If you think bike servicing is expensive (slightly OT)

I bought a little Toyota Yaris as a runabout in January. It doesn't need
its first service for 12 months but I though that I would do an oil and
filter change now as it has had 4 months of very short start-stop journeys.
Being a little busy I phone my local Toyota dealer to see if they can do it
for me.

They quote me £93.25 just to change the oil and filter! I pick myself off
the floor and ask for a breakdown of how they justify this. They charge £38
plus vat for the oil, £65 plus vat per hour labour (it takes their mechanic
half an hour to carry our this simple task) and the rest is for the filter.

And I though Ducati servicing was expensive...


--
Pez
GSXR750WW, Monster S4

www not finished yet

Sig awaiting repair

 

I had a phonecall from our local Volvo dealership last week reminding me
that the MOT was due on Saturday and did I want to book it in. I was
quoted £42 which seemed a bit steep to me and when I asked this didn't
include a re-test fee since they would ensure it passed before testing.
I said I would leave it.

Saturday looking for somewhere to get it tested I popped in to see if
there was anyone who could do it having tried a couple of places with no
joy. The helpful mechanic said to take it down the road where they
actually get the cars tested since they have no test facility. 20
minutes later I've got an MOT certificate and had 2 bulbs replaced for
£28.50. So they add on £14 for taking the car down to the test centre.
ISTR when the SO had a bulb changed before they charged her £15 for the
priviledge.

Surprisingly it won't be getting a Volvo service this year.

 

This is why I'm glad that I can do most of the things needed doing to my
car, myself.

 

[MOT prices]

I'd say you did well, the official price is £40.75

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Suzuki993 said:

Where do you live? I'll do it for £60 and I won't charge VAT.

 

Yep, my (Company) van went in for a service(1), while it was there I asked
them if they would drill 2 holes through the floor, so a safe can be
bolted in.These holes are about 10mm wide,30cm apart.Nothing too taxing.
They quoted £75.
Asked to justify that price for less than 10 minutes work when the car was
already being serviced there, the reply was it took 2 people to do it, one
above drilling, and one below making sure the drill didnt hit
anything.Minimum charge of £37.50 per hour x 2, as it was a separate job
to the service. And he was being serious when he said it. I then cancelled
the service and now go elsewhere.
Alan.

(1) Bristol St. Motors, Leicester.Complete bunch of tossers, who dented a
rear panel pushing the van in, then denied all knowledge when I went to
collect it.

 

<snip>

The Doctor's Micra has been in for its major four-year service. Turns
out it needs new pads, discs, clutch cable, and Gawd knows what else as
well. Gonna be the thick end of 900 quid. I didn't think you could spend
that much on a service for a Micra.

I've just had the first really big bill on the 750SS.

Shims and belts (it needed five shims[1] this time), plus a new chain &
sprockets (normally I'd DIY but I haven't got a chain riveter to tackle
the size of chain the Duke uses), plus (for the DIY element) new oil,
air and fuel filters, drain plug washers, pair of new spark plugs[2].

ukp507. Ulp. Still, like I say, that's the first big (ie: over 250 quid)
bill in seven years, so not all bad.

[1] The opening ones are about a tenner each! Closing ones are about a
third of that. Go figure.
[2] Stop sniggering at the back.

 

Keelworm says...

The Fiat Coupe requires an engine out job at 80K miles to have the belt
changed, though Andy Hewitt reckons there is a quicker way round this.

 

It's less than that, acutally - somewhere around 63k miles, ISTR (with
Fiat service intervals being set at 9k miles, that sounds right).

It doesn't only affect the Coupe - also the Bravo HGT and Marea HLX.

Strangely, any Bravo or Marea coming up to the 60k point can be picked
up for next to nothing, but changing the belt can add up to £1k to the
selling price.....

 

How much?! - I'd assume this is Nissan main dealer pricing.

Either find a friendly back-street spanner monkey to do it, or do most
of it yourself one afternoon. I'm sure a man of your abilities could get
through most of the jobs above without breaking into a sweat, ffs!

 

It is. Independents from now on, I think.

 

I'd do the 'easy' jobs yourself - even with my level of spannering
numptyness I can manage to do stuff like brake pads / discs / cambelts
etc. If you get pattern parts and spend an afternoon on it yourself I
reckon you could save around £700 on the above price.

 

<AOL>

Although the next one will be a turbo-diesel estate.

 

I've always said it was the best choice for young people

 

To be honest, I cannot be arsed to spend my time fixing cars. Bikes are
bad enough.

 

When Janet and I bought a pair of Corollas last year we were given menu
pricing of £54 for the 10k service and £84 for the 20k service. The nice man
wrote it down on a piece of paper - I still have that piece of paper.

Expensive? Pah! A pal bought a new XT600 last year (as did I), he didn't
want to take it all the way back to Oxford for its 600 mile service so he
phoned around a few garages within 50 miles (of Builth Wells). Quotes from
£100 to £130.

For an oil change and a poke round?

I changed the oil and filter for him and he took the risk that the bike
would not self destruct.

Footnote; he no longer needs the warrenty because he chopped it in for a
TTR600 - a nice bike the TTR.

John

 

This is a company car. Trouble is, it's my company ;-(

 

I enjoy working on bikes but not cars which is why I was hoping to pay
someone else to do it. But at these prices it's cheaper tp pay for bike
servicing and do the car myself.

 

Its the same with the V6 Toyota Camry apparently. Luckily one of our head
gaskets went at about the time the belts needed changing so the
engine was already in bits on the floor...

 

Yeh. It's four years old now, out of warranty, etc....