Servicing costs - ref Motoring Telegraph

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Sun 16 Jun 2002 10:32
Servicing costs - ref Motoring Telegraph - Mike H
There was a letter published yesterday re Saab sevicing costs in Surrey from a disappointed owner. My experience might be useful for others.

I have a Saab 9-5 which was due for a 78000 mile service. Like correspondent NB, my nearest dealer is in Surrey, and they wanted £256 +VAT for the privilege of carrying it out. As luck would have it, it was due about the time I was going to North Wales on holiday for a week. Saab dealer there quoted £118 +VAT. Guess where I had it done?? Even for this relatively minor service, it would have been possible to drive the 270 miles, have a nice meal & bottle of wine, stay the night, have the car serviced & come home with change!! On the assumption that the next (bigger) service will save even more, looks like a nice weekend away is in order!

Another nice surprise was finding a nearly full 1 litre bottle of screenwasher fluid in the car when I picked it up - I know the Surrey dealer would have charged me for the whole bottle, used a quarter, and kept the rest.

Moral is, shop round.
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Sun 16 Jun 2002 11:09
Servicing costs - ref Motoring Telegraph - Andy
Mike,
What a good idea, I own a Volvo V70 so, when the next service is due I think I'll ring a few dealers in Wales to see if i can get a better deal.

Cheers

Andy.
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Sat 14 Sep 2002 10:48
Servicing costs - ref Motoring Telegraph - volvoman
Very good point Mike - have just been down to Dorset so perhaps I should have arranged a service there. My local Volvo dealer's prices are a rip-off, they always seem to find extra (costly) work that 'needs' to be done ! On the final occasion I used them for a service, the bill was £400 and that excluded around £300 worth of work they said had to be done but whch my local independent said was unnecessary ! To sweeten what was a very bitter pill, the guy who took my money told me they'd put a 'courtesy' pack in the car for me and made it sound like quite a gesture. On arriving home I checked its contents - 1 litre oil, 2 disposable gloves & 2 paper wipes. When doing my tax return some months later I discovered to my horror that I'd been charged for it too !
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Sun 15 Sep 2002 16:43
Servicing costs - ref Motoring Telegraph - Ian (Cape Town)
just been down to Dorset
so perhaps I should have arranged a service there... I discovered to my horror that I'd been charged for
it too !

>>

I bet they spend their evenings putting lamps on shoreside rocks as well ... :)
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