I am in a quandary. 2 year 25'000 service for my 04 Fiesta. Local Bosch independant is charging me £74.43 including VAT for the service if i bring my own parts (25 pounds for genuine ford filter and 5W30 oil). Local Ford dealerships are quoting me between 140-220 pounds for the same service (they supply parts). Now my mind is devided (well more than usual), i don't plan to keep the car for more than a year more, i.e. sell at 3 years, and hence would like maximum resale. Would the fact that this service is not "ford stamped" make about 150 pounds worth of difference in a year or not.
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As I read your post you are comparing, in the best case, the difference between an indepedent service @ £100 and a Ford one @ £140. I would have thought that it was worth £40 to keep the 'Ford' stamp going. Put it another way, you might get knocked more than £40 on your p/ex with a full main dealer history, but then it is a Ford not a Merc or a BMW.
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Try a few more Ford dealers. I had my Mondeo ST TDCi serviced last week for £122 and that included a pollen filter and 6 litres of oil. I think they charge just under £100 for a Fiesta.
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Try a few more Ford dealers..
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I did. The Mondeo & Focus in our household get serviced by a main dealer on the south coast but I have the time to take it there.
My local dealer appears to be the most expensive in the UK so we save a lot of £££££s by going elsewhere.
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Do you have a Rapid Fit near you? If so, try them. You'll pay "Fast Fit" prices while you wait, but get genuine parts fitted and a Ford stamp in the book. Best of both worlds!
James
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Thanks for the replys. The rapid fit local to me directs me to its associated "ford sevice" department for cars under 3 years old. And this is the place that has quoted me 220 pounds. (Around London prices i suspect are to blame here).
The 140 i was quoted by the other dealer was just for the labour ( i checked with them again ) bringing them to about 200 pounds in reality.
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Local Bosch independant is charging me £74.43 including VAT for the service if i bring my own parts (25 pounds for genuine ford filter and 5W30 oil).
Aren't they likely to be jacks of all trades and masters of none?
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L\'escargot.
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The advantage of this Bosch independant is that they used to be a very small country Ford dealership, but they lost their frachise to the glass palace dealership in the large town.
They still deal in nearly new fords and have a good rep online on the Ford Galaxy network. as well as having a good local following.
On the whole i think i will give my buisness to them since they have access to the Ford TIS through their database.
I would rather give my cash to a good local buisness who are more likely to take care over the job and still have pride in their work. In addition as I also have all the reciepts for the ford parts (so warranty issues are covered), and it is a VAT registered garage.
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Save your money.
It's well known that, for at least the last two or three years thanks to high level talks, car manufacturers whose cars are independently serviced using genuine parts are obliged/have agreed to continue to honour the warranties.
In fact I think you'll find that there is at least one thread on the subject in the Discussion forum from a little while back.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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The advantage of this Bosch independant is that they used to be a very small country Ford dealership
On the whole i think i will give my buisness to them since they have access to the Ford TIS through their database.
At least this independent is ex-Ford and has access to Ford back-up. I suspect that most independents don't have access to any manufacturer's back-up, and that's the main reason I avoid them.
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L\'escargot.
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L'escargot, don't all independants as long as they pay have access to manufacturers systems and databases. Maybe not on a car to car basis, on a model to model basis through their computer system?
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If you go into the FordEtis website,you can get all the service schedules for free(you quote vehicle & milage and it gives you the right schedule);if you want anything further ,you have to register/pay to enter.
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It has been part of the Ford warranty for as long as I can remember that work done by non-Ford workshops was acceptable to Ford as long as it was carried out inline with Ford schedules/recommendations(and that there was evidence of this-presumably a completed service schedule).There was not even a requirement to use Ford parts as long as the fitting garage offered the same warranty cover on the parts as Ford offered.The only item not covered in this way was the perforation warranty-no intermediate inspections needed-this was different to many other makers who added it on to the price of a service-but Ford did insist that any repair work must be done at a Ford approved bodyshop for the warranty to remain valid.There was not even a requirement on a Ford dealer to use Ford parts as long as he offered the same cover on the non-Ford part as Ford would on their parts.
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L'escargot, don't all independants as long as they pay have access to manufacturers systems and databases. Maybe not on a car to car basis, on a model to model basis through their computer system?
It's no good asking me! ;-) I clearly don't know for a certainty the answer to that one. I don't even know what percentage of independents have a computer. I assume that most of them are back-street establishments, like Kevin Webster's.
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L\'escargot.
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smokie - that extra £40 spent at the ford dealer will give you peace of mind over a whole year (rrather than sleepless nights worrying about the effect of independent servicing on part-ex value at trade in time).
i am not a smoker so i do not how much a packet costs nowadays. but at about £3 a pack, it is just the cost of 15 packets. which is what you will easily smoke if you worry after saving the £40 at the independent.
to me it is a no-brianer. go for the ford pukka service.
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>>but at about £3 a pack,
£5.30 a packet. Which means that if, like me, you smoked 50 per day it was costing £92.75 per week - and I still miss it.
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it was costing £92.75 per week
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that is about £5000 net per year - equivalent to a pay rise of £7000 to £8000 for a higher rate taxpayer. you can now afford a much higher grade car with all that extra dosh.
