v8 Vantage service costs
Discussion
Hi
My Vantage is due it's annual service. Its only done about a thousand miles since its last service (now on a total of about 4k).
I was hoping the service costs therefore would be relatively low. However a dealer (in the Leeds area) has quoted me;
£910 for the annual service ,although they dropped this to £800 after I got back on my chair, or £485 for just an oil and filter change.
Am I being ripped off, or is this the going rate?
My Vantage is due it's annual service. Its only done about a thousand miles since its last service (now on a total of about 4k).
I was hoping the service costs therefore would be relatively low. However a dealer (in the Leeds area) has quoted me;
£910 for the annual service ,although they dropped this to £800 after I got back on my chair, or £485 for just an oil and filter change.
Am I being ripped off, or is this the going rate?
thats normal for a dealer, in fact thats at the lower end of up North prices - add another £500 for "darn Sarf" LOL 
go to a specialist like DMS in Derby for 1/2 the price:
www.derbymotorservices.co.uk
oh...and the more you use the car - the cheaper it gets per mile, and becomes much more easy to justify that £1K service bill every 10K miles if you do actually have 10K miles of fun between services
go to a specialist like DMS in Derby for 1/2 the price:
www.derbymotorservices.co.uk
oh...and the more you use the car - the cheaper it gets per mile, and becomes much more easy to justify that £1K service bill every 10K miles if you do actually have 10K miles of fun between services
do the maths - even at retail price theres about £120 of oil, a few filters and sundries (say £50) and the rest is labour to change the oil, and "check stuff"
at £100 ph + VAT on a service that AM say takes 5.5 hours, thats £550 + £170 + VAT
..or if your mate does it in his workshop, could be as cheap as £125 + £170 + VAT
and anything in between
at £100 ph + VAT on a service that AM say takes 5.5 hours, thats £550 + £170 + VAT
..or if your mate does it in his workshop, could be as cheap as £125 + £170 + VAT
and anything in between
So the time has come for my 1st service and the research on who to choose to carry this out. Had a couple of quotes today by two garages that have been recommended within these forums. I don't want to discuss who the garages are but more the approach in works involved and thus costs.
Garage 1 - Major Service (similar to the major 20k big service) routine stuff - cost £800 incl vat
Garage 2 - Does not carry out servicing as per the guildlines per se but more on an engineering approach i.e they will inspect air filters and if they don't need changing then they will put them back in and in doing so saving the client money. However this approach is labour intensive as they will fully go over the car (remove under-tray, carry out wheel alignment etc...) rough cost is £1,700 incl vat.
Now, garage 2 costs are an eye opener to say the least, however I must admit the last few services I've had (in previous car, Porsche 993) I've not noticed any difference to the car after a service, apart from being a bit cleaner. I used to own a TVR and that used to get serviced similar to that of garage 2 and the car felt "tighter" when I got it back. It just felt better and I felt like I got something for my money.
So even though I don't really want to spend £1,700 (potentially) on a service if the car feels better for it then i may feel like I've got some value for money?
On the flip side it's just a car and it should be serviced as per the guildlines. If it isn't broke then don't fix it.
Opinions appreciated.
Garage 1 - Major Service (similar to the major 20k big service) routine stuff - cost £800 incl vat
Garage 2 - Does not carry out servicing as per the guildlines per se but more on an engineering approach i.e they will inspect air filters and if they don't need changing then they will put them back in and in doing so saving the client money. However this approach is labour intensive as they will fully go over the car (remove under-tray, carry out wheel alignment etc...) rough cost is £1,700 incl vat.
Now, garage 2 costs are an eye opener to say the least, however I must admit the last few services I've had (in previous car, Porsche 993) I've not noticed any difference to the car after a service, apart from being a bit cleaner. I used to own a TVR and that used to get serviced similar to that of garage 2 and the car felt "tighter" when I got it back. It just felt better and I felt like I got something for my money.
So even though I don't really want to spend £1,700 (potentially) on a service if the car feels better for it then i may feel like I've got some value for money?
On the flip side it's just a car and it should be serviced as per the guildlines. If it isn't broke then don't fix it.
Opinions appreciated.
If it helps although it still a way off why don't all you guys consider registering to attend Burghley in July,it'll be a blast.
Not only will it be a great day out but it will also give you the opportunity to meet various well known and highly thought of Independents to discuss your service and maintenance needs.
I appreciate I bang on about Burghley but the Event really is geared up to bring owners and service providers together all in one posh field and in doing so help a few others less fortunate.
For the sake of a charitable visit you could find the Service and Support you and your pride and joy deserves.
There will be plenty to of choice so why not have a look at "A few Cats out of the Burghley bag" thread which I will now update with a few names that will be there to answer your questions.
Just my thoughts to help….
Not only will it be a great day out but it will also give you the opportunity to meet various well known and highly thought of Independents to discuss your service and maintenance needs.
