How regulate car servicing costs

manrow

Yesterday my 2004 Toyota Prius went into the Toyota garage for a routine 40,000 mile service estimated to cost £200ish, and I elected to wait for its completion. The main servicing bill came to £198.22p, so as expected.

After 90 minutes, I was advised that front discs and pads worn close to limit and changing these would cost £258.69p; I had no choice but to accept as with 10,000 mile service intervals they would not last to next service.
It was also mentioned that both rear tyres were aproaching wear limits (at 3 and 4mm respectively), and would cost £208.44 to replace. I declined this as I know I can purchase the tyres cheaper elsewhere.

They had also changed all the windscreen wipers especially as they are difficult to obtain away from the dealership. So you can imagine my annoyance when selecting front wipers on soon after leaving the garage due heavy rain, there was a metallic clicking noise as the wipers reached their normal parked position. It turned out this was because the wiper rubber on driver's side was not correctly inserted in the 'claws' at the end of the wiper arm. On returning and complaining, - profuse apologies of course, - but the technician advised he had merely taken it out of the box and clipped it into position on the arm; he had never seen such an incorrectly assembled wiper blade before! Don't they test wiper blade action before vehicle release? The noise would have been obvious I would have thought.

harveybobbles

manrow wrote: »

After 90 minutes, I was advised that front discs and pads worn close to limit and changing these would cost £258.69p; I had no choice but to accept. also mentioned that both rear tyres were aproaching wear limits (at 3 and

You could have declined this, perhaps...? And erm, got them done when they needed to be done at somewhere cheaper...?

ukjoel

You had every choice - the garage would still be there next week or next month to do it, as would any other garage you phoned in the meantime to see if they could do it cheaper.

The dealer will always advise on anything that MAY not make it for another 12 months or 10k. Many of these things could be ok for another 12 months but they need to protect themselves and play on the safe side.

Doesnt mean it needs to be done now.

Premier_2

Not really the garage protecting themselves. More to do with them offering a service to their customers as they are aware the majority of car drivers do not carry out the basic checks that every driver should do before jumping in a car and driving off.

That's the price you pay for convenience, but as mentioned above, that's the customer's choice.

jeannieblue

Everyone has a choice - you can say no. You can go elsewhere for your brakes to be done. Re the wiper blade - could've been faulty or fitted incorrectly.

steveo3002

they wouldnt need have lasted 10k till the next service...you could run the car for 3-4-5k or whatever , and go in and pay to have new brakes fitted

vikingaero

I'm not sure what the OP means by regulating servicing costs. Does he/she mean being able to spread them out or think that cars only need servicing and not factored in the costs of wear and tear items such as tyres, brakes etc.

There's no hard and fast rule for servicing costs as it depends on who drives the car, where they drive it and how they drive it.

For instance Mrs V's Corsa needs servicing every 1 year or 20k - £200-£350. Brake fluid change every 2 years £50. Tyres every 20k on front axle - £160. New brake pads £50 (urban driving). New brake discs every other year £100. Cambelt kit every 40k - £200.

gilbert_and_sullivan

To be fair to Toyota dealer, they did ask before changing discs/pads, so you had the chance to refuse and return when they really did need changing.
Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Other's may feel happy about getting someone else to work on their car, but if i owned a Prius i'd only want Toyota themselves tinkering with it.
Does anyone for example know anything at all about the regenerative system built into the braking system...wouldn't fancy Bodgit and Scarper meddling with that little box of tricks.

vikingaero

The regenerative braking system is probably the reason the discs and pads lasted so long.