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Most main dealers, of any brand, now work on the basis that their technicians are meant to generate £xx of additional work on every job. A Vauxhall guy I know said they are told to find an additional £130 of work on every job sheet. He isn't happy about it, but the option is he gets his marching orders. At the end of every week any tech not meeting targets gets a rollicking.

So next time it's in for a service and they ring up with a list of additional jobs they've found be warned. Two examples:

My car went to Vx and I was told I needed new brakes all round - I'd changed them the week before. When I asked how come brand new pads were 85% worn the manager told me they hadn't removed the wheels so they'd just taken a guess based on the mileage. For which they were going to charge me an extra £300.

My Dad's car went to Vx and he was told he needed a new timing belt, despite the fact it had been changed by them only 6,500 miles ago at the last service.

Quote: Originally posted by Alistair on 12/5/2011

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Cheers Rodderstrotter, you were bang on the button! The little brass strip in the socket that is supposed to break contact when towing was bent and not making contact again once the connection was removed. A readjustment with a pair of long nosed pliers saved £168! The Sorento then sailed through the retest. I couldn't resist having a mega pop at the service department and service manager when I went back though. They must think that we are all made of money!

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Quote: Originally posted by Grad Sailor on 13/5/2011

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My car went to Vx and I was told I needed new brakes all round - I'd changed them the week before. When I asked how come brand new pads were 85% worn the manager told me they hadn't removed the wheels so they'd just taken a guess based on the mileage. For which they were going to charge me an extra £300.

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