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(psst Dalglish - it's not me. You're right about the fags though - except £3 a pack was some years ago...)
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smokie - sorry, easy to confuse smoke and smokie.
smokie & nofm2r - £5 plus a pack! i have never smoked and so am not up to date on these prices.
wow, that is 25p a ciggy in going up in smoke. much cheaper to get your oil & brake fluid changed every week than smoke £70 a week (assuming 2 packs a day = £10 a day ).
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I have a 2yr old Fiesta & ALWAYS have it serviced at a local independant - through past experience with Ford main dealers I certainly have more confidence in the independant doing the job correctly.
Regarding "manufacturer backup" I wouldn't even give it a thought regarding a service, after all all the service consists of is a couple of filter changes & the oil. If the main dealer is very busy on the day of your service there is no guarantee that your car even gets hooked-up to the computer anyway.
Provided the car is serviced to the schedule & you have some evidence (stamped hisory book), doesn't have to be OEM parts either, the dealer MUST honour any warranty claims
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My dad has his driving school car serviced at an independent and he's never had a problem getting a warranty claim sorted out at the main dealer.
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"If the main dealer is very busy on the day of your service there is no guarantee that your car even gets hooked-up to the computer anyway"
In the case of Fords there is no way your car will be connected to the Ford computer in the course of a normal service regardless of how busy or not busy the dealer happens to be!
The only time this will be done will be if there is a problem that can't be solved any other way, a service which you will pay extra for.
About £70 extra, last I heard.
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Does Block Exemption cover the scenario of carmakers having to honour NFT work with genuine parts?
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Many thanks for everyones advice. I decided to get the work done at the independant. A very good experience it was too. I supplied the parts and fluids, and the total cost including all parts and fluids was £137 (Full ford specification service 25'000 mile sevice, with brake fluid change done as extra).
Job done efficiently, professionaly and courteously with unused oil returned to me for top up. Highly recommend them for anyone in the area "Prestwood Motors" in Prestwood Buckinghamshire. (no link, just v satisfied customer).
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I had my Ford Ka serviced at Perrys, i've always got on with them so far even though it costs more to service at least you get the stamp in the book.
Smoke - could you tell me which oil Prestwood use for your vehicle please?
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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I had my Ford Ka serviced at Perrys, i've always got on with them so far even though it costs more to service at least you get the stamp in the book. >>
Whether it's stamped by a dealership or an independent, providing that the parts are acceptable to the car marque, then the manufacturer's warranty stands.
See:
www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/2004/85-04.htm
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Frazerjp, i bought my car from there and the first service was done there.
The biggest problem is that they don?t have courtesy cars, and I have to waste time waiting there. Quote from them was £220 pounds for service, with 45 pounds brake fluid = £265.
I provided the oil (as well as all the parts), and said it was in the boot of the car. (i used Texaco Havoline 5w30 semi synth, which is £14.85 for 5 l at Asda in Watford).
One of the things that impressed me was that service manager asked to check the specification of the oil; because "Fords need 5w30 semi".
As for genuine stamps in the book, when I p-exed my Ka there, the sales-man asked if there was full service history. I started to blab on ?yes it has a full ford spec. service history with all bills for the ford parts, and interim oil changes etc? at which point he got so bored, that he stopped me. He never once asked me ?where? it was serviced (the last 2 had been done outside the dealer network but all using ford parts).
I got book value for the Ka as well as a reasonable discount on the Fiesta. The thing is that I sold that car at 4 years old, which is why I was more concerned about costs and quality of work rather than quality of stamps. The Fiesta is planned to be sold at 2.5 years old, but I am going for a gamble here, as I have saved nigh on a hundred quid all in for the service.
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The service manager at Prestwood asked to check the oil spec, not a manager at Perrys :-).
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I think Ford servicing is a bit of a rip off. I took my Mondeo (now out of warranty) into Ford for its 62500 service recently. I also asked them to look at the passanger side door which was intermittently sticking either locked or unlocked (this was pre-arranged - mentioned when I booked the service).
The service outcome was to tell me what I knew already about consumables (eg. tyres and brakes), to change the oil (about the most useful thing that happened) and to tell me that they found no fault with the lock. In other words, I was left with the impression that they thought the problem is with my perception - that actually the lock didn't stick - it was my imagination... At the very least I would have expected them to say "We've looked at it, can't replicate the problem, but we've put some grease on the moving parts to free them up" - that would have been useful and the least I'd expect from an expensive main dealer service.
Needless to say I shall write to complain. I think they are cramming too many cars through in one day and really don't give your car the time of day. I could have told them about tyres and brakes. Perhaps I should learn to change the oil, then I can do it all myself!!
I think I'll go independent in future, unless it is the major service which (I think) is every third one.
Splodgeface
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Might do the same next time Splodgeface. Perrys used Shell Helix 5w/30, didn't they use or recomend Texaco Havaline before?
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Ford recommends any 5w30 semi-synth that meets their spec. If Perrys get Shell Helix cheapest thats what they use. I think HJ says that Texaco Havoline is repackaged as Ford Formula E but i don't know. Only reason i use it is that it is cheap and can be picked up while doing the grocery shopping.
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