General Have I just been mugged off for servicing?

[Super Uwe]

Happy days yet again with the wonderful world of Fiat servicing!

Spoke to two dealerships around this way (should actually be three but I refuse to deal with my nearest one as they were wholly incompetent on two separate occasions).

I explained that we had a low mileage service last year @ 8k, and would like the 18k service as per the schedule this year in order to get the plugs and brake fluid changed.

Garage 1 quoted £187.00 all in for an 18k service including a wash and clean, which I thought was very good. The chap on the phone knew everything about the schedule which was good to hear. I forgot to mention that I have my own parts/oil, so will get a revised quote in a bit - presumably the labour will be around £70-80.

Garage 2 quoted £378.00 as they said I could not have an 18k service because the mileage was too high. I tried to explain that we had a low mileage service and that we didn't want the full works yet, but they said unfortunately they couldn't as Fiat might "kick up a fuss" if they did otherwise. Said service is 3 and a half hours labour, which is the same as the other dealer who quoted me £449.49 for the same service (see post 80 on this thread, obviously they wanted an extra 70 quid for their Christmas party!)

How can this be?!!!

Just got the car back today which went to Roundswell Fiat in Barnstaple. They did a good job on the car, for anyone who is in Devon you might be interested in my review on the Garages section:

https://www.fiatforum.com/garages/287683-roundswell-fiat-barnstaple.html?p=2911352

 

[Super Uwe]

Hmm...here's something very interesting for you all:

http://www.vospers.com/servicing/pricing/

Check out the prices quoted on there. They are spectacularly overpriced! £235 min for an interim service on a 1.2 500 with air con! Are you having a giraffe?

In actual fact, I don't believe this is even remotely in line with the service schedule anyway. They automatically force you to take a 36k service in year two irrespective of mileage; sorry but that is just complete nonsense.

Further reinforces my belief that I did well to go elsewhere...

 

[jrcambs]

Hi
We are due to have our first, 12 months service for our 500 Twinair Lounge at 8,800 miles. Apparently there are two recalls; turbo part change plus other item - I will gain the full details and share them for your information.
My wife booked the car in and did not ask "how much?" so I am calling back tomorrow to find out and gain a quote based upon me supplying the oil and a filter kit. Anyone want to guess at the cost? Nearest guess gains the respect of the forum.

 

[loveshandbags]

Hi
We are due to have our first, 12 months service for our 500 Twinair Lounge at 8,800 miles. Apparently there are two recalls; turbo part change plus other item - I will gain the full details and share them for your information.
My wife booked the car in and did not ask "how much?" so I am calling back tomorrow to find out and gain a quote based upon me supplying the oil and a filter kit. Anyone want to guess at the cost? Nearest guess gains the respect of the forum.

1hr labour charge since you're supplying the parts. Although you might have gained our respect if you had asked them for a quote before handing the car over.

 

[jrcambs]

Luckily the car is not due to be handed over until after Christmas! I suspect that we will "fall out" with Desira Fiat in Bury St Edmunds over their first bid for our business.

 

[ahmett]

You should pay 100 pounds for labor?

 

[306maxi]

You should pay 100 pounds for labor?

If I was a coffee drinker you'd owe me money for a new keyboard.

 

[ahmett]

If I was a coffee drinker you'd owe me money for a new keyboard.

You should be drinking water in the office so if you spill it on the keyboard it just dries up and it would still work! I use a laptop so no risks for me because coffee or coca cola on laptop keyboard = new laptop!!!

And 100 for labor is what fiat charges and unfortunately that seems it wont change.... In Greece I tried my luck with the labor and they told me it was already at a 30% discount!! = )
Should be more like 70%, the techs get paid like 10 euros an hour and they want me to pay them 100 euros an hour or so = )

 

[jrcambs]

Special thanks to Lovehandbags, 306maxi and ahmett for their superb contributions.

Here is the answer to the question of a low mileage annual service costs for a 500 Twinair from Desira Fiat of Bury St Edmunds;

£143.23

"but this includes a full oil and filter service, a 35 point check and we even fill up your washer fluid bottle..." sorry, but I laughed at them. 3 litres of oil and a filter plus check that there are still 4 wheels on the car.

