Service History

[Chas4545]

I had a Volvo 740 franchised serviced and they said they  topped up the air in the spare , which was in the boot.  They could not get into the boot as I gave them the "service key" which did not open it.

 

Suspicions aroused ,the next year I marked the plugs and oil filter and guess what...... 

 

I was recently charged £14 for a new battery in a 2 year old toyota keyfob as a service item . "We always do it" they said. At 20 cars a day thats £1680 a week for fitting batteries to key fobs. or £87,000 a year. For all the 200 toyota  uk franchises thats £17,500,000 a year in the UK on key fob batteries.

 

All perfectly reasonable.

 

To ensure fairness I will now spend some time writing about all the good service I have had from Franchised dealers ......(3 hours later)  No , sorry, I got nothing.  i know a few great indys though - real enthusiasts.

[twosmoke300]

Playing devils advocate here . Say the dealer doesn't replace the remote battery and it fails after 25 months . You look at the service schedule and see that it's supposed to be changed on the 24 month service. Cue moaning post on internet forum about how you couldn't get your pregnant wife / kid / dog into the car during a whiteout .

 

Just sayin.

[Craig the Princess]

True, but if it is the service schedule why is it an extra £14? Shouldn't the service cover the service schedule items?

(I know you aren't Toyota, and agree with your main point)

[RoadworkUK]

I had a Volvo 740 franchised serviced and they said they  topped up the air in the spare , which was in the boot.  They could not get into the boot as I gave them the "service key" which did not open it.

 

Perhaps your car was handed back to you by a member of staff who hadn't been involved in the job and hadn't been given a note to say that your spare wheel hadn't been checked. The spare wheel is usually checked, they probably assumed yours wouldn't be an exception.

 

Or maybe they're just shit.

 

Out of interest, are you sure you have a "Service Key" and not a "Valet Key"? Seems daft to give a technician a key which doesn't allow access to spare wheel, rear fusebox, bulbs in rear lights, etc. etc.

[RoadworkUK]

True, but if it is the service schedule why is it an extra £14? Shouldn't the service cover the service schedule items?

(I know you aren't Toyota, and agree with your main point)

 

Is it £14 as in the service is £179 plus the battery change at £14 meaning a grand total of £193? That seems weird.

 

MB keyfob batteries are about £7 (as an OFFICIAL MB Panasonic item as opposed to £2 for any other Panasonic item...) but that's just listed among whatever other stuff is due as part of that "B" Service. The Pollen Filter (Combination filter) is usually part of that "B" Service, too. Once the parts are in place on the WIP the service advisor will just play around with the labour rate until the magic £379 or whatever quoted is reached.

 

To be honest, it's pretty straightforward. MB Customers have everything priced up in advance; they can do it themselves if they want.

 

https://www.mymercedesservice.co.uk/home

 

Stick your reg in, add your mileage and postcode and the computer does the rest. You can click to see what's included, additional recommended items are listed so you can opt in or out as you like.

[Lord Sterling]

The White G-reg 820e I had a few years ago suffered from being rather unlooked after. Whilst it had many rather expensive receipts from garages, a lot of the costs were small parts and labour. This garage wasn't a franchised dealer garage but not an indy one either, more a Kwik-Shit type outfit. The owner didn't know anything about cars so took it to the garage when something was wrong thinking that they would fix it. 

 

When I picked the car up, I had to keep the revs from cold above 2k rpm otherwise it would cut out. A good, real service consisting of Oil/filter, air filter, plugs and a replacing an air pipe that had fallen off a connecting pipe saw the car back in rude health. Funny how the owner explained that even the garage were stumped by why it was running badly when cold. They couldn't even eliminate the simple things.

 

Often when I get my 800s, this is pretty much the first thing I see:

 

 

This of course leads to other problems like rusted out oil filters and sometimes even burnt plugs, yet everyone raves on about how the car was "well looked after" etc....

 

I suspect very much that my current Coupe will need a GOOD service very soon.

 

My mates garage is where I take my cars. He has a servicing menu that customers can read clearly explaining all the work that is carried out and how much it is. Air filters, plugs and oil/filter change are standard procedures. 

[Guest MariaKWells]

I got the same problems 2 years ago. since i have this replaced at OMGURMUM  it works so well for now.

[richardthestag]

Holy thread resurrection

[beko1987]

No, don't start the orl modernz r shit argument again, it got moved to the other forum for a reason!

 

The best service history you can get is from buying a car from a shiter. The Xantia has the last cambelt/pump/tensioner change written in marker on the scuttle (31k ago), and the previous owner but 2 tells me when stuff was changed when I post pictures up!

 

Mine's due leakoff pipes and an air filter, and nothing else until next year service wise (when was the coolant last done anyone?)

[hpi_matrix]

I had a BMW 330d (auto) and as it was high mileage I wanted the gearbox oil changed (faff job that required new sump etc). The dealer quoted me £200 so I took them up on it, they rang me after the job and said it was £600, I told them to F off you told me £200 which they strangely accepted quite easily. Looking at the bill the reason it went so high is they tried to charge me for about 16 litres of gearbox oil?

[barefoot]

Having read some of those testimonials,

I'll definitely be going to Car Tech Autos in London to have all of my cars serviced or just wiped down a bit from now until the end of all time.

I can spot a quality dealer/specialist when I have one shoved up my nose.

[SiC]

That post does strike me as a bit of cheeky advertisement on their part!

[overrun]

I got the same problems 2 years ago. since i have this replaced at http://www.cartechautos.co.uk/mercedes-benz-service-centre/ it works so well for now.

 

Seems legit!*

[themildbunch]

Having read some of those testimonials,

I'll definitely be going to Car Tech Autos in London to have all of my cars serviced or just wiped down a bit from now until the end of all time.

I can spot a quality dealer/specialist when I have one shoved up my nose.

 

I might be being a bit testy but they can't even spell testimonials FFS... 

[Bren]

A bigger annoyance is "FSH but I cannot find the book".

 

A lazy, unconscientious owner has me heading for the hills.

[xtriple]

I bought a BMW 728 auto from a dealer I knew, just on the hundred thousand and FULL BMW history. It was a pile of shit the likes of which only a sanitation worker would better. Funnily enough, I lived about two miles from the BMW dealer in question so went and visited, Yes, it had always been serviced in there, but bare minimum for the 'stamp' and they had been telling the old owner about all its problems for ages!

 

So, full service history is great for the proles out there but anyone with any nous wants to see bills to back it all up... and also to see all the advisories that the dealers put at the bottom of the receipts!

 

Incidentally, a full service history BMW 728 with one hundred thousand on the clock but in good condition (apart from the cam knocking like a drunk on a whore house door) sells really REALLY well to the uninformed punter - the one that bought it lived over the road from me and even though I explained, he loved the car and still paid full price for it!

 

Had it years and though it always knocked it did him proud though he did run it into the ground because he was a moron of the first order.