Cost of a full car service?

kingtut

Hi,

My NCT is due soon and I would like to get my car taken in for a full service before it. Can anyone tell me what the average price is? I know f all about cars and I do not want to get ripped off.

It is a 5 door 2001 1 litre Opel Corsa if that helps...

Thanks in advance!

Stevie Dakota

I would wait until after the NCT, that way if anything fails you can that attended to during the service. Just make sure all your bulbs work before hand. Telling you mechanic that you want the car serviced for its NCT is a sure way of ending up with a big bill.

spartacus93

An awful lot of people now just do the NCT expecting to fail, and then just go about getting them specific issues fixed. If you don't know much about cars it's alot easier to go in with the results from the tests and tell them specifically what to fix.

Going in without this could give the wrong garage an awful lot of scope to do extra work.

Don't forget the basics before the test, remove your hubcaps, and have the boot empty. The testers can get very annoyed if this isn't done.

Darragh29

Stevie Dakota wrote: »

I would wait until after the NCT, that way if anything fails you can that attended to during the service. Just make sure all your bulbs work before hand. Telling you mechanic that you want the car serviced for its NCT is a sure way of ending up with a big bill.

This is what I'd do OP. Get the car NCT'd first but before you do, check it for the basics, oil, etc. Then bring it for a service. What can happen if you do it the other way around is you can often get a list of items that a mechanic will tell you needs to be done to pass an NCT and if you give him the go ahead to do it, you'll never really know if those items were needed, provided that you don't fail for them which is highly unlikely if they have just been replaced.

If you get your NCT done first, then you'll have an objective list of what needs to be done and you can get it sorted out with a service if you need to.

ianobrien

I remember a (very) old school mechanic telling me that if somebody asked him for a price for a service, He'd tell him the labour rate and phone him with the price for anything that needs to be replaced, and the associated time needed. To him, a full service meant checking everything between the front & back bumper, and thus couldn't give an exact price until he examined the car properly.

If this was not suitable for the customer, he wouldn't take the job as he wouldn't do half a job.

Darragh29

ianobrien wrote: »

I remember a (very) old school mechanic telling me that if somebody asked him for a price for a service, He'd tell him the labour rate and phone him with the price for anything that needs to be replaced, and the associated time needed. To him, a full service meant checking everything between the front & back bumper, and thus couldn't give an exact price until he examined the car properly.

If this was not suitable for the customer, he wouldn't take the job as he wouldn't do half a job.

I think a full service is:

(1) A scheduled list of components to be replaced.

(2) A pre-determined list of inspections and tests to be carried out.

This should be done for a set price I think, on the basis of any further components that are found to need replacement after the above inspections and tests, are obviously quoted for separately. My take on this was always to have a fixed price for (1) and (2) and any work that may be required as per (2), is communiated in writing with an explanation of what the problem is and then it's up to the customer to make a decision on the advice given, but I'd always keep a copy of what that advice was...

_Kaiser_

Darragh29 wrote: »

I think a full service is:

(1) A scheduled list of components to be replaced.

(2) A pre-determined list of inspections and tests to be carried out.

This should be done for a set price I think, on the basis of any further components that are found to need replacement after the above inspections and tests, are obviously quoted for separately. My take on this was always to have a fixed price for (1) and (2) and any work that may be required as per (2), is communiated in writing with an explanation of what the problem is and then it's up to the customer to make a decision on the advice given, but I'd always keep a copy of what that advice was...

+1 on this...

Unfortunately there are also garages out there who'll do what you asked them to do, then discover something else, fix it and then at the end of the day when they call the customer, tell them that they owe them (in some cases) substiantially more than they originally quoted and demand the money before they'll hand back the car.

In my opinion this shouldn't be allowed. What if the customer doesn't have this extra money there and then, especially in the current climate? Can the garage legally keep the car until they get paid?