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Mucker1884

09/1/2018 at 10:32am
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Have to strip half my engine out just to change a bloody headlight bulb! I get the garage to do it!!
God knows why I carry spare bulbs in France... I don't have the tools to strip the car down to get at it!!

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phathamster

09/1/2018 at 10:34am
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i normally steer away from the big garages MOT 'deals'

it might be £15-£20 pound cheaper to test than my local garage but the final bill is always cheaper my local garage.

oil and service part diy kits are normally somewhere between 60-80. depends how much you trust the garage to replace all required parts.

i would wonder what is actually done on a minor service other than a quick top up....

paid £180 for a full service on the Honda Crv just last week...

664DaveS

09/1/2018 at 11:41am
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I have booked my Saab into local independent for service and MOT,probably around £200,they will do the service first so any issues will be picked up.
Its £36 for the test,it uses synthetic oil and they use OEM parts.

Hopefully no surprises as it had new DMF and clutch in December ouch!£900.
It is 11 years old soon.Cambelt kit was done at 7 yearservice.

Friends say buy a new car on PCP, but we love the car,its a convertible and immaculate,don't do many miles now so happy to keep it.
Equivalent would be quite a lot a month!It will be a classic in another 10 years

Post last edited on 09/01/2018 11:45:35

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Bob61

09/1/2018 at 12:11pm
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Quote: Originally posted by phathamster on 09/1/2018
i normally steer away from the big garages MOT 'deals'

it might be £15-£20 pound cheaper to test than my local garage but the final bill is always cheaper my local garage.

oil and service part diy kits are normally somewhere between 60-80. depends how much you trust the garage to replace all required parts.

i would wonder what is actually done on a minor service other than a quick top up....

paid £180 for a full service on the Honda Crv just last week...

A few years ago I was using another local man who had a small lock up garage in a village nearby. I was generally quite happy with what he was doing until one time I took it to him because the brakes were binding. He told me he had fixed the problem and charged me something like £60. Only a short time later I realised they were binding again so took the car back. He said he had fixed them again and then tried to charge me again. I refused to pay and told him he obviously didn't do the job right first time...so that was the end of that relationship. I then started taking the car to the main dealer and realised that the local mechanic had been charging me more than the main dealer and probably not doing half the work that was required. That is one reason why I queried what I am about to be charged on this occasion with another local man.

With regards to what they do on the different services, Nissan has 3 services I believe, Bronze, Silver and Gold. If you read down the tick box list of what each service does there are subtle changes but apart from changing the oil and filters everything else just seems to be a visual check so there is not a lot between them...just an oil change really.

Bob61

09/1/2018 at 12:18pm
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Whether they do the MOT before the service or the other way round has always been a bone of contention with me. My feelings are that they should do the service first and put right any problems that may cause it to fail the MOT. Most of the places I have been to seem to do the MOT first and if it fails they still do a service and then tell you it failed the MOT. So if the car has failed in a big way you still have to pay for the service on a car that may only be fit for the scrap heap!

Colin21

09/1/2018 at 11:53pm
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The garage I usually use for my MOT and services, does the MOT first. However, if they find anything serious or costly, they ring me up before going any further. Years ago I had an old Mercedes 230 saloon that I took in to them for its "annual". They did the MOT and found serious rust in the inner wings, so they rang me straight away. The scrap-man had that one! Certainly glad they didn't service it first.

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Francais

10/1/2018 at 7:01am
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Currently I am lucky enough to be a company car driver, so since 1985 my motoring cost's have been zero!

Anyway retirement becons in a few years time, hopefully by then I will be in a position to buy an EV, somthing like the Tesla Model "3" to my mind would be the perfect solution.

Aluminium body, so that should keep rust at bay, and a drive train that is said to be good for a million miles.

Servicing should be cheap as chips, as I am told the brake pads, are good for 200k miles due to regen braking.

Motor only has two moving parts, so not a lot to go wrong there.

Fuel cost and tax's will be tiny, although I am sure that will change as the years roll by.

Whether the battery pack will see me out, remains to be seen.

ST1100

10/1/2018 at 7:44am
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Quote: Originally posted by Francais on 10/1/2018
Servicing should be cheap as chips, as I am told the brake pads, are good for 200k miles due to regen braking.

Whoever told you that then take it with a pinch of salt, it will still need brake pad and disc changes, the only difference being the bleeding is more complicated than a standard car and need it linked up to a machine which can cope with overcoming the regen system when bleeding, as one or two Lexus owners have found out when getting a garage who did not know that to change their brake pads.

