Hope you're right!! And may I ask what a typical service price might be, for a diesel, please?
HF
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Not too sure really 'cos my old Bx only gets oil & filter changes (by me), occasional brake pads (me again)and very occasional spheres (me yet again) and an annual MOT . But my wife has just had her Xantia HDi 12,500 mile/annual service (at 62,500 miles) with oil, filter, air & pollen filters and whatever else is involved and MOT and it cost about £150. Is that good or not? - I'm not sure, I always get the old car to run into the ground after it's done about 100k so I'm afraid it just gets what needs to be done rather than regular garage services
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Price for Citroen diesel service £220 in Northampton, £130 in Newcastle, both all inclusive at main dealers (but Northampton appears much cheaper on it's price list before "extras" like oil, washer fluid, rags etxc are added).
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Had my mondeo td serviced 2 months ago 80k,oil and filter,air filter,pollen filter,tracking adjusted,replacement windscreen washer pump fited and pipes unclogged,£238 inc vat and 3 hours labour.
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You need to compare like with like. It's no good comparing a quick oil and filter change on your drive with what a main dealer will charge.
Ask a fleet manager, they will know to the penny which is cheaper. Mine says petrols are about 10% cheaper to service over 80k and 3 years. In most cases it's because the diesel has one more service in that time.
I'm trying to get some figures for frequency of service for cars with variable service regimes - MB, BMW, Audi, and VW to see if there is a pattern for one screaming for a service quicker than the other.
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Yes, Fergus, but fleet managers probably work to the minimalist service schedules - the ones manufacturers print in the warranty booklets for their benefit. Owners who value their cars in the longer term recognise that more often is better for the car. I'm not sure whether that still makes a petrol cheaper than a diesel; depends whether you just count oil/filter changes, or go the full hog with plugs and air filters, etc. Having maintained a 205 diesel for 8 years I decided that oil & filter every 5K and little else, cost not a lot.
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Maybe you should change that brake fluid.....
I can't see how you can say on the one hand that manutacturer's servicing is minimalist and then claim that an oil and filter is all your car needs.
How many times has a high milage, newish car been cited as a good second hand buy? Probably off the fleet, probably serviced to manaufacturer's specs...?
Most fleet managers don't screw servicing to the minimum. Most work on the more enlightened principle of whole life costs and a well-serviced and looked after car is always worth more in the long run.
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Fergus, I purposely said nothing about changing brake fluid or coolant as that affects diesels and petrol cars equally. Though I accept that it may be safer to renew coolant a bit more often with the diesel just to be sure.
Also I suspect that cars from major fleets which go to bulk auctions, fetch a pretty standard price whether they have been serviced lovingly or not.
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"more often is better for the car" - maybe, but unless the oil additives are depleted, and carbon/water/silicon levels etc in the oil are raised, which can only be determined by oil analysis, you may be wasting money. Admittedly, on my wifes car, we change every 5000, but this is because it does mostly short runs, and can get "mayonaise" on the oil filler cap otherwise. On mine, as I drive it further/harder, I stick to the makers recommended changes, on the basis that neither I nor ANY garage are fully competent. There is an ever present risk of calamity if the car is unnecessarily disturbed!
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Yes, you may be wasting money. But as you would have to spend some to do the analysis you mention, may as well spend a small amount on a cheap oil change?
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Andrew: agreed, but it could be worth analysing oil once, if the driving conditions are consistent. Then there would be a benchmark for the oil condition and whether it needs changing. I was amazed when I was in contact with a fleet of HGV's years ago, investigating a fatal accident during an oil analysis attempt that went horribly wrong, and they explained their regime for oil changes - about 60,000 miles between them. Informed by oil condition checks, they changed oil on the advice of their expert labs. Only difference with cars and HGV is that they use a by-pass filter. So, it seems likely to me that oil changes even at 10,000 intervals are wasting money, if the corect oil is used! Unless you're only driving to the shops or other short runs.
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On a tangent subject to diesel servicing i work in the aviation industry, rotary wing i.e helicopters. We are reqd by set servicing schedules to submit oil samples at regular intervals for analysis and there report decides if we can keep the component in service or carry out a oil change or reject the component.
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