The Lemon Fool

I have nearly always had my cars main dealer serviced. I currently have an Aygo which is about eight years old with about 50,000 miles on the clock. I tried a small independent in the distant past, and did not have a very positive experience. I also tried KwikFit long ago, but was not very impressed. My local Toyota dealer has been OK. I would like the price to be cheaper, but I guess that goes without saying.

I was conned into buying a service plan for three services. It thought that it was good deal because the schedule said that the next service should be big one, followed by a little one, and then another big one, I actually got a little one followed by a big one and I expect that the next service will be another little one. The schedule for the last service had a box for engine coolant change, which was not ticked. I was advised that I need a coolant change. I expect that was not done because I had the plan for old cars. It was reasonable to assume that plan had exclusions, but that was not spelt out.

I have had a coolant change at Halfords today. I also had the windscreen wiper replaced. The price was reasonable, and the Halfords garage is only two miles away, so I can easily walk home after dropping the car off and walk back later. I wondered about getting my car serviced there.

I looked at Trustpilot. The Toyota service reviews were horrible. Clearly, it is mostly the disgruntled customers who are posting. The Halfords service reviews were not as bad, but perhaps they are inviting their service customers to post. The Halfords service prices look cheaper than Toyota, but not hugely so.

You're going to get a very mixed bag of reviews if you ask about Halford (or Kwik Fit etc.) for servicing requirements. Personally and from experience, I wouldn't go near them not even for a windscreen wiper. I have never forgotten my XJ6 which came out of one with only half the proper amount of oil in it. Or another visit where the car came out with the wrong size windshield wipers! Main dealers are fine if you have a virtually new car and want to keep the FMDH cachet for when you sell the car, and they do have easier access to software to interrogate the cars electronics for fault finding, but I don't find them much good for real diagnosis if the answer is not on a screen. Ultimately, an independent specialist is the way to go, if you can find one, and even they can vary a lot. The labour charges are the killer, my local BMW franchise is £140/hr, which is ridiculous, a lot of manufacturers realise this and offer fixed price servicing, even discounts. BMW and AUDI were both recently offering 20% of menu servicing if booked online. A decent independent should be well under £100/hr..

I prefer to service my own cars, as I always know the work actually gets done and I can use good quality oil & other fluids. Also at much lower cost & with reduced risk of some secondary failure..

Compare with a friend of mine who took his Audi to the main dealer for a full service, then can still see the old non-Audi oil filter on the car when he collects it. What's the point in paying for an oil and filter change if the work is not done ?

jaizan wrote:I prefer to service my own cars, as I always know the work actually gets done and I can use good quality oil & other fluids. Also at much lower cost & with reduced risk of some secondary failure..

Compare with a friend of mine who took his Audi to the main dealer for a full service, then can still see the old non-Audi oil filter on the car when he collects it. What's the point in paying for an oil and filter change if the work is not done ?

I take my car to the Audi main dealer. I have no idea even where to look for the oil filter. Even if I found it I would have no idea if it was new or old. So far, at nearly five years old, my vehicle has been completely trouble free at 42,000 miles (mainly due to last year's lockdown)

Dod

So far, at nearly twelve years old, my vehicle has been completely trouble free at 137,000 miles (mainly due to it being a Honda.) Famous last words, of course!

One thing that I did learn when I lived in England was to find a garage for MOTs that didn't discount them. Cheap ones always found ways to bump up the price ... (Not an issue here in Northern Ireland where the MOT centres are government-run ...)

My wife once took her Rover 420 to the main Rover dealer for a full service. The oil and filter were changed - we know this because the dealer actually cut a hole in the undertray to gain access to the filter instead of removing the tray bolts that held it in place.....a quick hack with the Stanley and job's a good un!

I have used main dealers who have been good (proactively identified work to be done under warranty) and used main dealers who have been poor (timekeeping, cost, skill).

I have used ‘fast fit’ places that have been good (done what they should at a reasonable price) and used ‘fast fit’ places that have been shockingly bad (damaging the car but not admitting it).

But I was fortunate to have been recommended a local independent garage a few years ago by a colleague at work. The garage is excellent, not only do they do good work at a reasonable price, but they will actually decline work that isn’t needed.

After taking my car ‘fast fit’ place for an aircon recharge the ‘fast fit’ place (unasked) did one of their free health checks. Result was that X, Y, and z needed doing. I thanked them and took it to the independent garage - their response “no you don’t need any of that”.

These days I would only use a main dealer if I had a brand new prestige car where it would lose value if it didn’t have a full MDSH, or as is the case now, I have a lease car which requires it. But fortunately with that they sell a plan for £299 that covers all three years servicing needs.

Other than that the local independent.

Halfords at an absolute push to replace a light bulb, but nothing more complex.

Speaking as another Toyota owner, I can only assume that the OP's local main dealer is an embarrassing exception, because mine is not just good, it's also slightly cheaper than the independent who we use for my wife's VW. And it has always been faultless. And they use kosher parts. And I get the dealer stamp in the service book, which is always helpful.

Like the OP (I'm sure?), my six year old Auris (65,000 on the clock) qualifies for the 20% discount that Toyota do on 5+ year old Toyota cars. That includes MOTs, repairs, everything as far as I'm aware. The last time I had an interim service and MOT, the bill came in at around £280, which seemed fair really.

I don't expect the services to automatically include everything, but then, I'm sure the OP doesn't either? I specify brake fluid changes at two year intervals, and I tend to change tyres and brakes before they're officially close to their limits.

One further advantage of sticking with dealer servicing is that it improves your chances of getting a decent manufacturer contribution if something should go wrong out of warranty. VW owners have had more than their share of failed electronic handbrakes, EGR valves and aircon compressors over the years, and having a full book of dealer stamps has often counted for a lot when it comes to getting a discount on expensive parts. (Not that I'd know, because our Golf has always been independently serviced.)

Anyway, anyway, if the OP isn't happy with his local Toyota dealer, maybe there's another nearby that'll have a better reputation?

"Anybody but Kwik Fit" BJ. Or Halfords......

Toyota do seem to have a surprisingly bad reputation.

CliffEdge wrote:Toyota do seem to have a surprisingly bad reputation.

That is not what the surveys say, e.g.:

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/news/169446/ ... rs-in-2020

I am not dissatisfied with my Toyota dealer. I am just interested to know about the alternatives. Halfords was convenient because I can easily walk there. They do not, however, appear to be cheap, and the Toyota people are going to be more familiar with my car and have all the specialist equipment. Citroen and Peugeot have cars almost identical to mine. I could always consider them.

GeoffF100 wrote:

CliffEdge wrote:Toyota do seem to have a surprisingly bad reputation.

That is not what the surveys say, e.g.:

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/news/169446/ ... rs-in-2020

I am not dissatisfied with my Toyota dealer. I am just interested to know about the alternatives. Halfords was convenient because I can easily walk there. They do not, however, appear to be cheap, and the Toyota people are going to be more familiar with my car and have all the specialist equipment. Citroen and Peugeot have cars almost identical to mine. I could always consider them.

This is what puzzles me. Toyota always come 1st (Lexus) and second (Toyota)in the Which reports.