned, but I dont imagine screenwash being that expensive.
.

If they're anything like the Jap specialist my missus was going to take her car to, there's a world of difference between what gets done on services compared to the dealers. For example, they didn't even include basic things such as checking bushes and CV gaitors on a 75,000 mile service which is a major one. As far as they were concerned, it was oil, filters, plugs.

car servicing

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