A guy I work with has one and it is maintained by a Bentley dealer. He budgets an absolute minimum of £1200 per year for the service and a few minor issues they may find that he always has done. Obviously with the service schedules the costs differ (£450 and £750 from memory the last time we spoke) but he has never had a straight service without something else on top.

It might be an idea to have the car looked over by a Bentley dealer to get an opinion on condition. You could either have a bargain on your hands or be able to walk away from a money pit.

I would think it essential that the OP makes sure he has someone trusted and experienced with these cars on hand to look after it (unless he intends to do-it-himself).

You've really got to want a GT - a 996 turbo is the same money and I'd guess would be a lot cheaper to run all in.

But how much of that is just profiteering, knowing that most Bentley owners who use main dealers are generally good for the money and unlikely to even take a passing glance at the cars oily bits?

Also how much does a Bentley dealer charge per hour?? £150, 170 200 maybe?

Lets face it, an oil change is not anything mystic or magical. Any competent mechanic can do it. But why pay £200-400 for it if you could get it done for £50-90?

OP, the simplest thing to do would get a pre purchase inspection done by a specialist, this will highlight anything that needs doing, they review the service history and tell you about the general condition along with market values, PPIs cost around £300. Some even come with warranties against the report.

Frankly all these comments about 8k per annum running costs are ridiculous! Its a german exec car and simple things like pairs of disks being around £250 and major services around £800.

I've always like the GT, they're lovely inside and out with great road presence. 100k+ miles shoudlnt put you off.

Buy it ! As you are buying it at a good price you would have to be very unlucky to lose out over the course of a year or so

Which isnt covered by any of these....

servicing, consumables and general W&T repairs

So whats your point?

Fair points; but he likes to maintain the car via a reputable authorised dealer that he has built up a good relationship with as this will help when he wants to sell it. On a lower scale I take my TVR to Dom and his crew at TVR Power for the annual service and MOT. They call and tell me a few things could do with being fettled, replaced etc (not had an MOT failure........yet) and I just ask them to do them as if I don't they may fail at an inconvenient time (it's a TVR) or at worse will need doing next year when I have something else to look after.

Guess it all comes down to having a bit of a passion for your car and wanting it to be 100% at all times. I am like this with my TVR and if I was ever in a position to buy a Bentley or equivalent would want to know running costs to maintain the car in the same way my TVR is.

I was wondering why that didn't come up on another poster's search of the repair history!


I wonder what this kind of car is like to live with, day to day? Where the heck to you park it etc!

This is PH, I reckon a lot of people are spending similar, myself included on something with a fraction of Bentley running costs.

OP should bear in mind the costs which whilst not comparable to a 'normal' car need not be huge but also the market for a 135k Conti GT in 2 years time. Can the OP suffer further depreciation which is likely given how many of these were made and finally as others have mentioned, whilst it is an attractive price, theres lots of other great metal out there at similar price, age etc that may have similar costs and may not even depreciate as much - example as suggested being a 996TT.