Dealer Service Rip Off

penners324

I've used a dealer to service my car for the last couple of years, it's an electric car. Been charged £200+ each time.

Just had the car serviced by my local garage, they've stated the car's fine, not much to check on these cars. No charge for the service.

mr_stripey

to be honest I would be just as cautious of a garage saying "everything fine, not much to check on these cars" as I would paying main dealer prices.

What car? What level of service? 

Nebulous2

Servicing electric cars should be cheaper than ICE cars, as there is less to do, but is often required to maintain the warranty.

Tesla seems to have moved away from formal servicing, but most makers still recommend it, partly, if you're being cynical, to keep dealers on side. 

My leaf was around £170 to service, if I remember correctly, but that gave me a year's RAC cover and maintained the 8 year battery warranty. It also included things like changing the cabin pollen filter. 

Keep_pedalling

Servicing for an EV does seem expensive, although with many the service interval is two years (it is for my VW ID3). There are certain things only a main dealer or EV specialist will be capable of doing such as checking battery health. Being charged nothing suggests they have done nothing more than a visual check.

Goudy

Keep_pedalling said:

 Being charged nothing suggests they have done nothing more than a visual check.

That still usually comes at a cost.

People seem to think "Servicing" is about change oil, filters etc, but the majority of a service is actual, physical checks.
You are often handed the list of all these checks at the end of the service or more likely these days, a video of the checks and results.

It would be interesting to hear what the OP got for free.
Have they reported the tyre thread depth? Brake pad/disc thickness? Aircon temp and so on.
The checks on both my cars A and B service are three sides of A4, that's before the usual changes of oil and filters.

As mentioned, EV's require some specific checks, have they been done?

daveyjp

Did the indie have the ability to update the vehicle firmware?  I don't have an EV, but this was carried out on my last service a few weeks ago as it hadn't been done for a few years. After it had been done I noticed quite a few new features to the operation of the vehicle were added.

born_again

penners324 said:

I've used a dealer to service my car for the last couple of years, it's an electric car. Been charged £200+ each time.

Just had the car serviced by my local garage, they've stated the car's fine, not much to check on these cars. No charge for the service.

Only difference between EV & ICE is no engine, but a motor & battery instead.
All the running gear is exactly the same.
EV's need the motor/inverter/battery coolant changing from time to time. Not cheap.

Older Tesla's have some massive bills to fix them, as people do not bother to get them checked.

£200 could easily be run up @ £100 a hour labour costs in a main dealer.

Hope the local garage was HEVRA approved 🤷‍♀️

facade

The only saving will be the price of engine oil and filter.

they will still have to check the coolant level and hose condition, brake fluid level, washer fluid level, wipe a greasy rag over the door hinges, check the lights work, have a quick look at the tyres, suspension, driveshafts, brakes & ceck for corrosion and oil leaks.

However, having watched Ed China doing his EV mechanicing course, the 'Elf 'n Safety requirements, like surrounding the car with barriers and signs "Caution Electric vehicle under service" etc. will probably balance out the price of the oil with the time cost of complying...

Mildly_Miffed

penners324 said:

I've used a dealer to service my car for the last couple of years, it's an electric car. Been charged £200+ each time.

Just had the car serviced by my local garage, they've stated the car's fine, not much to check on these cars. No charge for the service.

£200 is probably not a lot more than an hour's labour at a main dealer, by the time you've added the VAT and a few consumables.

By the time they've moved the car into a service bay, put it on the ramp, taken the wheels off to check the brakes, given it a good visual inspection, read fault codes, checked and topped up fluids, checked or replaced cabin filter, lubricated hinges, etc etc, then moved it back outside... That's easily that hour passed by.

It's very nice of your local garage to do all that for free, but probably not a sustainable business model.

Iceweasel

I fail to see where any 'rip off' is.

born_again

Iceweasel said:

I fail to see where any 'rip off' is.

Because people do not like having to pay for someone just to look at the car 🤦‍♀️
They miss the fact that it maybe a requirement to keep warranty intact. As well as feeling hard done by, that have to dip their hand in their pocket.

Rip off it is not. Just a fact of life, that costs are going up. Well staff want a wage rise, so someone has to pay for it & these garages do not run themselves.