Just dropped off the Twin Air this morning, for the first service, given that it is now a year old. I understand it will be £120, and fingers crossed, I dont expect any problems!

Mine's due in a month or so, so I'll be interested in your experience. Is it a full service or just an oil change?

All done and back now. £120 including oil and filter. Car wasn't washed mind!

I think that's a good thing - I don't want to pay my dealer to scratch my paintwork, or them do it for free

aye, thats a good point.

I think 120 is pretty good for a service, so I'd rather that than pay more just to get the car cleaned. When the Merc came back from the last service it was completely spotless inside and out. Mind you, at £350 I expected nothing less.

that is reasonable from a main dealer i suppose. I assume they stamp the book aswell?
The reason i comment is that an oil/filter change might be a lot cheaper elsewhere but maybe but this might invalidate the warranty?
I understand that there is case law that a 'stamp' from any garage is just as good as a main dealer you see.

poppyred said:

that is reasonable from a main dealer i suppose. I assume they stamp the book aswell?
The reason i comment is that an oil/filter change might be a lot cheaper elsewhere but maybe but this might invalidate the warranty?
I understand that there is case law that a 'stamp' from any garage is just as good as a main dealer you see.

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I've posted a couple of times on this very subject. Local Fiat main dealer wanted to charge me £149 just for an oil an filter change, Fiat main dealer 20 miles away, wants £84 to do the same job. Moral of the story is, shop around. I personally think that £120 to £150 to do an oil and filter change is just ridiculous. Washing your car, well, yes, nice if they do it, but remember, nothing in this world ever comes free. Concerning the stamp in the book, as long as you take it to a vat registered garage and they use original Fiat service items, your warranty will remain intact. Just look up 'block exemption rules' on 't'internet.

Cost covered a service + oil + filter and some screen wash (more expensive than Tesco's screen wash!!). So I think 120 is ok really.

cjc156 said:

Cost covered a service + oil + filter and some screen wash (more expensive than Tesco's screen wash!!). So I think 120 is ok really.

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I appreciate what you are saying and I'm glad you've had a good personal experience and you're happy paying what you have, but I'm sorry, for me personally, 120 quid is too much for an oil and filter change and tbh, you could have filled the screenwash before you put the car in for service. I'm afraid I'm just very tight! Still, I'm letting a Fiat main dealer service our 500, because I'd like to see a couple of Fiat dealer stamps in the service log whilst the car is under warranty and because I've negotiated what I believe to be a fair price for a very minor service one year into ownership.

Just been quoted £150(!!!!!) for a 1-year oil and filter change on my TA by the dealer I bought the car from. Needless to say when I bought it they said this would be around £80. I looked on the website of another fairly nearby Fiat dealer, who advertise an "any make" oil and filter change for £99, so I'll check them out next week. To put the £150 into context, my son recently had a service (not just oil change) and MOT carried out on his Civic at a main Honda dealer for less than £200.

TrevC said:

Just been quoted £150(!!!!!) for a 1-year oil and filter change on my TA by the dealer I bought the car from. Needless to say when I bought it they said this would be around £80. I looked on the website of another fairly nearby Fiat dealer, who advertise an "any make" oil and filter change for £99, so I'll check them out next week. To put the £150 into context, my son recently had a service (not just oil change) and MOT carried out on his Civic at a main Honda dealer for less than £200.

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Your post doesn't surprise me. I still don't get why one dealer would quote (in my own case) £149 and another dealer would quote £84 for doing exactly the same service. I abolutely believe it has something to do with hooking the car up to Fiat diagnostics as part of the service. My local dealer has already told me they charge 60 quid to do this as a normal standard charge anyway. The dealer I'm taking our car to, has told me there are no software or critical updates required on our car so they won't be hooking it up to diagnostics. I just think you have to be very wary dealing with whomever you're taking your car to. If you display enough confidence and act like you know what you're talking about, chances are you won't be taken for a mug.

frupi said:

I appreciate what you are saying and I'm glad you've had a good personal experience and you're happy paying what you have, but I'm sorry, for me personally, 120 quid is too much for an oil and filter change and tbh, you could have filled the screenwash before you put the car in for service. I'm afraid I'm just very tight! Still, I'm letting a Fiat main dealer service our 500, because I'd like to see a couple of Fiat dealer stamps in the service log whilst the car is under warranty and because I've negotiated what I believe to be a fair price for a very minor service one year into ownership.

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I think this is a fair price, I mean I dont expect people to do this for nothing. Labour costs was £51, parts was £20 and the oil was £28. Then add on the VAT. For me that is 100% reasonable. for a 1st year service.

cjc156 said:

I think this is a fair price, I mean I dont expect people to do this for nothing. Labour costs was £51, parts was £20 and the oil was £28. Then add on the VAT. For me that is 100% reasonable. for a 1st year service.

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In the end of the day its your money.
Some people dont mind getting ripped off, others do and fight for their cash.

Ripped off? I dont really think so. Everything is relative but really guys what do you want? Never heard of 'you get what you pay for'. How cheap do you want it? Say, £90? Great, I've saved myself £30, driven an extra 10 miles and sat around all morning waiting for them to do it, coz Johny Back Street dosen't give you a lift home after you drop the car off........

I think Ahmett was referring to the £150 quotes rather than you, cj.

Fair enough. I am 'conditioned' mind from paying BMW and Merc main dealer prices for a good few years now. I remember when I was picking up my '5' some years ago from a service and the young girl in front of me was almost in tears, having just been asked £600 or so for a service and new disks and pads on her Mini Cooper.

cjc156 said:

Ripped off? I dont really think so. Everything is relative but really guys what do you want. Never heard of 'you get what you pay for'. How cheap do you want it? Say, £90? Great, I've saved myself £30, driven an extra 10 miles and sat around all morning waiting for them to do it, coz Johny Back Street dosen't give you a lift home after you drop the car off........

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I would absolutely agree with everything you've said if it wasn't for the fact that I'm relating a tale of two Fiat main dealers. I just take care to phone around and compare dealer quotes (four in my case), not just accept what one dealer feeds me.

You may not want to do what I do and travel out of my local area, but if it saves me 60 quid and I'm only adding another 16 miles return journey to do it, it isn't exactly costing me a bomb in additional fuel. I'm not bothered about hanging around for a couple of hours while they do the service either. I just can't agree with you that 120 quid is a fair price to pay for an oil and filter change, but I respect your own thoughts and decisions.

cjc156 said:

Fair enough. I am 'conditioned' mind from paying BMW and Merc main dealer prices for a good few years now. I remember when I was picking up my '5' some years ago from a service and the young girl in front of me was almost in tears, having just been asked £600 or so for a service and new disks and pads on her Mini Cooper.

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Which is amusing, as the one appealing thing about the Mini is the fixed cost servicing courtesy of the TLC packages.

Having owed a MINI Cooper S on TLC, brake discs and pads are not covered not even a brake fluid change ...TLC is just oil and filters basically !

Fair enough..