Standard servicing costs

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CardinalWolsey
CardinalWolsey Posts: 713 Forumite
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in Motoring
My daughter announced yesterday that her popular small "Italian" car needs its 2 year service. She phoned the dealership it was bought from, and booked it in. I asked her how much was it going to be, and it was £340 ish. After picking myself up off the floor, I thought I'd find out how much it would be from the next nearest dealership - £290 (both including VAT).

Is this usual for there to be wide variances in standard servicing costs between different main dealers? I would have expected them to have been the same cost for the same service.
«1345

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  • Car_54
    Car_54 Posts: 8,213 Forumite
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    edited 5 September 2017 at 2:19PM
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    It would be illegal under the Competition Act for the dealers to agree uniform prices, or for the manufacturer to impose them.

    Isn't competition a good thing? Would you be happier if they both quoted £340?
  • Nobbie1967
    Nobbie1967 Posts: 1,474 Forumite
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    Many dealers are just franchises and are free to set their own servicing prices. Standard pricing across the U.K. wouldn't make sense anyway as costs of running a garage vary so much between say London and Bradford.
  • daveyjp
    daveyjp Posts: 12,525 Forumite
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    Do all Tescos charge the same for all products?

    Shop around. Mercedes have a system to get quotes on line. The system knows which service the car needs so prices can be compared.

    For the same service I have been quoted over £500 and actually paid £190 just by changing the dealer I want to service the car. I then use the lowest price and get my local dealer to price match!
  • bigadaj
    bigadaj Posts: 11,531 Forumite
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    You can haggle most things, including servicing at a main dealer.
  • facade
    facade Posts: 7,031 Forumite
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    daveyjp wrote: »
    Do all Tescos charge the same for all products?

    I thought they did, as you can check the grocery prices online at tesco dot com, and that isn't regional. The petrol might vary I suppose, as you can't see the fuel prices online.
    I want to go back to The Olden Days, when every single thing that I can think of was better.....

    (except air quality and Medical Science ;))
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
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    daveyjp wrote: »
    Do all Tescos charge the same for all products?
    All Tesco stores are the same company.
    Not all <brand> dealers are the same company. Very few are actually owned/run by <brand>'s manufacturer/importer.

    The manufacturer/importer will have a standard book time for each specific job, and a standard price for each specific part. Individual dealers set their hourly labour rate, and may offer a discount on the parts prices.
  • thescouselander
    thescouselander Posts: 5,542 Forumite
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    Yes! It pays to shop around. I recently had my Mazda 6 put through its 2nd service and the nearest dealer wanted £390!!!

    The next nearest dealer wanted a lot less at £260 although I still think this is very expensive for what amounts to an oil change and a wipe over with an oily rag.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,094 Community Admin
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    facade wrote: »
    I thought they did, as you can check the grocery prices online at tesco dot com, and that isn't regional. The petrol might vary I suppose, as you can't see the fuel prices online.

    They are not the same at each Tesco store. Different stores will have different promotions on at different times for example. Tesco.com doesn't change because it is a nationally available website and trying to filter to each location for every user would be impossible but I can guarantee there will be prices on there different from your local store.
  • fred246
    fred246 Posts: 3,620 Forumite
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    What amazes me is the gap between DIY and dealer servicing. With DIY you know that everything is done properly and you'd never spend more than £50ish even on the most major service. With dealer servicing they do whatever they feel like doing on the day - and then charge astronomical prices. When you see £340 you think "yes that's with a cambelt and then you realise it probably isn't". So all that money is going on labour. So a mobile mechanic could do 2 services a day. £600 a day. £3K a week. £150K a year.
  • Nodding_Donkey
    Nodding_Donkey Posts: 2,738 Forumite
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    :rotfl:£50 on a major service

    For some cars that would buy you the engine oil.

    Then you might need:

    Diff oil
    Gearbox oil
    Air filters
    Cabin filters
    Spark plugs
    Brake Fluid
    Coolant


    Good luck with that
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