I appreciate I bang on about Burghley but the Event really is geared up to bring owners and service providers together all in one posh field and in doing so help a few others less fortunate.
For the sake of a charitable visit you could find the Service and Support you and your pride and joy deserves.
There will be plenty to of choice so why not have a look at "A few Cats out of the Burghley bag" thread which I will now update with a few names that will be there to answer your questions.
Just my thoughts to help….
Mr Cod said:
Very interested in these replies. Starting to think about where to get my V8V's 10 year service. Still only 20k miles.
Last owner didn't live locally so starting from scratch. Am London based, but can get to Essex, Kent or Surrey fairly easily. Any dealer recommendations?
Much depends on what sort of service history it has already.Last owner didn't live locally so starting from scratch. Am London based, but can get to Essex, Kent or Surrey fairly easily. Any dealer recommendations?
I kept mine in the dealer network throughout its life. 5 services at HWM, 1 at Grange (Essex) and 2 at Strattons (Norfolk). Always had great service from them all, though Grange's prices increased hence the move to Strattons.
I genuinely think the AM dealer service history helped at trade in - I'm not sure I could have traded it in for anywhere near had I gone through indies.
If your car has already been outside the network, then it may be a different story. I think these guys - http://www.psrautomotive.com/old/contact.php - had an Aston tech or some experience of them and were potentially going to start servicing them. But I ended up with very keen quotes from the main dealers above so didn't proceed.
I wouldn't go with the OP's option (2) personally. I expect dealers to give a car a general inspection and, to date, nothing's ever failed on me that could have been picked up at a service across all the cars I've owned. So it sounds like a waste of cash IMO. (I'm also fortunate enough to have the use of a number of cars, so an unscheduled "outage" wouldn't be the end of the world)
I posted this elsewhere, and have nothing to gain from noting it, but Strattons sent me details of a 3yr service plan for 2,300 incl. VAT (Advantage Plus). The average cost of the 8 services my car had at main dealers was around the 1k mark. So that seems good value (although there is *always* something extra that needs doing
). If I still had the car, I would look into that some more (other dealers may do the same thing).Murph7355 said:
Much depends on what sort of service history it has already.
I kept mine in the dealer network throughout its life. 5 services at HWM, 1 at Grange (Essex) and 2 at Strattons (Norfolk). Always had great service from them all, though Grange's prices increased hence the move to Strattons.
I genuinely think the AM dealer service history helped at trade in - I'm not sure I could have traded it in for anywhere near had I gone through indies.
If your car has already been outside the network, then it may be a different story. I think these guys - http://www.psrautomotive.com/old/contact.php - had an Aston tech or some experience of them and were potentially going to start servicing them. But I ended up with very keen quotes from the main dealers above so didn't proceed.
I wouldn't go with the OP's option (2) personally. I expect dealers to give a car a general inspection and, to date, nothing's ever failed on me that could have been picked up at a service across all the cars I've owned. So it sounds like a waste of cash IMO. (I'm also fortunate enough to have the use of a number of cars, so an unscheduled "outage" wouldn't be the end of the world)
I posted this elsewhere, and have nothing to gain from noting it, but Strattons sent me details of a 3yr service plan for 2,300 incl. VAT (Advantage Plus). The average cost of the 8 services my car had at main dealers was around the 1k mark. So that seems good value (although there is *always* something extra that needs doing). If I still had the car, I would look into that some more (other dealers may do the same thing).
Full AM service so I think I'll keep it that way!I kept mine in the dealer network throughout its life. 5 services at HWM, 1 at Grange (Essex) and 2 at Strattons (Norfolk). Always had great service from them all, though Grange's prices increased hence the move to Strattons.
I genuinely think the AM dealer service history helped at trade in - I'm not sure I could have traded it in for anywhere near had I gone through indies.
If your car has already been outside the network, then it may be a different story. I think these guys - http://www.psrautomotive.com/old/contact.php - had an Aston tech or some experience of them and were potentially going to start servicing them. But I ended up with very keen quotes from the main dealers above so didn't proceed.
I wouldn't go with the OP's option (2) personally. I expect dealers to give a car a general inspection and, to date, nothing's ever failed on me that could have been picked up at a service across all the cars I've owned. So it sounds like a waste of cash IMO. (I'm also fortunate enough to have the use of a number of cars, so an unscheduled "outage" wouldn't be the end of the world)
I posted this elsewhere, and have nothing to gain from noting it, but Strattons sent me details of a 3yr service plan for 2,300 incl. VAT (Advantage Plus). The average cost of the 8 services my car had at main dealers was around the 1k mark. So that seems good value (although there is *always* something extra that needs doing
). If I still had the car, I would look into that some more (other dealers may do the same thing).Are there any standard "extras" I should look out for. I had assumed that a 10 year old performance vehicle wasn't going to get through a service without a few bits and pieces being spotted (hopefully that all it is!)
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