Don't get stung by a main dealer like I did

maindealers

A quick service of my toyota. £1300? Budget tyres for £102.50 each? Oil at £58.60? Is this right?

I took my car to Inchcape Toyota Oxford for a service costing £320. I received a call after 2 hours saying that all four tyres needed replacing at a cost of £102.50 each. I instantly thought "that's a bot expensive", but wrongly assumed they would be a very good quality tyre. With winter approaching a good tyre serves well. On collection Inchcape had fitted budget tyres! After a very small amount of research I managed to get a price from a local tyre place and could have Continental tyres fully fitted inc vat for £84 each.
I can't easily check the other part prices so assume I have been stung on them too. The oil was charged at £58.60 for 4.4 litres and the same oil elsewhere is £37.50.

It is very difficult to investigate part costs when the garage have your car and you need it back. You are really in the unknown and held to ransom.

Inchcape told me they compare their prices to Kwikfit and I should blame them! I don't mind paying a small amount more for the convenience of having tyres replaced at a main dealer but this is a really bad rip off.

Don't get caught! Please forward this on. The full invoice can be seen at: facebook/maindealers

David

scheming_gypsy

should main dealer prices be regulated? - no
should you ask what you're going to be charged and what you're getting before you authorise them to do the work - yes

zzzLazyDaisy

Years ago I had a similar experience at a Suzuki main dealer. Took it in for its first service since I'd had it, and got a list of things that needed doing which included a comment that both front and rear windscreen wipers were perished and needed replacing, the driver's door had dropped and the boot was not shutting properly. There was an exorbitant quote for doing the work.

I was put on alert, because I'd had the wiper blades replaced the previous week, so I knew that bit, at least, was not right.

I refused to have the work done and just paid for the service and went back the next day with a (male) friend. The mechanic who did the service was 'busy' and refused to come and speak to us. Someone else came out and went over the car with us, and agreed that he couldn't find anything wrong with the car.

My current car is a Honda and although the main dealer is brilliant, they are expensive. I asked around and now have a good arrangement with a small local mechanic who looks after my neighbour's car.

maindealers

I agree. If I go in to Sainsburys and see Jam at £5 I can choose to buy it or leave it. When your car goes for a service you have no way of knowing what you are getting, nor do you have the time to check anything properly - everything is based on TRUST and that trust is easily lost when oil/tyres are overcharged. This is of course a lesson and that's why people need to know that they WILL be stung. I just want to clarify by how much.

I do agree with you though!

The_Turner

maindealers wrote: »

I agree. If I go in to Sainsburys and see Jam at £5 I can choose to buy it or leave it. When your car goes for a service you have no way of knowing what you are getting, nor do you have the time to check anything properly - everything is based on TRUST and that trust is easily lost when oil/tyres are overcharged. This is of course a lesson and that's why people need to know that they WILL be stung. I just want to clarify by how much.

I do agree with you though!

But yet do have a way of knowing, you ask.

laurence_p

i thought they were supposed to inform you before any work other than whats involved in that type of service was done.

[Deleted User]

I never authorise work to be carried out during a service. I just tell the garage to make a list for me to look at when I go and collect. Then I go from there.

laurence_p

oops my fault ,didnt read the bit about them phoning you. did you have an idea that you needed new tyres.

Road_Hog

Deleted_User wrote: »

I never authorise work to be carried out during a service. I just tell the garage to make a list for me to look at when I go and collect. Then I go from there.

That's what I would go for. Bit it's easy to say that sat in a chair at your computer, when you're out and about, maybe in a rush, many things on your mind and the mechanic calls you and tells you that certain important things need done in that worried voice tone, it's easy to trust his opinion and in the heat of the moment authorise the work.

Strider590

Go into garage, tell them exactly what you want..... Try not to sound like a numpty and odds on they'll do the work without trying to load up the bill.

I went recently to get new brake pads/discs at a dealership. It was all booked in, then on the day I walked in, I asked them not to rotate the tyre's because I needed to see which ones were wearing fastest, I asked them to make sure they fit new brake pad wear sensors (and handed them to him in a plastic bag) and I asked them to bend the 2nd right hand exhaust bracket away from the chassis to stop it clanking when I go round corners.

Just these comments alone put the service manager on the back foot, you could actually see his thought process, he's thinking "hey this guy knows his stuff" and you could also see that he clearly had less technical knowledge than me.

Technical type's don't usually have the gift of the gab when speaking to customers about technical issues (we think differently to the average Jo and can find it hard to laymanise our knowledge) so they usually appoint a numpty who's good at bullsh1t (service managers), to stand there in a shirt/tie and speak to customers.

Now..... I don't know everything, but I make sure I know exactly what my car needs before the keys leave my hand.

The key is not to avoid dealership as such, but to make sure you arm yourself with a fair amount of knowledge (re what needs doing) before you go near them.

ariba10

A miserly neighbour of ours had an offer for a free MOT with a minor srevice from his main dealer.

Due to ill health car had only done 800 miles from last service.

Cost him £295.

Sad to say.

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It made my day.