BMW Service costs!

[thoughtforfood]

http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/zz194/cycleboi/Audi-1.jpg

 

That was for brakes, rear shocks, cambelt and a worn inlet cam - which the mechanic messed up the install on and the car dropped a valve; written off head and a cracked piston: another R75k.

 

The car is out of Freeway Plan now and I was quoted R1900 for an oil change - needless to say I'm glad I qualified as a mechanic before I went to varsity and the service cost me a whole R650 to do.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I just did a major service (180k) on my wife's Audi 1,9Tdi Avant. Agents quote +/- R12k for cambelt and service excl any additional parts.

Reputable VW mech charged me R4,5k to do cambelt, full service incl pollen filter, new fanbelt tensioner which was R1k, all belts and change fluids incl coolant and power steering fluid!

 

I understand that dealers have overheads but so do the other mechanics... It pays to sghop around and speak to people when it comes time for service and repairs. All you are looking for at the end of the day is a reliable mechanic and a stamp in your service book.

 

Wow, thats really cheap for an Audi Cam belt change, the dealers have set hours from the factory for all servicing and repairs, and Audi's factory recommended price for cam belt change runs at around 7.5K.

 

So, remember to check your dealers hours charged, with the factories recommended times, all dealers have a book with these hours and jobs so they can quote,... so for example if the factory says it should take 4 hours to do a cam belt change, and the workshop do's it in three, they still charge 4 hours because thats what is set down by the factory, they just score the 1 hour labour charge.

 

Of course if it takes them 5 hours, it then works in your favour, and they must take the loss on the extra hour.

 

General servicing of a car is a big money spinner for agent workshops as they almost always finish the job in a much shorter time than the factory lays down, so they score quite a few hours labour everyday.

 

The agents are usually also tied into a set of hour rates for labour, it can vary depending on the dealers location and cliental but I have never seen cheaper than R450.00 per hour, but I have seen up to around R600.OO per hour.

 

Generally, independant workshops charge ONLY for the time they actually work on your car so there could be a big labour saving in hours, and independant workshops like Bosch are charging in the region of R350.00 per hour.

Edited December 7, 2010 by GrumpyOldGuy

[Santa C]

i know how you feel! They wanted 40k to extend my motorplan for ONE year!!! WTF and the car was only 3 years old with less then 50km on the clock!

 

Expensive cars are not worth it!!!!!

 

Oh...car was a Landrover Discovery 3 TDV6

Edited December 7, 2010 by Santa C

[swoosh1973]

SUBARU aint much better either.

 

100 000km major service set me back R12000, for a 1.5l non turbo Impreza hatchback. Standard service is R1800-R3000 depending. Then the service is every 12500km instead of R15000.

 

Point is, I got the car, I like the car....but I can guarentee you I aint buying another one. Purely out of principle and the sneaky way Subaru loaded the price.

Thanks no more fancy shmancy cars for me..I will get a polo or a toyota yaris.

I have had some good reports on Toyota withsorting problems on cars out of warenty.

Previously VW were reasonably priced but they too had their faults(workmanship and some dishonesty). However on the whole I had reliable service and cars with no chance taking.

 

They said it would be "big" well boet you kind of expect R5000 but then R12000.

At the end of the day dealers and mechani are sharks...

 

Know and believe it, because almost evry single one of them have screwed me over one way or another.

[Capcha]

I have a luxury transfer company. I spend that sort of money weekly, so I know what you going through. My cars warranties expire after 1 year. Yip, 100 000km a year per car. We covered 960 000km this year in my fleet. It doesnt matter how nice you drive your car or how many times you take your car for service(Ours every 1 half months). They will always break or something will always need to be replaced. If its luxury, you need the moola in the bank and know whats coming your way on every service.

[funjunkie]

My father in law took his Merc to a dealer in PTA 2 weeks ago. (Out of Motorplan)

R4000 for front breaks.

From that, R1600 was for parts and the rest was labour.

Heck, they even invoiced R250 to remove the tyres and put them back on again.

[pastapouch]

when the dealerships see you (BMW, AUDI, GOLF,RENAULT) drivers they rub their hands together and do the evil smile. Its something like "Come in, come in , says the spider to the fly!!"

[GLuvsMtb]

Hmmm...looks like im not the only guy peed off about these costs.

 

Nevertheless, service done.

 

Ive had the car for 2 years.

 

But the wife has been hassling me to sell it.

 

We are thinking of buying a new Hyundai IX35.

 

Any thoughts on that?

 

Get current quotes on replacing the tyres on this car. I have a Jeep Patriot and the replacement of the tyres was R10 000 for 4 tyres.

Also find out exactly what the Hyundai's / Kia's include in the service plan. I understand it not to be a full mainentanance plan.

By the way: I was very grateful for my full maintenance plan on the Jeep when my gear box went a few weeks ago. I immediately enquired about extention of the maintenance plan, and was shocked to find out that another 40 000 kms would cost just over R40 000. I do about 40 000 kms a year, so for a bit of extra comfort, I am to fork out about R1/km. No thanks. I'll sell the Jeep and get something else.

[DaLoCo]

Mercedes S320 CDI

 

Goes into limp mode randomly. Mercedes says it is the turbo, quote is R 32 000,00.

 

Take it to a privateer that specializes in Mercedes, traces it to excessive backpressure caused by a catalytic converter that is blocked. Take out the converter, problem solved. No more limp mode. More power and better economy. The oil burners have an issue with the cat converters, unburned fuel will cause it to block....

 

Final cost including service...R4500,00

Edited December 8, 2010 by DaLoCo

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Get current quotes on replacing the tyres on this car. I have a Jeep Patriot and the replacement of the tyres was R10 000 for 4 tyres.

Also find out exactly what the Hyundai's / Kia's include in the service plan. I understand it not to be a full mainentanance plan.

By the way: I was very grateful for my full maintenance plan on the Jeep when my gear box went a few weeks ago. I immediately enquired about extention of the maintenance plan, and was shocked to find out that another 40 000 kms would cost just over R40 000. I do about 40 000 kms a year, so for a bit of extra comfort, I am to fork out about R1/km. No thanks. I'll sell the Jeep and get something else.

 

Yeah, that is expensive. When I bought my Audi last year it came with a standard 100.000km or 5 year Freeway plan (maintainance plan) and I increased it to 120.000 for about 10k extra - fair enough I hadnt driven the car out of the showroom yet, but it just shows how much they expect to spend in that 20.000 extra kilometres - less than 10k.

[Danger Dassie]

Currently buying an oldish Pajero, happy to drive it forever and a day.

Not the most economical car in terms of fuel consumption, although for what it is, not so bad.

Key for me is that it or similar types are solid, reliable and generally easily maintained without breaking the bank.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Currently buying an oldish Pajero, happy to drive it forever and a day.

Not the most economical car in terms of fuel consumption, although for what it is, not so bad.

Key for me is that it or similar types are solid, reliable and generally easily maintained without breaking the bank.

 

I had a Pajero, traded it in 6 or so months ago on 120.000, it was a good car, never had any issues.

 

Yeah, it was heavy on fuel, but you dont buy these kinds of vehicles for fuel consumption, its kind of a given its going to be heavy.

 

I would have liked another Pajero, but Mitsubushi didnt give me as much on the trade as I got from Toyota (go figure) so I ended up with a Fortuner, for my purposes its fine, as I only really use it for when I go Diving, hiking and taking the dogs to Emmerantia dam.

[Wayne Potgieter]

Ok, to replace front and rear brake pads and discs, and a major service.

 

R11,661.00

 

WTF?!?!?!?!?

 

I was going to buy a MTB with that money.