You will get an eye opener on the service costs .. or as they put it .. inspection costs.. for the Tesla even though it does not have oil etc

www.tesla.com/en_GB/support/maintenance-plans

Those service costs for the Tesla are higher than those for my Lexus which has both petrol and electric systems.

Post last edited on 10/01/2018 08:07:36

Post last edited on 10/01/2018 09:07:17

Opensauce

10/1/2018 at 8:09am
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Bob61

10/1/2018 at 10:42am
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Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 09/1/2018
The garage I usually use for my MOT and services, does the MOT first. However, if they find anything serious or costly, they ring me up before going any further. Years ago I had an old Mercedes 230 saloon that I took in to them for its "annual". They did the MOT and found serious rust in the inner wings, so they rang me straight away. The scrap-man had that one! Certainly glad they didn't service it first.

What happened with my old car was that they did an MOT first and failed it on rust in the chassis. They then did a service and charged me for both the service and the MOT. I can't remember what the charge for that was but it was over £200. I then took the car to a local car repairers and they charged me £300 to do the welding but having done so they told me it wouldn't pass an MOT the following year because the chassis was shot away...so it had cost me £500 and was only fit for scrap. I could have got another year out of it but decided to part exchange it for my present car. I was given £1000 for it part exchange which was more than it was worth but that was a very expensive service

bessie500

10/1/2018 at 10:48am
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Non franchise garages have to pay for access to car manufacturer software on a job by job basis nowadays often £40 or more so that is added to bill which is why main dealer workshop price can be often no more than non-franchise garage.

That's true, it’s usually a particular car specialist that would go down that route like a non-franchised BMW specialist, this would be for software updates and allow access to online service books, BMW charges on an hourly basis for the privilege, most non franchised garages don’t bother going down this route.

If there is a software issue with a car it’s covered by warranty for the 1st 3 years anyway & large proportion of new cars are coming with a service plan included

My mate has 3 very successful garages and doesn’t use this service

Bessie

bessie500

10/1/2018 at 10:50am
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Bob61

10/1/2018 at 12:57pm
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Quote: Originally posted by bessie500 on 10/1/2018

Bob going forward have the car MOT'd 1st if it passes great then have a service, if it fails look at all your options

bessie

Yes, that is a wise thing to do. I think garages encourage people to have a service and MOT at the same time because they can offset the discount on the MOT onto the service charge and probably make a fortune if it fails the MOT.

I was thinking about having the service first so that any MOT faults can be rectified so it passes but you are right...best to have the MOT first I think and then consider service and repairs afterwards.

Sean

10/1/2018 at 1:45pm
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The garage I use always MOT the car first. If there are any failures such as tyres, brake pads or light bulbs etc they will get replaced in the service. Then the MOT is issued. The MOT tester and the service mechanic work for the same garage. If it failed on a major issue like rust they would telephone me before carrying out the service.
Why would the customer want a car serviced if it may be scrapped?

BadToTheBone

10/1/2018 at 4:57pm
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Corvette - all are minor services up to100,000 miles, so believe it or not, about 90 quid labour plus 9 litres of Mobil 1 and a filter at my local trusted indie who has looked after all my “clown cars” over the years. Major service adds 8 spark plugs (done twice often as book suggests ) at about 60 quid DIY and a chassis lube. So at that low cost I would always oil service it twice as often as the computer indicated in order to protect against a very expensive explosion - once at my indie for service records and in between at home as a preventative bonus - just oil and filters. It has stood 160,000 miles so far.

Mrs Bone’s DS3 diseasel - annual at her mileage between 200 and 250 quid at the official stealer. Want the service history to be main stealer stamped. The odd top up of cow pee is required now and again in between services.

RAV4 - All DIY oil and filters as it is getting a bit leggy and hardly worth the cost of service stamps versus dated parts receipts in the documentation file. Maybe 30quid with occasional disks and / or pads at about 250 quid for a full set of both pads and disks. Twice in its life it has had the expensive 5th gear fix - last one late 2016 at about 2.3k including a clutch (1.3k of that - engine out job and it was too cold to DIY).

MOTs about 50 quid at my indie unless work required and then... well can be thousands depending which car. Defo never went for a low cost MOT, always the indie who I trust completely.

If you think car servicing is bad, just buy a motor boat! The marine engine and leg servicing costs are eye watering, without all the stuff that fails all over the rest of the boat.

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Bob61

19/1/2018 at 2:23pm
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I thought I would just open up this thread again to say that my car passed it's test with flying colours today and together with a minor service it only came to £147...so thumbs up to my new found village garage. They seem to be pretty decent. Even cleaned the top of the engine block so it looks almost new! I took the car in at about 0930 and at about 1230 it was ready for collection

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