General Service Cost Shock!

[DraigFlag87]

As this topic has been revived might as well inform you all that i had the full 18,000 miles service done on my car, 13 months old and around 15,000 miles at the time. Cost me a jaw dropping £377 (that's excluding £40 petrol to get there and back too!)

The dealer that done it was an American muscle car specialist as well as an Abarth dealer (the only non-Fiat Abarth dealer in the UK i believe) Parked next to a Hummer and a Mustang!

Expensive, but they had the car 8 hours and sorted all the faults out with the car too. I have the satisfaction of knowing she was done properly. She runs much better now! Price difference between Fiat and Abarth though is incredible!

 

[Mark Elvin]

As this topic has been revived might as well inform you all that i had the full 18,000 miles service done on my car, 13 months old and around 15,000 miles at the time. Cost me a jaw dropping £377 (that's excluding £40 petrol to get there and back too!)

That's not what I want to hear, my 1.2 is cost £200 less than that to service. Now I'm thinking 500C again. DOH.

 

[DraigFlag87]

That's not what I want to hear, my 1.2 is cost £200 less than that to service. Now I'm thinking 500C again. DOH.

Well there are other places you can do it cheaper, it doesn't even have to go to Abarth, your local independent could do it.

I just ask myself, in 10 years time will i still care that i spent a few hundred pounds more for a service on a car i no longer own? Answer is nearly always "nope!"

 

[hannahman]

so what there saying is that the spark plugs cost £128 i might get low milage and change the plugs myself

I dont know any car manufacturer that has its plugs listed for changing at such low miles, usually around 20k,

 

[multispoke]

so what there saying is that the spark plugs cost £128 i might get low milage and change the plugs myself

On the last service that I organised for 39k miles on a 1.4 the dealer suggested that I change the spark plugs myself to save on service costs. I ordered the plugs from them (Fiat branded they were NGK - was charged €40 !) and fitted them. I was still charged for 2 hours labour - so much for saving costs ! I did have iridium NGK plugs in and they definitely felt better and I understand are now becoming the defacto plug for the USA edition 500 (only comes in multiair 1.4) for long life - should save on servicing costs. Interesting discussion on plugs on another fiat thread.
https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/105821-ngk-iridium-ix-plugs-vs-bosch-super-4s-review-4.html
Does anyone understand the line up of the plugs to get the optimium spark ? They say you should 'mark' the line of the plug and then have it 'lined up' so it is either facing inwards or away from the engine. With a new 1.2 on order I will be looking to extract ever last bit of hp out of it. I have noticed quite a lot of hesitation in a recent 1.2 that I drove.

 

[Robb500]

I thought £250 odd was quite reasonable for a service on my 500 its only once a year or longer if you dont mind a bit of dirty oil . My Lexus was at least £600 a pop and the brakes always needed replacing they even replaced my radiator and charged me for 2 of them , you got to love service departments I think their moto is upsell upsell upsell . lol Rob

 

[RobW]

I dont know any car manufacturer that has its plugs listed for changing at such low miles, usually around 20k,

i think you will find that is typical

 

[grimwau]

Every 75,000 miles on my Honda Accord 2.4.

 

[RobW]

Every 75,000 miles on my Honda Accord 2.4.

all depends wheter they are normal, iridium or platinum

i would rather have plugs changed every year or so, less chance of them becoming seized in then.

 

[multispoke]

Every 75,000 miles on my Honda Accord 2.4.

A lot of garages are now using long life platinum bosch plugs which I wouldn't rate and if I was leaving a plug change for a long time I would opt for NGK Iridium. I did enquire about Denso iridium recently (the more expensive but are possibly the best but not for keeping their performance as long). For the sake of around £15 for a set of fresh standard NGK plugs every year it is well worth it to keep the car running in tip top condition. You can change them yourself in about 20 minutes and no one is the wiser.

 

[306maxi]

i think you will find that is typical

That and it's not like Fiat have been quiet about it either. It's in the service book and if you asked the salesperson or anyone in service about it they'd have told you as well.

At the end of the day it's buyer beware and it's up to the buyer to find out how oil, filters, plugs, brake fluid and the if you don't then it's your money that you're going to be wasting.

