General Dealer service plan or not?

[Davefc]

New to the forum and 1st post. We picked a 500 up on Friday from dealer for my wife and she loves it. Must admit i was pleasantly surprised. Its 2 years old with 12k. We have been offered a dealer service plan for £800 which cover 2 minor and 1 Major Plus MOTs (3). My wife will probably do no more the 4k a year, I don't think its worth getting
but what does the group think?

 

[Piccolo Nero e Bella]

What are you getting for your money? Is that £800 for labour only or including parts? Personally I'd prefer to find a good independent. You can be sure the dealer expects to make a good profit from such an offer, just as they do on extended warranties and suchlike.

 

[Davefc]

What are you getting for your money? Is that £800 for labour only or including parts? Personally I'd prefer to find a good independent. You can be sure the dealer expects to make a good profit from such an offer, just as they do on extended warranties and suchlike.

It states parts and labour (But not normal wear and tear), but i’ve heard unles you have done the mileage they don't do things like oil. I think it should be changed annually irrelevant of low mileage

 

[Bonefish Blues]

You can buy an awful lot of servicing for £800 at most Indys, especially given the limits on cover you've indicated.

Do just take care over warranty though - ensure that the service you get mirrors the Fiat service schedule to the level they specify, or they might get slippery if you want warranty work done.

 

[Piccolo Nero e Bella]

It states parts and labour (But not normal wear and tear), but i’ve heard unles you have done the mileage they don't do things like oil. I think it should be changed annually irrelevant of low mileage

Totally concur. My 500 is a Twinair and I have the oil changed annually even though it did only 917 miles between its last two services. You can be sure they'll skimp on anything they can to save a few pennies.

 

[jrkitching]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

A few things to bear you might want to bear in mind when considering a dealer service plan:

1) You are effectively committing to paying main dealer rates for any additional work that is identified during the term of the plan; in particular, anything that is picked up at MOT time. For something like a change of brake pads, the cost differential vs an independent garage could be substantial. A franchised dealer is basically the last place I'd want to take a car for an MOT.

2) Presumably they'll want you to pay all the money up front. What happens if the dealer goes bust before the end of the plan? You might be able to mitigate this by paying some or all of the cost using a credit card.

3) What happens if you sell the car or (worse) it's written off?