I have just been quoted £359.62 for a 1yr service on my Fiat 500 twinair at the main service centre in Battersea. Does anyone have any recommendations for a reliable garage in London that could do it for a less outrageous price. I've only done about 8500m as well!

Thanks!

battersea500 said:

I have just been quoted £359.62 for a 1yr service on my Fiat 500 twinair at the main service centre in Battersea. Does anyone have any recommendations for a reliable garage in London that could do it for a less outrageous price. I've only done about 8500m as well!

Thanks!

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That is indeed an outrageous price.

Why restrict yourself to London? Find a good garage in the country somewhere & have a nice day out while they service it.

Bwahahahaahhaahahaha what a hilarious price.

To be honest I would go anywhere in the south east if it was a better price than that. I'm sure this is a basic question but can any garage do a 1yr service and not invalidate the warranty? I was thinking about that servicestop thing - anyone have any experience of them?

I haven't used them but these guys look good and aren't far out of London.

http://www.alfacare.co.uk/Servicing/index.php

They quoted a good price for a service on my Bravo, just a little bit far to go for me with a good local mechanic.

battersea500 said:

I'm sure this is a basic question but can any garage do a 1yr service and not invalidate the warranty?

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The servicing can be done by any VAT registered garage without invalidating the warranty. Make sure you keep all the receipts.

The most important thing with servicing the TA is to make sure the correct specification of oil is used - garages (including some franchised dealers) often just use whatever they have in their bulk supply drum at the time. Some folks here buy the oil themselves & take it with the car to the garage doing the work. My friend recently negotiated a low mileage service with a main dealer for £44 including the filter & VAT on this basis. They even washed the car for that price.

battersea500 said:

To be honest I would go anywhere in the south east if it was a better price than that. I'm sure this is a basic question but can any garage do a 1yr service and not invalidate the warranty? I was thinking about that servicestop thing - anyone have any experience of them?

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With your screen name I thought you were working for Fiat Battersea and that you were testing our reaction to the price you posted!

A 1st year service should cost you absolutely no more than 200 pounds even at a main dealer yourself or at a smart indie you can probably do it for 100 pounds.

I had quotes from £350 downwards, and finally agreed at £169 inc vat with a main dealer for an 18k at 7 months on my twin air 500c

So keep looking you will find cheaper or as stated a good independent locally is worth considering

If the car was a 1.2 it would qualify for the low mileage service - is that the same for a TA?

Even 169 is too much, but at least it's reasonable

You could try Gonnella Brothers in Catford as a well respected independent.

When I lived in London I used them a few times (on an old Uno and newer Puntos, at the time), and thought that they were well-priced and knowledgeable.

austenw90 said:

I haven't used them but these guys look good and aren't far out of London.

http://www.alfacare.co.uk/Servicing/index.php

They quoted a good price for a service on my Bravo, just a little bit far to go for me with a good local mechanic.

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I can recommend them also, they did an excellent job on my Punto Abarth. But do shop around...

I thought they were your lottery numbers .... That's a deposit on a new car, you would pay less on a Porsche

Mine was £120 in Hampshire last year, from a Fiat dealer.

If I was to order the parts myself and ask a local garage to fit them, does anyone know what I would need to buy. I saw a thread on the forum about this but it was for the 1.2 petrol and not the twinair - are the parts required different between models?

BTW I called that garage again to clarify the cost and they said that it was about £170 for labour and £190 for parts. I put the phone down on him.

battersea500 said:

If I was to order the parts myself and ask a local garage to fit them, does anyone know what I would need to buy. I saw a thread on the forum about this but it was for the 1.2 petrol and not the twinair - are the parts required different between models?

BTW I called that garage again to clarify the cost and they said that it was about £170 for labour and £190 for parts. I put the phone down on him.

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ROFL. 190 quid on parts!

1x 4 litre bottle of Castrol edge 5w40
2 x spark plugs
1 x air filter
1 x oil filter
1 x pollen filter.

306maxi said:

ROFL. 190 quid on parts!

1x 4 litre bottle of Castrol edge 5w40
2 x spark plugs
1 x air filter
1 x oil filter
1 x pollen filter.

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At 8500 miles, you could probably skip the air & pollen filters - though if it's been used for driving in London, it won't hurt to change them. Plugs are definitely worth doing, though.

jrkitching said:

At 8500 miles, you could probably skip the air & pollen filters - though if it's been used for driving in London, it won't hurt to change them.

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For the sake of 15 quid or so I'd do it

306maxi said:

For the sake of 15 quid or so I'd do it

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OEM ones aren't quite that cheap. With VAT & delivery, S4P want £43.36 for those two filters (that's before taking off the forum discount).

And fitting will add a little to those prices, too.

FIAT don't call for their replacement until 18k, so they should be good for another year in the OP's car.

Well, pollen filter doesn't really need to be genuine anyway as nothing really depends on it to maintain warranty.