Question about Costs of Servicing Car

sarahj1990

I will list a breakdown of the costs and then hopefully can get some feedback from the forum to see if I have been overcharged and also how these prices compare to what other people are paying to get their car serviced. My car is a Ford Focus. The parts are identical in the 2019 & 2021 service and included 4 Filters, the Oil, Lubricant, Disposal of old oil, Fuel treatment and stump nut. The car passed the MOT on both occasions so the only cost associated with the MOT was the £39.95. 


2019 Prices 

Service Labour £74.99 + VAT
MOT £39.95
Brake Fluid Change £39.99 + VAT
Parts £103.25 + VAT

Total £301.83

2021 Prices 

Service Labour £99.99 + VAT
MOT £39.95
Brake Fluid Change £39.99 + VAT
Parts £143.76 + VAT

Total £380.44

Ibrahim5

I suspect other people would pay similar amounts. The parts seem particularly expensive. If you put your reg number in carparts4less you can put the filters in a basket and then apply discount code. Add £30 for oil. Will be less than half of what you pay. If you supply your own they will squeal and tell you all sorts of rubbish. They make loads of profit on the parts 

Ibrahim5

Brake fluid change is OK if they do it properly. If they just syringe out the reservoir and put new in then it's a rip off. How does a customer know if it's done properly? Truth is it's impossible. Would love to see an undercover investigation on that one 

Bigwheels1111

I found after ringing around it was as cheap to go to main dealer for my 5008.
I’ve swapped main dealers for services 6-10. as an extra 90 min round trip and 40 miles saves me £100 a year off my service plan.
5 year service plan, oil filter, pollen filter, air filter and fuel filter etc and brake fluid changes are included.
All for £900.00. Interest free payments of £14.99 a month. If booked each year it £1350 ish.
Plus half price mot.
Not that I’m paranoid but I mark filters etc.
A bit of the wife’s blond hair in the brake fluid caps threads, nail varnish on the air pollen and oil filters, 

newatc

I've used the main dealer for my Honda Jazz since I bought if from them 9 years ago. For various reasons it has only done 25k miles. The servicing/MOT cost seems similar to a more local established garage but I get the feeling the dealer make their money on all the extras they find to do which themselves are sometimes based on the car age rather than low mileage or condition.
I did take car to the local garage for a minor job when the dealer was closed during lockdown last year and they were good so think I will take it there for future servicing. 

born_again

Ibrahim5 said:

Brake fluid change is OK if they do it properly. If they just syringe out the reservoir and put new in then it's a rip off. How does a customer know if it's done properly? Truth is it's impossible. Would love to see an undercover investigation on that one 

Check the nipples.

sarahj1990

Ibrahim5 said:

I suspect other people would pay similar amounts. The parts seem particularly expensive. If you put your reg number in carparts4less you can put the filters in a basket and then apply discount code. Add £30 for oil. Will be less than half of what you pay. If you supply your own they will squeal and tell you all sorts of rubbish. They make loads of profit on the parts 

Thanks for the info about carparts4less. I added the 4 filters into the website and estimated that I could have saved £30.00 if I had bought the parts direct from them. The garage is spending 100's of thousands on parts each year so they have probably made in the region of £40.00 - £45.00 on the parts.

sarahj1990

Ibrahim5 said:

Brake fluid change is OK if they do it properly. If they just syringe out the reservoir and put new in then it's a rip off. How does a customer know if it's done properly? Truth is it's impossible. Would love to see an undercover investigation on that one 

Where does everybody stand on the brake fluid, do you think it needs changing every 2 years if you are only doing a few thousand miles per year. 

sarahj1990

Bigwheels1111 said:

I found after ringing around it was as cheap to go to main dealer for my 5008.
I’ve swapped main dealers for services 6-10. as an extra 90 min round trip and 40 miles saves me £100 a year off my service plan.
5 year service plan, oil filter, pollen filter, air filter and fuel filter etc and brake fluid changes are included.
All for £900.00. Interest free payments of £14.99 a month. If booked each year it £1350 ish.
Plus half price mot.
Not that I’m paranoid but I mark filters etc.
A bit of the wife’s blond hair in the brake fluid caps threads, nail varnish on the air pollen and oil filters, 

That's a good deal, 5 year service plan for 14.99 a month. I wish I was more knowledgeable about cars I would mark up the filters myself.

knightstyle

Another plus to having a dealer service a car is with Ford, maybe others as well, you continue to get roadside assistance for another year.