frupi said:

Lol! Trust me, that £279 you were quoted is believe it or not, lower than some of the quotes I've been given in the past by a long margin. Others on this forum will I am sure testify that they too have been given even more bizarre over the top quotes for a service. Therefore, the £220 quote by the Fiat dealer is pretty good for what is essentially going to be a main service, indeed the first 'proper' service it will have had in a couple of years.

PS: Make sure the pollen filter is included in the service too. Often forgotten by some garages. Yours will be more than ready for a change.

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Yep £220 is good, as you say Frupi get the plugs, brake fluid & pollen filter changed as well.

Oh the OP may get a call when out and about the pads being quite worn !! Think about the pads and get quotes before you commit to Fiat's prices - i.e try to get them to match an indi.

ahmett said:

DONT USE A FIAT DEALER!

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The 3yr+ Gold service at £199 includes everything the car needs and more, it includes 12 months' breakdown cover too. Genuine parts will be used (TA parts are more expensive compared to the 'standard' engines) so it really is good value. Potential buyers may appreciate a car with partial manufacturer service history. Not all independents can reset the service indicator.

arorat said:

Y
Oh the OP may get a call when out and about the pads being quite worn !! Think about the pads and get quotes before you commit to Fiat's prices - i.e try to get them to match an indi.

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Strangely, the brake pads for the TA seem to still be on the expensive side so shopping around is a must.

frupi said:

Strangely, the brake pads for the TA seem to still be on the expensive side so shopping around is a must.

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I think if the brakes are genuinely worn after 23k miles I would avoid replacing them with expensive Fiat parts too...or the previous owner was a rally driver.

My previous car was still going strong on its original discs at 87k when I sold it, front pads were done at 62.5k as I wasn't sure they would have gone to next service.

MN500 said:

I think if the brakes are genuinely worn after 23k miles I would avoid replacing them with expensive Fiat parts too...or the previous owner was a rally driver.

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Lol! My missus managed to wear out the front pads out on our old POP in just 16k miles! Thankfully the brake discs remained relatively intact. I bought brand new pads about four months before we sold the car in exchange for the TA. I put them on the car the day before we drove to the dealer we bought the TA from. Glad I did too because the old ones were almost to the metal. The Missus has since revised her braking methods

Not all Fiat dealers are bad. Some of the multi-franchise jack-of-all-marques like Arnold Clark and Stoneacre are good at sales, but terrible at after sales service. Some sites are much better than others, which suggests a thoroughly poor level of management by head office in ensuring consistency. For this reason, I'd avoid.

However, there are some really great independent family owned Fiat dealers who might not have the cash to splash on shiny showrooms, different flavours of coffee or all that other shi*e that makes no difference to the workmanship or level of professionalism offered, but who really know Fiat and know how to work on them. Given that Piccadilly must be one of the oldest Fiat franchises in England, I'd give them a go.

£220 is a bargain for a TwinAir service. Check what it includes (ideally oil, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter & spark plugs) but compared to the £350-£400 my Parents were quoted by two dealers, including one we bought our 500 from, to get £220 straight up like that is excellent, especially as Piccadilly have a solid reputation.

The £199 Gold Service offered by Pentagon also sounds decent, but Pentagon are relative newcomers to Fiat (unlike Piccadilly) and Fiat used to offer Bronze (£99), Silver (£149) and Gold (£199) Care services at most dealers for cars over 3 years old, presumably to keep cars within the dealer network when the warranty ends. Not sure if this is still offered nationally, but certainly the few dealers I've experience of do still offer it, so you might like to see if Piccadilly will do this service once your car reaches 3 years old, if it offers more than the £220 service.

I definitely think some of the prices quoted through dealerships are locale dependent.

Just like the housing market where house prices are ridiculously expensive in some parts of the country compared to others, I am sure some garages can be inclined to charge prices indicative of the overall wealth of the clientele in their area. We know from many posters that some dealerships will claim they charge the prices they do because they are directed by the marque manufacturer to charge those prices but then in reality, they can often charge what they want within reason to stay within their profit targets, rental of premises, staff wages etc.

If you do your homework and if you're not one of those people who hates every aspect of servicing their vehicle or displays an unhealthy hatred of the dealership network, some of those network dealerships can be really quite competitive and offer exceptional levels of service.

frupi said:

I definitely think some of the prices quoted through dealerships are locale dependent.

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IIRC there was once a dealer somewhere in the south west who teamed up with a local hotel to offer a 'full service + 2 nights in a beauty spot', craftily priced just below the amount London dealers were charging for the service alone.

frupi said:

Strangely, the brake pads for the TA seem to still be on the expensive side so shopping around is a must.

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ECP are currently selling OEM quality pads+discs for the TA for about £75, compared to about £40 for the 1.2.

jrkitching said:

ECP are currently selling OEM quality pads+discs for the TA for about £75, compared to about £40 for the 1.2.

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Bearing in mind the pads on our car are absolutely fine at the moment, I've just been doing some research into what part numbers are compatible with our own car. I started by downloading the PAGID brake catalogue which gives a compehensive breakdown of what pads are suitable. I trust PAGID anyway, they are a known and trusted supplier of OE equipment to many car marques. The problem is determining exactly which part numbe pads are applicable to our own vehicle. I think I've sussed it and I'm sure that the braking system on our car is TEVES. The thing that confused me slightly is whether or not our engine code is 312 A2 or 312 A5 and I can't seem to work it out from the V5.

The issue is that the brake pads for the TA seem to be very expensive at the moment. I looked at ECP and they are indeed flogging PAGID pads for about £25 but even from their part number, it doesn't seem to relate to what is in the PAGID catalogue, but if I put our reg number in, it states the pads are suitable.

I like to buy things in advance, hence why I'm looking now. I notice one of my local Fiat dealership's is charging £99 for brake pad fitting on any Fiat. I know genuine Fiat pads are expensive, so I guess for some people, that would be a good deal, but for people like me who can change the brake pads on most cars (well all the ones I've ever owned!) in around 30 minutes, that is far too expensive.

Thanks for all of your help.

The discs and pads were apparently done by the Car People. They feel fine with no squeels or anything so hopefully should be fine!

I'm taking advantage of Piccadilly Wakefield's courtesy car, any ideas what car they will provide?

ntanswell said:

....I'm taking advantage of Piccadilly Wakefield's courtesy car, any ideas what car they will provide?

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Hopefully one with at least 4 wheels and an engine! Sorry, childish of me.

The first dealership I used gave me a new 500 as a courtesy car. All I had to do was put some fuel in it. When they handed it to me, they told me there was next to no fuel in it and they were right! I made it to a Tesco forecourt just half a mile away and I stuck a fiver's worth in. That fiver managed me a 52 mile round trip. When I returned the car, it kinda 'hopped' onto the forecourt and I parked it up and walked away to give back the key. I told the receptionist, 'There's no fuel in the car' and she said 'Why not?' I said, 'I've done exactly what you did to me and given you a car with no fuel in it!' She made some remark and handed my own car key back.

I'm sure Picadilly will see you all right, but I wouldn't expect anything other than a standard courtesy car. The dealership I just used offered me a courtesy car which they would have charged me a tenner for. I declined as we travelled down to them in both of our cars and obviously left the 500 with them.