Hi
Im sure this has been asked numerous times before but I can only find threads from over a year ago and want to make sure nothing has changed, due to conflicting info from 2 different Fiat garages..
My car is a year old and has covered 5800 miles.
I have one dealer telling me it needs to go in for a low mileage service, which is 195 for oil and filter change and a wash (!)... and I have another dealer telling me that the service intervals are 18,000 miles or 2 years and that I therefore can wait another year for my first service.
Can anyone tell me who is right?
Thanks!

Neither is right, one is trying to rip you off and the other is going to invalidate your warranty

I think you will find your service book will say it should have an oil and filter change. My last one did, and my main dealer charged me £99 for it.

RobinPJ said:

I think you will find your service book will say it should have an oil and filter change. My last one did, and my main dealer charged me £99 for it.

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Agree with RobinPJ, pricing is about right mine was in the same ballpark for an Oil & Filter change on the A500, last week. Your initial quote was a right rip off.

My Twinair service booklet states every 18,000 miles or 24 months, whichever comes first. However, if you do less than 6,000 miles per annum then you require an annual oil and filter change. Not sure of exact wording as my service booklet is in Scotland and I am on the Costa Del Sol.

Thank you for all your replies..
Can I barter with my main dealer?? I presumed the price they stated was the price I paid..?
I do think the price has gone up since I originally asked for a quote a month ago - I swear it was 180 then.. but they've got themselves a nice new showroom in St Albans from what the bloke on the phone was saying, so I can only presume Im helping to pay for that.!!!!

Ha well it was Glyn Hopkin St Albans that I paid £99 for an oil and filter change, about 3 months ago!

hippycinq said:

Thank you for all your replies..
Can I barter with my main dealer?? I presumed the price they stated was the price I paid..?
I do think the price has gone up since I originally asked for a quote a month ago - I swear it was 180 then.. but they've got themselves a nice new showroom in St Albans from what the bloke on the phone was saying, so I can only presume Im helping to pay for that.!!!!

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Maybe it was because you are a woman and the sexist garage feels that woman are more easily ripped off when it comes to car services. I've seen it many times where woman bring their cars and have no idea what the service people are talking about and get ripped off more easily than boys, many who have better knowledge of mechanics. Mind you, some boys also get ripped off by fiat dealers!
Call me sexist, but how many woman techs have you seen at a Fiat main dealer?

Anyway to the point, now that you have fiatforum knowledge, you should go back to the dealer and tell them i am paying 100 for a low mileage service, is that ok with you? Dont accept one pound more! Let us know if they accept it, and if you have any questions about your car please ask here as this forum is full of really (much more than me at least) competent mechanics and engineers.

Thank you all..
I'm gonna ring up tomorrow and see what they have to say for themselves..
Think I might just ask to speak to the manager straight away and ask why there's such inconsistencies in their pricing.!
Think I might just use the "you think because I'm female it's okay to double the price" thing and suggest trading standards might like to hear about it.....!!!

hippycinq said:

Thank you all..
I'm gonna ring up tomorrow and see what they have to say for themselves..
Think I might just ask to speak to the manager straight away and ask why there's such inconsistencies in their pricing.!
Think I might just use the "you think because I'm female it's okay to double the price" thing and suggest trading standards might like to hear about it.....!!!

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Whoa whoa whoa!

Trading standards will laugh in our face. The dealership are absolutely 100% entitled to charge whatever they want to, if they want to charge a million pounds then they can try it, no one will get their services done there, but they're allowed to set their own prices.

Be reasonable and you may get some joy

Lol fair play!!!!!!!!

I think that suggesting a call to the Herts Advertiser would probably be better.

As hippycinq says, Glyn Hopkin is in the process of reinventing itself in St Albans, selling Infiniti, Jeep, Chysler Nissan and Fiat. Thee last thing they would want is bad press that they rip off women.

Frankly it is disgusting that they should try to charge double what they charged me. This isn't the gold souk - it is a supposedly reputable main dealer. Their prices should be consistent and transparent.

Hi hippycinq,

Another classic example of a dealership trying to rip off a customer sadly. No way should you pay anywhere near £200 for a low mileage service on a 1.2 (is that the right engine?).

Another thing which you could do is go onto a site like Shop4Parts who sell genuine Fiat parts.

I have just looked now and 5 litres of Selenia Pure K Energy oil and an genuine oil filter for a 1.2 500 will set you back £57.04, which includes all VAT and delivery to your door. As you only need approx 3 litres of oil, the reality is that the parts will cost you no more than £40 for the service, leaving you with approx 2 litres of oil for top ups.

I don't know what your dealers labour rates are, but an oil and filter change is no more than an hour (and I mean NO more, that is being very generous).

Even if your dealer's labour came in at £100 all in (which again would be very high), you are still only looking at £140.

Hope this helps anyway.

Thank you everyone..
Is it bad to say that I'm waiting for my brother to get back off holiday to ring them for me...!!???

When Autoglass damaged my roof lining one dealer quoted £250 and the other quoted £430!

hippycinq said:

Thank you everyone..
Is it bad to say that I'm waiting for my brother to get back off holiday to ring them for me...!!???

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That's fine. Do let us know the quote and we'll tell you if its reasonable or not.

Hi All. On the question of low mileage services is there any way a dealer will know the mileage I have done per year? i.e. In the 1st 12 months I have covered 5,600 miles but due to a job change I will cover more like 8,000 miles per year in years 2 and 3. Can a dealer extract mileage per year information from the car during servicing, and if so would the lack of a low mileage service in year 1 invalidate future warranty claims?

hippycinq said:

Thank you everyone..
Is it bad to say that I'm waiting for my brother to get back off holiday to ring them for me...!!???

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what area of the UK are you in?


Im in east yorkshire between Hull Leeds and York (on the right side of the Humber


Anyhow I rung

Stoneacre in Worksop, Doncaster and Scunthorpe

chapmans pickering who topped the prices at £400 for a "major service"

Williams of Driffield and the dealer in Hull


Out of all of them the only dealership to offer the correct advice and decent pricing was SG Petch at York........



there is also FIAT live chat on the fiat uk site

http://www.fiat.co.uk/header-contacts


which is usually ok depending on who you get (and you get it in writing to print out and keep :devil: )

Fol said:

Hi All. On the question of low mileage services is there any way a dealer will know the mileage I have done per year? i.e. In the 1st 12 months I have covered 5,600 miles but due to a job change I will cover more like 8,000 miles per year in years 2 and 3. Can a dealer extract mileage per year information from the car during servicing, and if so would the lack of a low mileage service in year 1 invalidate future warranty claims?

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You spent HOW MUCH on a new or newish car and you're trying to save a few pennies? Think about it, what happens if you don't get it serviced and you have a problem with the engine a month after it should have been serviced? BYE BYE WARRANTY :slayer:

Don't be a cheapskate, do the right thing

306maxi said:

Neither is right, one is trying to rip you off and the other is going to invalidate your warranty

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Whoa whoa whoa!

When I got my car they told me that the first service was due at 18000 miles or 2 years, whichever came sooner. Why would that make the warranty invalid?