Apologies in advance for the rant - I dislike dealers in the motortrade but today, Fiat stealers have excelled themselves.

Just phoning around local dealers for quotes for the 1st service for our 100hp which is due next month. Car has only done 3k miles so elidgeable for the Fiats 'low mileage service schedule' which for a '12k' mile service is the same as a 'normal' service but without the pollen filter. So this leaves an oil and oil filter change and a general checkover of the car. Phone the 3 dealers within a 45 mile radius of me:-

Local fiat garage 1: £167
Local fiat garage 2: £185
Local fiat garage 3: £170

This is pure comedy pricing for a service which is 1 hours labour absolute max plus about £30 for oil and a filter on what is a 'budget' car.

Fortunately I started phoning around dealers further away and eventually negioated what I feel is a fair price at £69.09. This particular dealer is an approved fiat service agent but no longer a fiat dealer and even though I'll have to make a 180 mile round trip, I'll still be saving £80+

Not being funny but I think the main dealers target panda buyers as not being very car 'savvy' when it comes to understanding what's involved in a routine service and so feel it's fine to add an extra £100 to the bill for the unsuspecting, trusting punter.

/rant over

jimbo118 said:

Apologies in advance for the rant - I dislike dealers in the motortrade but today, Fiat stealers have excelled themselves.


Not being funny but I think the main dealers target their customers (note small "c") as not being very car 'savvy' when it comes to understanding what's involved in a routine service and so feel it's fine to add an extra £100 to the bill for the unsuspecting, trusting punter.

/rant over

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Edited for accuracy.

Although... you should expect some comment / feedback from those on here who are involved with dealerships directly, mainly around software upgrades done for free if required paint / bodywork checks for warranty...

However, you're not wrong...

Ffoxy said:

Edited for accuracy.

Although... you should expect some comment / feedback from those on here who are involved with dealerships directly, mainly around software upgrades done for free if required paint / bodywork checks for warranty...

However, you're not wrong...

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The dealer I booked it into in the end checked against the registration for any outstanding recalls etc and confirmed that there were none. Any ecu software upgrades that are available during the warranty period of any vehicle should be offered for free and if not, customers should not be overcharged by £130 per service for the priviledge (same applies to any warranty claim).

I would welcome feedback from dealers - when I asked the 'expensive' ones to give me a breakdown of costs (ie parts & labour), strangely none were willing...........

jimbo118 said:

The dealer I booked it into in the end checked against the registration for any outstanding recalls etc and confirmed that there were none. Any ecu software upgrades that are available during the warranty period of any vehicle should be offered for free and if not, customers should not be overcharged by £130 per service for the priviledge (same applies to any warranty claim).

I would welcome feedback from dealers - when I asked the 'expensive' ones to give me a breakdown of costs (ie parts & labour), strangely none were willing...........

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I feel the pain... thing is someone (other than Fiat or the Dealer) has to pay for the Megga expensive "Examiner" Fiat recomended diagnostics kit.... and then there is the expensive showroom upgrades some or most dealerships are having nowadays...around £80 / hr labour, 1.5 hours work + bits = £170-ish.....call me a cynic I know....

I was quoted £449 for the 2nd year service on my GPS diesel....

Ffoxy said:

I feel the pain... thing is someone (other than Fiat or the Dealer) has to pay for the Megga expensive "Examiner" Fiat recomended diagnostics kit.... and then there is the expensive showroom upgrades some or most dealerships are having nowadays...around £80 / hr labour, 1.5 hours work + bits = £170-ish.....call me a cynic I know....

I was quoted £449 for the 2nd year service on my GPS diesel....

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No problem, if people are happy to fund the nice showrooms then they pay's their money and makes their choice.

Incidentally the dealer who is charging me £69 is fiat approved (is listed on their 'dealer finder') and has all the associated diagnostic kit so I guess he must have funded that out of his own pocket

When I got our Panda from Slater's North Wales they wrote to me after a couple of weeks offering to agree a price for the first 3 years services which I could then pay monthly over the 3 years.
Advantages being spreading the cost & paying for 3 years at todays prices.
I like the sound of that.
The letter & booklet said basicly, 'Have a think about it, we'll call you'.
Six weeks later, still waiting!! :bang:

Jimbo - who is this other dealer who you're now using?

