Capped price servicing cost

[Alpha_omega]

Hi All,

I was looking at getting the 1 year service done on my Focus LW MKII sport petrol and was quoted $335 under the ford capped price servicing by the local dealership.

Which is according to the Ford website indicates the maximum that will be charged for service schedule A.

Looking at my log book for what is done on service schedule A, its pretty much an oil change and checking all the other bits are working as it should be.

I think it's a bit rich paying that amount of money to get your log book stamped.

I am looking for opinions on what other have paid for servicing there cars, and are all dealerships charging the maximum amount under the capped price schedule.

The only reason I am thinking of going to the dealership for the service is for any outstanding service campaign's and firmware updates.

Thank you all in advance for your comments on this

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by Alpha_omega

Hi All,

I was looking at getting the 1 year service done on my Focus LW MKII sport petrol and was quoted $335 under the ford capped price servicing by the local dealership.

Which is according to the Ford website indicates the maximum that will be charged for service schedule A.

Looking at my log book for what is done on service schedule A, its pretty much an oil change and checking all the other bits are working as it should be.

I think it's a bit rich paying that amount of money to get your log book stamped.

I am looking for opinions on what other have paid for servicing there cars, and are all dealerships charging the maximum amount under the capped price schedule.

The only reason I am thinking of going to the dealership for the service is for any outstanding service campaign's and firmware updates.

Thank you all in advance for your comments on this

Yes, they will (in almost all cases) charge you the full ammount.

In fact, when I had a 'B' service it should have come up short to the 'maximum'.. so they fiddled with the invoice till they got the figures to the full amount...

Don't forget you are also getting 'Complimentary' roadside assistance. The funny thing is, they agreed to service my car at a lower 'fixed price' for 'A' services (only because the salesperson fibbed on what the true servicing costs were) and, to my surprise the discounted service I got is the 'same' as the capped price, but was missing the 'free' road side service.

So, that aint free and is factored into the cost.

Would I be taking my car to a dealer? Personally, no. Lets face it, new cars almost never break down and if you know how to change a tyre you will pretty much never use the roadside assistance.

I would suggest you take your car to another reputable service provider that will be certain to use the 'correct' fluids etc.

As an indicator, I got a quote from Midas to do my 'A' servicing as per the logbook for $179 (Diesel)... bit cheaper, isn't it? You also have JAX, K-Mart, Lube Mobile etc etc etc.

Regarding the firmware updates etc... take the car in and say that whatever system you want updated (transmission???) is being a little erratic. This should be looked into as a warranty item and, by default they will apply any available updates as their first course of remedy.

If you are still keen to take your car to a dealership, perhaps post your location and ask for recommedations on good local dealers.

If you are in Sydney, I know of 1 dealer you should keep well away from.

Cheers,

Jason

[Mulga]

Agree with Yellow Festiva.......I would just add that if you use a non-dealer, just confirm they use the correct grade of oil and quality.

[david256]

I had my 30k done recently, its a diesel so the capped price is $360.

The total amount on the invoice was around $650-$680.

It had a firmware update, 30k log book service, RACQ, plus an incomplete regeneration caused the engine malfunction light appear, they offered to rotate my tyres and wash my car for free, I declined.

[Mulga]

Originally Posted by david256

I had my 30k done recently, its a diesel so the capped price is $360.

The total amount on the invoice was around $650-$680.

It had a firmware update, 30k log book service, RACQ, plus an incomplete regeneration caused the engine malfunction light appear, they offered to rotate my tyres and wash my car for free, I declined.

So was the additional cost for them to do the regeneration on the DPF??

[ratter]

Although the time required to do it would make it almost impossible for every type of car out there, we have just done an analysis of capped servicing on a popular model car (not a ford) for a term of 8 years and based on the manufacturers list of what the car requires at each service schedule vs what is included in the dealers advertised fixed/capped price service for the period and with a service required every 6 months.

When all the procedures are added that are required by the manufacturer and not included as part of price but with the fixed/capped price servicing list them as extra's, even using genuine parts and quality lubricants we are considerably cheaper at approx. $1500, this could be reduced a little more by using aftermarket parts.

I'm sure most workshops could help an owner out to work out the fine print and what the car actually requires.

A non dealer can not update an ecu but this is not as common as many will have you believe