Many thanks for the reminder. Fortunately mine is on 3 years' free servicing.........

Avant, I guess you know perfectly well that the price of your 'free' services is built into what you paid them for the car. I wonder what that was....and how much the car has depreciated over the past three years. A percentage of that figure will account for your servicing costs!

I had just bought a double litre of concentrated s/w for £2.50 in a PoundShop the previous week--lovely stuff!

You was robbed mate! :-)

This thread would be better named, "The punters guide to dealer scams".

My favourite is what happened to me many moons ago when I had my first Vauxhall serviced in Zambia. I looked at the invoice and it included a bottle of brake fluid. I was very careful about levels of of these kinds of things, still am, and questioned it. The manager went away and returned with the explanation that the mechanic had used the brake fluid to silence squeaks from the rubber mounts of the anti roll bars.

One of my work-mates told me that he had wandered into the service area to see the mechanic servicing a car by dabbing grease nipples with a blob of grease on the end of a stick. He stayed around until the owner of the car arrived and told him.

His own car was a front wheel drive Citroen when Citroens were almost alone in having front wheel drive. His invoice included a pint of heavy oil used for topping up the non-existent back axle.

My indie charges for screenwash - also on the bill are items like 'sump washer'.

No complaint from me though - I know he goes over the car fully, and replaces minor parts such as the plastic pipe to the rear screenwash which mice had eaten through. I know he replaces the sump washer on each oil change and it appears as a billable item to show that it has been changed. I would be worried if things appeared on the bill and I think it didn't corrspond to any work or new parts.

I hope he continues to make a profit and stays in business.

Didn't someone on here post a problem with the BMW washers because they'd used the wrong screenwash - and it cost serious money to put right ?

Pennywise, pound foolish. The dealer sneaks in little items and antagonises the customer, who goes elsewhere when he gets the next service and also buys his next car elsewhere. The customer tells all his mates and the dealer's reputation takes a nosedive. I go to a small country dealership where I am a long standing customer. I have dealt with them for twenty years and bought two new cars from them. They have always treated me very well and never cheated me. I always recommend all my friends to go to them.

Yep - the best businesses don't need advertising - their happy clients are more than willing to do it free of charge! Same goes for them as employers. A shame that an increasing number of businesses these days seem to care far more about attracting new clients (often at the expense of existing ones by offering better terms/discounts) than doing a great job to keep the existing ones happy (loyalty SHOULD be rewarded) so that they can spread the word so that potential clients come to them rather than the other way around!

Oh well!

Quite agree, once you smell a rat even though you can't prove it you don't go back. I had a headlight replaced because they said the ajustment screw had broken, really? I picked an SLK up after a bit of work they did and the dashboard looked like Blackpool illuminations. Nothing we did sir....threat of legal action got a 'goodwill' fix.

Pennywise, pound foolish. The dealer sneaks in little items and antagonises the customer, who goes elsewhere when he gets the next service and also buys his next car elsewhere. The customer tells all his mates and the dealer's reputation takes a nosedive. I go to a small country dealership where I am a long standing customer. I have dealt with them for twenty years and bought two new cars from them. They have always treated me very well and never cheated me. I always recommend all my friends to go to them.

I got this charge once after ensuring the bottle was full before I took the car in. They said they it wa the wrong strength so were obliged to change it.......

Do you still take your custom there?

I was billed once for a can of spray lube, which I presume the dealer had used on things like the door hinges, locks etc. I think they charged about £10 for it, plus VAT.

The remainder of the can (i.e. almost all of it) was then left for me in the boot of the car in a small carrier bag. On the bag, along with the dealer's logo and phone number were the words 'We used some of this product on your car at the service today, please find the rest provided free for your own use with our compliments"

The spray lube was so rubbish I ended up throwing it away as it wasn't even worth using on door hinges in the house etc.

I never did go to that dealer again....

Edited by SkodaIan on 21/11/2017 at 12:24