306maxi will love this - the labour rate is £75 + VAT = £90/hour! Mechanics are paid so much more in the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk area, they have to employ accountants to manage their 50% tax rate. The task was scheduled for 43 minutes, so the labour element would be £64.80. Therefore the parts would cost £78.43.

I mentioned bringing my own oil and a filter. This caused a quite a stir at the end of the phone. I was asked to "please wait whilst the manager was consulted." I was offered a Christmas special rate of £45/hr labour and a discount on the parts (surely part?) used, reducing the cost to £115.56.

So, £28 better off already.

Should I accept? Or what is the cost of the oil and a filter? Souls is closed over the festive period and I am booked in for 28 December - what to do?

By the way, the warranty recall was for the 5526 & 5541 items; engine layout air slave and turbo pipe movement & turbo parts replacement that have been mentioned in other threads.

Merry Christmas to all of you, even including the non Fiat drivers who read this Forum in wonderment.

 

[306maxi]

Special thanks to Lovehandbags, 306maxi and ahmett for their superb contributions.

Here is the answer to the question of a low mileage annual service costs for a 500 Twinair from Desira Fiat of Bury St Edmunds;

£143.23

"but this includes a full oil and filter service, a 35 point check and we even fill up your washer fluid bottle..." sorry, but I laughed at them. 3 litres of oil and a filter plus check that there are still 4 wheels on the car.

306maxi will love this - the labour rate is £75 + VAT = £90/hour! Mechanics are paid so much more in the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk area, they have to employ accountants to manage their 50% tax rate. The task was scheduled for 43 minutes, so the labour element would be £64.80. Therefore the parts would cost £78.43.

I mentioned bringing my own oil and a filter. This caused a quite a stir at the end of the phone. I was asked to "please wait whilst the manager was consulted." I was offered a Christmas special rate of £45/hr labour and a discount on the parts (surely part?) used, reducing the cost to £115.56.

So, £28 better off already.

Should I accept? Or what is the cost of the oil and a filter? Souls is closed over the festive period and I am booked in for 28 December - what to do?

By the way, the warranty recall was for the 5526 & 5541 items; engine layout air slave and turbo pipe movement & turbo parts replacement that have been mentioned in other threads.

Merry Christmas to all of you, even including the non Fiat drivers who read this Forum in wonderment.

Have a read of your service book IIRC you have a month's grace period so you could wait another month if you needed to. Again check your service book to confirm

My advice would be to say NO and enquire about the rates at an independent and either supply them with the parts or ask the dealer to price match, my dealer price matches

 

[loveshandbags]

Special thanks to Lovehandbags, 306maxi and ahmett for their superb contributions.

Here is the answer to the question of a low mileage annual service costs for a 500 Twinair from Desira Fiat of Bury St Edmunds;

£143.23

"but this includes a full oil and filter service, a 35 point check and we even fill up your washer fluid bottle..." sorry, but I laughed at them. 3 litres of oil and a filter plus check that there are still 4 wheels on the car.

306maxi will love this - the labour rate is £75 + VAT = £90/hour! Mechanics are paid so much more in the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk area, they have to employ accountants to manage their 50% tax rate. The task was scheduled for 43 minutes, so the labour element would be £64.80. Therefore the parts would cost £78.43.

I mentioned bringing my own oil and a filter. This caused a quite a stir at the end of the phone. I was asked to "please wait whilst the manager was consulted." I was offered a Christmas special rate of £45/hr labour and a discount on the parts (surely part?) used, reducing the cost to £115.56.

So, £28 better off already.

Should I accept? Or what is the cost of the oil and a filter? Souls is closed over the festive period and I am booked in for 28 December - what to do?

By the way, the warranty recall was for the 5526 & 5541 items; engine layout air slave and turbo pipe movement & turbo parts replacement that have been mentioned in other threads.

Merry Christmas to all of you, even including the non Fiat drivers who read this Forum in wonderment.

