General Have I just been mugged off for servicing?

[RobinPJ]

Here is what I got told by my local dealer:

Servicing prices are as follows:

1st service @ 1yr 7000 miles (low mileage service) - £209.59
2nd service @ 2yr 18k miles - £279.37
3rd service @ 3 yr 36k miles - £579.39
which works out as £1068.35 for the 3 years.

Or I could pay into a Fiat Service plan (he described it as a piggy bank where I put in 20 quid a month and they take out what they need for each service as they come up) and that would cost me £706.08 over the 3 years.

The man that I spoke to regarding the servicing told me that I could only get the services done at a Fiat dealership - is this true? My brother does not work for a Fiat dealership.

That really is tantamount to fraud, and certainly a breach of European competition law. I won't repeat others' comments. But do note that at your mileage you will NOT need a 36k service in year three. You will only need another low mileage one.

Plus the prices they have quoted must be special ones only used for people being offered a service plan - disgraceful.

 

[FloJo]

Set up your own "piggy bank" in your name, that you might get a few pence of interest on, and standing order £20 or £30 a month into it to go towards car servicing costs. And also try haggling for a better price with the servicing dept manager.

As long as Fiat products are used and the garage who service the car are VAT registered you are still covered under warrenty. But I have read on here that some think if you do need to make use of the 3rd year dealer warrenty you might be best off having used the dealer for servicing in the past, so you are on their books as it were. Especially as you, like me, didn't buy your car from a local dealer.

 

[Heidi]

I took my car to Fiat dealer for servicing due to the warranty issue ... however when I did have a problem in year 3 they refused to cover it under the warranty. I now use my local friendly Ford family-run garage who don't rip me off in any way and I can pop back with niggles I may have and they are always happy to help. My car is in year 5 now of course so I only have uni-parts put on.

Latest 36K service and MOT cost me £140 including VAT. I did need to pay extra for rear bush arms (?) to be replaced but knew that wouldn't be included.

 

[gazz_bee]

Servicing prices are as follows:

1st service @ 1yr 7000 miles (low mileage service) - £209.59
2nd service @ 2yr 18k miles - £279.37
3rd service @ 3 yr 36k miles - £579.39
which works out as £1068.35 for the 3 years.

Wow, that's eye-watering! When I bought my 1.2 500 in 2009, I picked up a 2 year service plan at £250 from the main dealer which was a decent price considering the year 2 brake fluid change. I was also quoted £399 for a 3 year service plan which I didn't take up.

Incidentally, the new addition to my fleet has a fixed price 5 year/50,000 mile service cost of £450 and that's an Audi A1 (cough overpriced VW polo cough).

 

[hippycinq]

Set up your own "piggy bank" in your name, that you might get a few pence of interest on, and standing order £20 or £30 a month into it to go towards car servicing costs. And also try haggling for a better price with the servicing dept manager.
.

Thanks, FloJo. That's what I have been doing, I think I will stick with that.
I am presuming that I don't have to have it Fiat serviced because of the PCP payment plan thing that I am on. I am sorry, I know I sound thick, and many of you are probably thinking that I am very stupid, but I have never bought a new car before and as I bought it long distance I did not really have an opportunity to talk to the dealership about these queries when I bought it.

 

[ahmett]

Thanks, FloJo. That's what I have been doing, I think I will stick with that.
I am presuming that I don't have to have it Fiat serviced because of the PCP payment plan thing that I am on. I am sorry, I know I sound thick, and many of you are probably thinking that I am very stupid, but I have never bought a new car before and as I bought it long distance I did not really have an opportunity to talk to the dealership about these queries when I bought it.

Don't be silly we are here to help. Many people would simply pay it without asking any questions!

 

[jrkitching]

I am presuming that I don't have to have it Fiat serviced because of the PCP payment plan thing that I am on.

It might be worth reading the small print of the agreement. There may be a specific requirement to have it serviced by a main dealer, in which case you are likely to have to pay excess charges when you hand the car back if you've had it serviced elsewhere. But unless the agreement has a specific restriction, you're free to choose any VAT registered garage as previously stated. And if you choose to make the final payment & keep the car, the finance company couldn't care less where you got it serviced.

I am sorry, I know I sound thick, and many of you are probably thinking that I am very stupid, but I have never bought a new car before and as I bought it long distance I did not really have an opportunity to talk to the dealership about these queries when I bought it.

Not a bit of it. The devil of these agreements is in the small print & when you are buying the car, dealers seldom mention anything which might influence you not to sign up.

 

[Super Uwe]

I'm 99% certain there's nothing specific mentioned in the PCP agreement about servicing.

Let me have a nose through mine and I will confirm though; pretty sure they are just standard documents created by FGA Capital, I don't think they are model-specific.

By the way, what hippycinq has been quoted is a disgrace, end of. Typical example of a moronic dealership who couldn't give a flying toss about their customer - thank god for the Fiat Forum and everyone on here who will help to make sure you don't get shafted!

 

[Super Uwe]

Not had a chance to look at the docs yet, but out of curiosity I rang my dealer to find out a service price quote for our new 1.2 Panda.

For an 18k service in year one (oil, various filters and spark plugs, but not brake fluid) I was quoted £146 which includes VAT. I think that is fairly reasonable for a full service, not a low mileage one.

