Mechanic charged me for a simple check and not a service

taking a leaf out of the doctor’s book

Could there be a mix up with the "next service due at millage" and the "last service done at millage"?

Ya hardly did only 3000 miles in 18months, a lot would do that in 1 or 2 months

Ahem, you also need some tools.

He did you a favour and you are complaining about it. This is why there is no point doing anybody a favour, there would be less complaints if he had just done a full service and charged you full price for it.

And "a quick check" is such a disingenuous way to describe this. You are paying for his expertise, even when that expertise means that he inspected the vehicle and was happy that everything was ok. Should he only get paid for his expertise when there is actually a problem? That is a great way to encourage mechanics to always find a problem.

Do you really think your quick checks are the same as what he did? Do you check the bushes and links? Can you tell when a little movement is ok and when it is not? Can you tell the difference between an oil leak and oil sweat? Because if you can't, then you will do the checks yourself right up until the point where the car stops running because of the things you didn't know to check.

The problem is that in the old days people had an idea of what a service was. Today oils are better and last a lot longer, so many manufacturers decoupled the idea of inspections and oil changes. You should get the vehicle inspected regularly, but that doesn't mean it always needs the oil changed at the same time.

For €60 you have an honest mechanic who appears to have been looking after you and your response is to find a way to never go back to him. Doesn't make sense to me.

And yes, there is nothing worse than somebody saying they could have done it themselves. If you could then you would.

😂😂obviously

You’d expect most ppl to have a wrench set etc

But good point

Tbf I don’t need much to service my hybrid

My Sealey vacuum pump has paid for itself over n over the last 8/10 years

He didn't describe it was a "quick check." He just misspelled quid.

Why only 3,000? Oil change intervals on my last car were the guts of 30,000km.

Agreed with 95% of that. The only thing I'd say on your very last point, is that it's galling for me to hand over $1,000 to a dealer to do oil, filters, and spark plugs, which I actually can do myself, but I have to go to the dealer so as to avoid any warranty issues down the line.

One time most people/households would have had a few basic tools/kits etc but a wrench set would be beyond many and nowadays with the less practical youngsters coming up, many wouldn't even know how to use basic tools.

I don't know, don't underestimate the LIDL middle isle and the amount of tool kits it has pumped out over the years.

While there are similar right-to-repair laws where I am (USA), and I do understand that the manufacturer needs some type of evidence that the work was done by a competent person, but that really precludes me from doing it myself (and indy's aren't much cheaper tbh).

It's just that dealers and indy's are charging a fortune, and it genuinely is work that I can do myself.

I hope it isn’t a car that suffers oil related engine problems, wet belt, timing chain issues and so on.

IMO you should be at least getting the oil changed once a year regardless of the small amount of miles you do.

Something to think about.

Back in the 90's, to pick a decade, people did services every 7k or 10k, or later on perhaps every 15k. That was the accepted wisdom.

Back then you were probably using 15w40 mineral oil in your engine.

Today you have fully synthetic oils, 0w20 is common now, refined as **** and all the impurities removed.

So why would the oil change interval still be every 7k or 10k?

As an example, the 10w30 oil in trucks running to Europe and back is specced to run for 100k with no problem whatsoever.

Maybe a council gritter doing 500 miles a year should get the oil changed just because its sitting idle for so long, but a new vehicle doing 3/4k a year? I would be more worried out the mechanical components than I would be about the oil.

You could have done it yourself, but you didn't. Not sure why you think that's relevant in how much you were charged.
He did you a favour and tbh I'm really not sure what the complaint about. Did you expect to pay less than 60 quid?

The step ladder was a number of years old and no receipt was kept for it. It was a good few years ago too. If it was brought back they probably would have said it was outside its guarantee period and should no longer have been used because of wear and tear. Maybe I should have brought it back, but I am not the litigous type. Just bought another step -ladder elsewhere, which did not "separate".

Back to the thread, I just pay a garage for the service, whatever it is I do not care. When I was young I done an oil change myself a few times, but much prefer to have the dealer stamp in the log book now when trading in etc.