What's in a service ?

John Laird ( snipped-for-privacy@laird-towers.org.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

And how much is the "menu price"? What's their hourly labour rate?

OK, so that tells you what's in a service...

What's listed?

Right...

Is that all that's on the 48k service checklist, then?

If there's fault codes stored, then the K light will tell them when they switch on. If the light doesn't say so, then there's no point in reading it. Nothing would be told.

Let's go through the list of things you have as options :-

Wheel balance - Are you noticing a vibration? Yes? Then tell 'em, and they'll check it. If not, no point. You'd moan like hell if there was half an hour of £80 labour to check the balance of wheels that were perfectly fine. What if you'd just had Kiwk-Fart put a new set of boots on a few weeks before?

Aircon recharge - Is the aircon still cold enough? No? Then tell 'em, and they'll recharge it. If you've only taken 10 months to put the 48k on, then there's no point whatsoever in regassing the aircon.

Ignition timing - ECU controlled. All they can do is ask the computer. If you think it's pinking, they can look for iffy knock sensor wiring.

Idle speed - ECU controlled. If it's steady, why explicitly check it out? If there's a problem, tell 'em.

Emissions - ECU controlled. If there's a suspected problem, fine, put it on the machine, but otherwise, why bother? If the lambda's dead, the ECU'll know.

The problem lies in the labour rates they have to charge because of the cost of their franchise-minimum-quality-specified premises, the expensive equipment etc, etc - and the fact that you don't want to pay £250 for a small service.

When the car started doing most of the checks for itself, constantly.

Good luck. You'll probably get a better answer from the desk than the smiling cretin of a service receptionist.

Of course it won't. You wouldn't pay enough for it.

This was rather as I expected. (I did read the rest of your comments, btw. Do you have to work at being somewhat patronising, or does it come naturally to you ?)

We'll see what transpires at the dealership. As I indicated, they'll probably only get one shot at my car before I return to my favoured garage.

John Laird ( snipped-for-privacy@laird-towers.org.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

It wasn't intended. Apologies if I underestimated your level of knowledge.

Your question - "What's in a service?", followed by a statement that the service book listed what was in a service - implied that you were not very au fait with servicing.

For interest - what *is* listed, what's the menu price, and what's their hourly rate?

My bad, perhaps. I've been running cars for 20 years. I didn't list out the entire service checklist cos that would have looked even more dumb ;-) As I said "checking your car is running properly" seemed to have been overlooked - for me, it's about the first thing I expect my mechanic to ensure. (Granted actually fixing anything that is off-tune may be chargeable, but I sort of hoped that checking would be included.) My general philosophy as a customer is not to pay anyone to do things I can perfectly well do myself (such as the aforementioned wipers and washer bottle), but accept that if I book a standard service at a franchised dealer then that is a fact of life.

(deep breath). Oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs, valve clearances, check and top up all other fluids, wipers, inspect brakes, adjust handbrake, check/adjust lights, inspect suspension/steering/brake/exhaust/tyres, road check (hmm, might set trip meter for the last). I note also that a battery test is optional, too.

As for price, I haven't asked ;-) Having made the decision to entrust this last service (before the end of warranty) to a Honda dealer, it is almost irrelevant. However, I decided against the local city-based dealer with their swanky new showroom in favour of a smaller out-of-town setup who actually supplied the car to the previous owner and have serviced it since. It will be useful for me to have a copy of the existing service history which the nearer dealer claimed not to be able to provide (different corporate group, they said). There may also be some recall work to check which Honda's own website could not verify but for which the supplying and servicing dealer may well have records. At a guess, the service will be in the region of £200-250. I am prepared to walk back out of the door if it turns out to be truly extortionate ! As with all my previous encounters with garages, they will be told I don't expect a surprise on my return and they do not have a blank cheque. All extra work over and above what is agreed at the outset must be cleared with me.

I fully expect I will be back to Steve and Andy and their backstreet operation at £30/hr next year anyway. (Or for some tyres in the meantime.)