Car Service Scam?

soziblewuup

Hi,

My partner had her car serviced today at a national service company and paid up for over £220 in 'extra work items'. The following additional work was carried out as part of a full service:

• Check & Renew: Anti-freeze
• Renew: Brake Fluid
• Perform: Engine flush

The full service catalog on their website states the following items are included in both a full and interim service:

• Check and top up brake fluid
• Check and top up antifreeze

The engine flush on a four year old Mercedes also appears very unnecessary. As she verbally agreed to the additional work and paid in full, does she have any right to object to the work being carried out?

k3lvc

soziblewuup wrote: »

Hi,

My partner had her car serviced today at a national service company and paid up for over £220 in 'extra work items'. The following additional work was carried out as part of a full service:

• Check & Renew: Anti-freeze
• Renew: Brake Fluid
• Perform: Engine flush

The full service catalog on their website states the following items are included in both a full and interim service:

• Check and top up brake fluid
• Check and top up antifreeze

The engine flush on a four year old Mercedes also appears very unnecessary. As she verbally agreed to the additional work and paid in full, does she have any right to object to the work being carried out?

You do realise that 'renew' is different from 'check and top up' ?

AdrianC

The engine flush is very debatable - but that's a whole other can of worms.

They have drained and replaced the coolant and the brake fluid, not just topped them up.

Jackmydad

I think it depends on the make / model, but the coolant change period is pretty long on some modern cars.

BoGoF

How can she object if she gave them the authority to ahead. Scam is the most over used word on this site, this was no scam.

daveyjp

With those extras a main dealer would have been cheaper. Only the brake fluid is recommended at 4 years.

By going outside of the main dealer she has lost the Mercedes bodywork perforation warranty and roadside rescue.

knightstyle

Why is the brake fluid changed every 4 years I wonder. Some manufacturers say every 6 years.
Plus my old Cortina was in our family for over 25 years and never had the fluid changed even when the master cylinder was changed.

custardy

knightstyle wrote: »

Why is the brake fluid changed every 4 years I wonder. Some manufacturers say every 6 years.
Plus my old Cortina was in our family for over 25 years and never had the fluid changed even when the master cylinder was changed.

https://www.furnesspark.co.uk/service-mot-centre/brake-fluid-change/

AdrianC

Jackmydad wrote: »

I think it depends on the make / model, but the coolant change period is pretty long on some modern cars.

Pink OAT coolant is usually recommended for five years.

knightstyle wrote: »

Why is the brake fluid changed every 4 years I wonder. Some manufacturers say every 6 years.

The usual recommendation is two years, so long as the specific gravity hasn't dropped markedly. It's hygroscopic.

Plus my old Cortina was in our family for over 25 years and never had the fluid changed even when the master cylinder was changed.

Sorry, but that's complete and utter codswallop.

In the massively unlikely event the fluid hadn't been changed for 25 years, that'd be exactly why the master needed changing. And it's physically impossible to change a master without changing the fluid. But a Cortina would have had calipers, wheel cylinders and pipes replaced several times before then.

System

knightstyle wrote: »

Why is the brake fluid changed every 4 years I wonder. Some manufacturers say every 6 years.
Plus my old Cortina was in our family for over 25 years and never had the fluid changed even when the master cylinder was changed.

Some cars are every 3 years, when I did my City & Guilds the rule of thumb was 3 years. If you'd seen how knackered brake fluid can be by 5/6 years old you'd not think that it being unchanged for 25 years was something to brag about however like AdrianC I think that claim has a smell of bull manure about it.

Robisere

Engine flush on any modern car is unnecessary. On a 4 yo Merc, totally unnecessary. In all my years in the trade, I only carried out an engine flush on engines that were many years old, had been stored or abandoned for years. Or at the customer's repeated insistence, after signing to say they accepted the possible consequences. This is why:

Every engine's moving parts is supplied with oil from the first moment it is started up. As the engine's life slowly increases, the oil plates working parts with a very thin layer of oil 'varnish', helped by engine heat. When the engine is switched off, the oil in upper engine parts drains down to the sump at the bottom of the engine. After starting, the oil does not immediately get to the upper parts and would have no lubrication/protection from wear if it were not for the varnish, which gives enough protection to bearing surfaces in contact, until the oil gets up there. An engine flush introduces a fluid with very low viscosity which strips away all traces of the previous oil. Including the important 'varnish'. Modern engine oils are the result of many years of research and development and that is why oil changes in modern engines are much less frequent than they used to be. Engine oils now protect an engine better than ever. There is absolutely no need for an engine oil flush unless:

Servicing and oil changes have not been carried out for a long time, in which case the oil loses its efficiency and usefulness. It then holds very fine worn metal pieces in suspension and becomes thick and unable to move around the engine. Even then, I would not recommend a flush: it's the easy way out. Instead, I would remove the oil filter and sump, clean out the scavenge pump that is supposed to pick up the oil and return it around the engine, inspect the engine for wear. Then replace the sump, fit a new oil filter and refill with fresh new oil of the correct grade for that engine. On the invoice I would recommend another oil and filter change within 1,000 miles of this work. I have done this during my working life many, many times.

Now you see why some garages still carry out an engine flush. It's cheaper, because it's faster and the work described is more expensive and takes time. Plus it is difficult to explain the need to customers. So they flush and the oil looks clean, but there will have been a certain amount of wear to moving parts in contact, invisible to the customer.