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Technical First Service

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Technical First Service

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deniseb91

New member
Joined
Feb 14, 2007
Messages
27
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9
Location
Kent
Hi, my Fiat Eleganza is coming up to 12,000 miles and so is due it's first service (haven't had it a year yet, but use it every day to commute etc, so am racking up the miles). My dealer has quoted £170 for first service, sounds a bit steep. I know I can take it to any garage and so long as they use Fiat parts, etc, the warranty will still stand? Anyhow, does anyone know a garage/fiat dealer in Kent who are a wee bit cheaper???

Many thanks!
 
Hi! My 100hp will be due it's first service soon too. It would be interesting to find out what owners have paid for this service at different dealers.

Why not e-mail some dealers in Kent/South London and ask them to quote for the work. A neighbour of mine is a ford area manager and tells me that dealers make a large proportion of their profit from routine service work and you can haggle over the price for the service. I'd get a few quotes and then ask your local dealer to undercut if they want the job!!

According to my service book, the 12000 mile service is basically an oil and oil filter change with a few checks carried out. I wouldn't expect them to charge for more than 1 hour labour plus oil and filter. When you e mail ask them to break down the quote into labour time and parts used for the standard service (as they will try to confuse you by saying it might need extra parts like brake pads etc ).

Oil and filter from Halfords would be about 50pounds for very good quality products, and 100pounds per hour is a London BMW/Merc labour rate.
Does your dealer have nice coffee? Sounds OTT to me too!!
 
does seem a bit steep, i paid £130 for mine, at the time had done less than 5000 miles, however continental fiat (an independant out in tuffnell park north london) said even with full mileage would have probably been another £10-£15 on top.

i would recommend them, but a touch too far for you(y)
 
deniseb91 said:
Hi, my Fiat Eleganza is coming up to 12,000 miles and so is due it's first service (haven't had it a year yet, but use it every day to commute etc, so am racking up the miles). My dealer has quoted £170 for first service, sounds a bit steep. I know I can take it to any garage and so long as they use Fiat parts, etc, the warranty will still stand? Anyhow, does anyone know a garage/fiat dealer in Kent who are a wee bit cheaper???

Many thanks!
Click to expand...

Why dont you phone around?

yellowpages-1.jpg
 
PandaPaul said:
Hi! My 100hp will be due it's first service soon too. It would be interesting to find out what owners have paid for this service at different dealers.


Just had the first service done on my 100HP this week, I had already exceeded 12000 miles (in 6 months ouch!!!).
I took it to my local dealer where i bought the car Thames Fiat Slough and paid £170. This may be expensive, but I was very pleased with the customer service their and the turnaround. (waited just over an hour) (y)


M100 NSY
Click to expand...
 
Did you check the bill after? it would have been very cheeky (criminal in fact) to charge more than an hour for labour if they did it while you waited! Did they use any parts other than oil +filter? 100 pounds an hour for labour is BMW money and 70 for oil and filter? I hope it was Mobil 1 and a silver plated oil filter! I 'm struggling to make the numbers add up here..
 
I rang around the Fiat dealers in Kent and was quoted 140 to 199 - so opted for the 140 one in Canterbury (my parents live in Whitstable so a day out next Tuesday!) So all booked in and they reckon it will be done in an hour (still seems a lot of dough though for a bit of oil!)
 
How is it criminal? maybe its a fixed price! Is it criminal for a plumber to charge you £70 call out fee when he stays streets away or charges £200 to change a radiator valve. You have a choice to go somewhere else if you dont like the price.In this case M100 NSY was happy with the all round service something which many here complain against.

deniseb91...£140 seems decent price but please be assured a service is more than just a bit of oil;)
 
I don't disagree, the point I'm making is; find out exactly what you are getting for YOUR money, as you would with anything else. I'm sure none of us would be happy to learn that a neighbour's identical groceries cost her 60 less because she used a different branch of Tesco to the one you had used. Because it is a garage, for some reason they get away with it.

There are some huge variations out there for what should be an identical procedure by mechanics trained to the same standards.

60 extra for coffee and a car wash is OTT. (They did wash it I hope!!)
 
Panda 100HP.....1st annual service (mileage at 9800).......£124.80 at Arnold Clark.(y)

I may be speaking too soon but they may have even cured my brake 'whistle'.:worship:

In any case they noted for the record that I had complained about brake 'whistle' on turning left and 'groan' on reversing so that if it persists after cleaning by me in the Spring.