 

[RobW]

A lot of garages are now using long life platinum bosch plugs which I wouldn't rate and if I was leaving a plug change for a long time I would opt for NGK Iridium. I did enquire about Denso iridium recently (the more expensive but are possibly the best but not for keeping their performance as long). For the sake of around £15 for a set of fresh standard NGK plugs every year it is well worth it to keep the car running in tip top condition. You can change them yourself in about 20 minutes and no one is the wiser.

yep denso iridium are great but even they won't last 70k miles, only Platinum will last that long

 

[RobW]

That and it's not like Fiat have been quiet about it either. It's in the service book and if you asked the salesperson or anyone in service about it they'd have told you as well.

At the end of the day it's buyer beware and it's up to the buyer to find out how oil, filters, plugs, brake fluid and the if you don't then it's your money that you're going to be wasting.

indeed

most dealers have a menu pricing display as well

 

[grimwau]

A lot of garages are now using long life platinum bosch plugs which I wouldn't rate and if I was leaving a plug change for a long time I would opt for NGK Iridium. I did enquire about Denso iridium recently (the more expensive but are possibly the best but not for keeping their performance as long). For the sake of around £15 for a set of fresh standard NGK plugs every year it is well worth it to keep the car running in tip top condition. You can change them yourself in about 20 minutes and no one is the wiser.

Not while the car is in warranty and to be fair to the Honda it has never missed a beat. Still as smooth as a baby's derrière, but with a nicer smell of leather. :devil:

 

[306maxi]

A lot of garages are now using long life platinum bosch plugs which I wouldn't rate and if I was leaving a plug change for a long time I would opt for NGK Iridium. I did enquire about Denso iridium recently (the more expensive but are possibly the best but not for keeping their performance as long). For the sake of around £15 for a set of fresh standard NGK plugs every year it is well worth it to keep the car running in tip top condition. You can change them yourself in about 20 minutes and no one is the wiser.

Tbh I just get the car serviced once a year regardless of whether it's under the 18k mark and I get the plugs done every time.

I'm happy to change oil earlier, but personally I don't feel the need to change plugs sooner.

 

[jrkitching]

i would rather have plugs changed every year or so, less chance of them becoming seized in then.

A dab of copper ease on the threads when you replace them will greatly reduce the chances of this happening.

 

[306maxi]

A dab of copper ease on the threads when you replace them will greatly reduce the chances of this happening.

When I took the winter tyres off this year I put copper grease on the back of the wheel where it touches the discs, should make it a lot easier to get off in November

Incidently on service costs I just bought myself a set of front discs and pads for £51.69 Dealership is going to be rather pissed off at me when they think they go tell me I need new brakes and they want money for parts

 

[jrkitching]

Incidently on service costs I just bought myself a set of front discs and pads for £51.69

Yes, at those sort of prices it seems silly not to replace the discs at the same time as the pads. They're a doddle to change, too.

 

[306maxi]

Yes, at those sort of prices it seems silly not to replace the discs at the same time as the pads. They're a doddle to change, too.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I may even do it myself.

If you're wanting to go even cheaper there's Mintex stuff on Ebay for just over £38!

In hindsight Mintex won't be £15 worse than Brembo stuff so I should have just got the Mintex stuff!

 

[DraigFlag87]

Title of thread : "Service cost shock!" the following is very apt!

My A500 is due it's 2nd service now, filters/oil, sparks and brake fluid etc. I was quoted by one garage £615, yes you read that right £615.

Anyway, decided to buy all the parts myself (which were still quite dear) and i'm just going to have it done locally at my VAT registered Ford garage for hopefully a lot less. Spark plugs were a vomit inducing £12.48 EACH! (oh, keyring was complementary, nice touch!)

As has been said before, to maintain the warranty you must use genuine Abarth parts but you can have it done at any garage so long as they are VAT registered. So none of this "i can't afford an Abarth due to extra servicing costs" because labour rates vary. The Abarth garage that quoted me this price is also a Porsche garage, so perhaps they are used to people paying daft money for a service!