Trefor said:

Jimbo - who is this other dealer who you're now using?

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I'll post up their name after I've had the service as don't want to 'recommend' anyone to them until I've experienced them first hand

Then again the Indi i used last year have hiked their prices up to the £180 level i politely laughed

now my punto is out of warranty its DIY all the way

gareth111278 said:

When I got our Panda from Slater's North Wales they wrote to me after a couple of weeks offering to agree a price for the first 3 years services which I could then pay monthly over the 3 years.
Advantages being spreading the cost & paying for 3 years at todays prices.
I like the sound of that.
The letter & booklet said basicly, 'Have a think about it, we'll call you'.
Six weeks later, still waiting!! :bang:

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When I had my Panda Active Eco delivered to my door, the dealer was quoting me an eye watering £800+ for a 3 year servicing deal which I thought was an absolute rip off, they must think we are stupid:worship:

Would love to hear were Jimbo is going for his service, I might be going there myself if local Fiat dealer starts quoting crazy prices in September when my first service is due I will only have about 6000 miles on the clock by then.

out of interest

weve got a multijet panda

approaching 2 years old so will need its second service soon

last time the 1st service was a "low miles" service, so only oil and filter change i guess

its still only got about 10,000 miles on the clock so low miles really for what it is at 2 years old

what is involved in the second year service now? is it just oil and filter change or is pollen filter or anything else supposed to get changed now?

anyone any idea cheapest deal in south east/mids/north east for service will be with main dealer stamp (i know just lazy on that)

cheers

If you think that is dear try going to an Evans mountain bike shop.
Last time I was in one they had a board up advertising £50 for a check up and cable adjustment!! For £100 they cleaned, adjusted and also greased the headset.

I do think if the dealers were slightly more reasonable on some of the prices then they would get more business, although maybe they have enough anyway.

As most people cant even check their own oil level and are willing to pay these high prices for someone else to do it then it is kind of justified.

That's cheap! Get this, my Abarth 500, first service at 14,000 miles (intervals are 18,000) cost? £366, plus my petrol for the 240 mile round trip and it's close to £400, not even including the day off work i have to take! Think yourself very lucky

jimbo118 said:

even though I'll have to make a 180 mile round trip, I'll still be saving £80+

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Depends how much value you put on your own time. OK, so you are saving in hard cash but its costing you half a day of your time at least.

Dealer prices do look high though. I recently had mine serviced (3rd) AND MOT'd for £142 at my local main dealer.

your second biggest purchase and you let personel who are unfamiliar/untrained in the product work on it to save a few quid...who do you let service your gas boiler

T14086 said:

your second biggest purchase and you let personel who are unfamiliar/untrained in the product work on it to save a few quid...who do you let service your gas boiler

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I refer you a post I made above:-

"Incidentally the dealer who is charging me £69 is fiat approved (is listed on their 'dealer finder')...."

I got their number from Fiat's own website, from their approved dealer list so can't understand your comment TBH.

A general comment, not 'aimed' at anyone in particular (hence no 'quote').

Panda service is £99 (inc plugs) at my local dealership (£129 diesel)

Seems to be a fair (unfair, perhaps) degree of regional variation, which is odd for 'fixed price' servicing. Fiat dealer in Watford charge (or at least did when I last used them) over £100 per hour...

Herts Hillhopper said:

Seems to be a fair (unfair, perhaps) degree of regional variation, which is odd for 'fixed price' servicing. Fiat dealer in Watford charge (or at least did when I last used them) over £100 per hour...

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unfortunally that seems to be the way it is, even with wages/house prices etc however yes i agree there should be some kind of 'monitoring'...maybe a maximum 25% +/- ?

ivantate said:

If you think that is dear try going to an Evans mountain bike shop.
Last time I was in one they had a board up advertising £50 for a check up and cable adjustment!! For £100 they cleaned, adjusted and also greased the headset.

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Do they get the Finish line wet lube out as you walk in