So some of the prices quoted seem a bit steep - even allowing for regional variation.
 
PandaPaul said:
Because it is a garage, for some reason they get away with it.
Click to expand...

Other side of the coin is customers assume they can get away with it because its a garage ..."i'll go in shouting in the showroom & bet you I get what I want" or "i'll drive the bloody car through the showroom window" etc etc....I see thousands of pounds worth of parts/labour given away free every year as goodwill or gestures...personally I wouldn't.I mean the cheek of some people "my 5 year old car has a scratch on it & condensation in tail light I want it fixed or i'll write to Fiat":rolleyes: Yep I see it daily and the unfortunate thing is the genuine cases can be overlooked as alot of garages are as wary of customers as they are of garages.

Take car to independent garage for service as its cheaper there....but dont expect service light reset,DPF cars getting filters regenerated free,oil degredation light reset or software updates carried out.

Cant comment on shopping as wife wont let me go as I just buy crap:D

hpScot said:
Panda 100HP.....1st annual service (mileage at 9800).......£124.80 at Arnold Clark.(y)

I may be speaking too soon but they may have even cured my brake 'whistle'.:worship:
Click to expand...

Same brake whistle you had a long time ago....year?
 
Well, this post is certainly hitting a few nerves! I've never had to cause a scene in any garages. But I always shop around and ask some questions first. I would rather pay 125pounds for a Fiat Dealer service for my car, than the 199pounds some poor souls have been quoted by different dealers, for the same service. Are they really getting 75 pounds better service for their money?

The good thing about the forum is that at least we all know what a competitive price is now!
 
T14086 said:
Same brake whistle you had a long time ago....year?
Click to expand...

Yeah....but at least the squeal on braking did disappear to be replaced by the speed related 'whistle' most noticeable when turning left (caliper not fully releasing?) and the 'groan' on reversing when parking.

I did mention 'modified pads' to Service but got a glazed expression and some talk of squealing on the Grande punto but 'never' on the Panda.

Hey ho...it's a minor gripe in the big scheme of things and the 'whistle' seems to have disappeared since the service.....so maybe the service inspection found a bit of grit or something.
 
My 1.2 Dynamic was £165 at Ancaster in Catford, SE London last June- could have got it cheaper by driving to East London or arranging for it to be done up north at my parents' but its a 5 minute drive from my house and it was somewhat overdue. Given the messages I think I'll shop around a little more this year!
 
Anyone looked into Calais or other 'close-to-the-tunnel' Fiat dealers? Many models are cheaper to service on the continent.

Daytrip to France, spend the savings on shopping (usually involving alcohol). I guesstimate it could be done for 100-150 Euros. I would seriously consider it and will look into this as service time for mine approaches.

Mine is a year old in April - is the service every year whatever mileage you do?
 
PandaPaul said:
Well, this post is certainly hitting a few nerves! I've never had to cause a scene in any garages. But I always shop around and ask some questions first. I would rather pay 125pounds for a Fiat Dealer service for my car, than the 199pounds some poor souls have been quoted by different dealers, for the same service. Are they really getting 75 pounds better service for their money?

The good thing about the forum is that at least we all know what a competitive price is now!
Click to expand...

I guess is more expensive down south as wages are higher there & things in general are more expensive? Thats not ment as a generalisation but I suppose you would expect a variation in prices across the country....maybe not quite on this scale? You also might have to take into account that 'good' customers often get a discount & older cars are often repaired/serviced at a lower rate.

hpScot said:
Yeah....but at least the squeal on braking did disappear to be replaced by the speed related 'whistle' most noticeable when turning left (caliper not fully releasing?) and the 'groan' on reversing when parking.

I did mention 'modified pads' to Service but got a glazed expression and some talk of squealing on the Grande punto but 'never' on the Panda.
Click to expand...

So they not replaced pads ever?
 
T14086 said:
So they not replaced pads ever?
Click to expand...

Certainly no mention made of having done so in the past - but of course that was just one dealership - but I would have thought all dealers would have been notified if they had been done elsewhere in larger numbers.

You don't think he was telling me porky pies now do you?;):devil:

'Whistle' does seem to have disappeared since service - just the reversing 'groan' now.
 
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