I'll take the offer. Good price on the labour. Oil varys in price but make sure they use 5W40 ACEA C3 and ask them for litre of the 'same' oil as a 'top up' before the next service. Selenia is slightly more expensive. Likely that they will be using a 'Fiat' oil or possibly Castrol.
Trying to negotiate on getting a better deal and bringing you own oil etc. is costing you time => money.
Plus given that you are nearly on 9K miles with no new oil to-date and a turbo if it was me I would be anxious to get the new oil & filter into it.

A merry christmas to you.

 

[Chrisilda]

You should be drinking water in the office so if you spill it on the keyboard it just dries up and it would still work! I use a laptop so no risks for me because coffee or coca cola on laptop keyboard = new laptop!!!

And 100 for labor is what fiat charges and unfortunately that seems it wont change.... In Greece I tried my luck with the labor and they told me it was already at a 30% discount!! = )
Should be more like 70%, the techs get paid like 10 euros an hour and they want me to pay them 100 euros an hour or so = )

LOL? Ahmett i'm really wondering where the .. you meet this prices! Ι used to servicing my Beetle at Gratsias - its consider as one of the most expensive vw/audi dealers and the labour hour was MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper than 100 euros

 

[FloJo]

These rip off prices don't come close to what my dealer quoted me yesterday when I picked up my new TA.

I was asked if I wanted fixed price servicing ... having had this on my last car (Seat) and just about breaking even, it is not something I thought I would take up. Particularly as we are looking to move house, so my commute will drop dramatically, but can't be sure when so my future mileage is difficult predict.

Anyhow thought I'd have a look at the figures anyway, just to be sure.

I asked for it to be based on annual mileage of 15k.

Are you ready ...

17 months at £44.86 per month.

That's a mindblowing £762 for 17 months of servicing!



I've read the handbook and according to my calculations in 17 months I will need just one service!!!

Dealer reckons service interval is 9k miles or 1 year and has put this in writing on my handover documentation!! :tosser:

Bump for happycinq.

 

[hippycinq]

Here is what I got told by my local dealer:

Servicing prices are as follows:

1st service @ 1yr 7000 miles (low mileage service) - £209.59
2nd service @ 2yr 18k miles - £279.37
3rd service @ 3 yr 36k miles - £579.39
which works out as £1068.35 for the 3 years.

Or I could pay into a Fiat Service plan (he described it as a piggy bank where I put in 20 quid a month and they take out what they need for each service as they come up) and that would cost me £706.08 over the 3 years.

He couldn't tell me, however, how much each service would then cost within the service plan (i.e. how much they would take out of my piggy bank each year), which made me think that at the end of year 3 they would be telling me I owed them £300 quid, the difference between what I had paid and what the three services would have cost outside of the plan. The paperwork that I was given does not explain it either.

 

[306maxi]

so, you walked in and asked to be violated. Good stuff :doh:

 

[hippycinq]

My brother seems to think that, so long as the parts used in the service are genuine Fiat parts, that he should be able to do the service himself at his work and get the book stamped there. The man that I spoke to regarding the servicing told me that I could only get the services done at a Fiat dealership - is this true? My brother does not work for a Fiat dealership.

 

[hippycinq]

so, you walked in and asked to be violated. Good stuff :doh:

Lol.. yes... however, walked away having signed up to nothing....

 

[jrkitching]

The man that I spoke to regarding the servicing told me that I could only get the services done at a Fiat dealership - is this true?

Absolutely not. You can get the work done at any VAT registered garage.

If you are unfortunate enough to need to make a significant warranty claim, having a receipted VAT invoice detailing what's been done is what matters - the stamp in the service book is neither necessary nor sufficient.

I suspect they quoted you those prices to make you think the 3yr service plan was value for money. £209.50 for a low mileage service is just plain bonkers - my friend bought the oil in Costco for £28 & paid just £40 inc VAT to the local fiat main dealership for the oil filter & labour - and they cleaned the car for free.

 

[306maxi]

Lol.. yes... however, walked away having signed up to nothing....

I did tell you not to bother

jrkitching speaketh the truth

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

The man that I spoke to regarding the servicing told me that I could only get the services done at a Fiat dealership

Cheeky beggar!

Far from.