I do wonder if that could also be another tool to use when negotiating with dealers, i.e. how much is a comparable service for a Panda? I'd be willing to bet the Panda prices are cheaper than the 500 ones, even though the work will be exactly the same?

 

[hippycinq]

I'm 99% certain there's nothing specific mentioned in the PCP agreement about servicing.

Let me have a nose through mine and I will confirm though; pretty sure they are just standard documents created by FGA Capital, I don't think they are model-specific.

By the way, what hippycinq has been quoted is a disgrace, end of. Typical example of a moronic dealership who couldn't give a flying toss about their customer - thank god for the Fiat Forum and everyone on here who will help to make sure you don't get shafted!

Thank you..
I think I might just email the dealer that I bought the car from and ask them if there is anything specific about the agreement that means it must be Fiat serviced.. I am not great with small print!

I have a feeling that the quoted price for servicing may well have gone up after they asked if I had bought the car from them, as I did not, I may well have been given inflated sour grapes pricing...

 

[ahmett]

Thank you..
I think I might just email the dealer that I bought the car from and ask them if there is anything specific about the agreement that means it must be Fiat serviced.. I am not great with small print!

I have a feeling that the quoted price for servicing may well have gone up after they asked if I had bought the car from them, as I did not, I may well have been given inflated sour grapes pricing...

Chances are if you ask the dealer he will lie to you....

 

[306maxi]

Thank you..
I think I might just email the dealer that I bought the car from and ask them if there is anything specific about the agreement that means it must be Fiat serviced.. I am not great with small print!

I have a feeling that the quoted price for servicing may well have gone up after they asked if I had bought the car from them, as I did not, I may well have been given inflated sour grapes pricing...

I very much doubt there is any need to get it serviced by Fiat. I suspect it would be against a few EU laws.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

Chances are if you ask the dealer he will lie to you....

In writing, that would be one very foolish dealer if so!

 

[hippycinq]

Chances are if you ask the dealer he will lie to you....

To be fair, I don't think they have no reason to lie to me.. they know I wont be servicing it with them as they are 200 miles up the road, and are a different dealership to any that are local to me. I don't think they would gain anything out of not telling me the truth. (I may be wrong...)

 

[ahmett]

Just had my car serviced today, the 36k service at an independent.

I changed the oil and filter, cabin filter, air filter, sparkplugs, cleaned all the brakes (no more squeaking they said discs and pads looked fine so no need to change) and the brake fluid and paid 160 euros all in.


They advised me to change the timing belt as they literally said forget what fiat said, those alphas' timing belts have gone not so much after 36 k in some cases so I think i'll get that changed within the next month or so.

They told me about my tires, I think they are ok, the tire shop said they were ok until I told them that I had done 36 k on them and they said CHANGE THEM. I'll see when I am doing that!

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

They told me about my tires, I think they are ok, the tire shop said they were ok until I told them that I had done 36 k on them and they said CHANGE THEM. I'll see when I am doing that!

Why they talking that crap? Tyres don't just pack up on mileage.

 

[RobinPJ]

I changed the oil and filter, cabin filter, air filter, sparkplugs, cleaned all the brakes (no more squeaking they said discs and pads looked fine so no need to change) and the brake fluid and paid 160 euros all in.

If you did all that work what did you pay for?

 

[ahmett]

If you did all that work what did you pay for?

Sorry, I had it done.

 

[ahmett]

Why they talking that crap? Tyres don't just pack up on mileage.

I was angry at the tire dealer anyway, he raised the price on the 4 michelin pilots from 270 euros to 300 euros. In any case i did not buy them, i'll slide around some more = )

 

[frupi]

Right, now I've just picked myself back up off the floor following the 'phone call I've just had from Stoneacre reference the 2nd year service on the Wife's 500.....

They have just quoted me £455. They were persistent in trying to explain the 'benefits' of them doing the service. Last year, first service, they charged £82.75, which beat everyone else hands down, even the local independents and what's more, they did a good job and I'd have happily gone back to them - not this year though!

Last week, I found an independent garage who specialises in Fiat/Alfa/Audi and VW, who has a good solid reputation. He is also a member of the Good Garage Scheme and is a qualified Master Technician with the ATA. His quote all in, £169 inc vat including brake fluid change, using original Fiat service items (minus pollen filter because I change that myself after I bought three originals off ebay for £18). Like Stoneacre, he is also a 40 mile round trip for me, but in the opposite direction, but travelling isn't an issue for me so he's got my business. He also took the time to explain exactly what he does for the second year service and I was happy with this.

The person who 'phoned me from Stoneacre reckoned they could price match if I gave them the name of the garage. I declined because I just don't feel comfortable taking my car to a garage that can suddenly 'knock off' £286 from their original quote. They tried their best to tell me what needs doing on the service, but I just kept butting in, telling them I know exactly what needs doing. As I explained to them, the car has only done 10300 miles and £455 is in my opinion, an overly excessive price to change the oil and filter, pollen filter, brake fluid and carry out the normal servicing checks on such a tiny car. Not only that, the two year warranty expires on 27 February anyway, which is the day the car is booked in for a service, so all their brow beating talk of maintaining the Fiat warranty just went through one ear and out the other.

So, usual advice, make sure you shop around.