Main dealer servicing...
Discussion
We have a 2008 Nissan Note which is boring but provides exactly what we need (rather than want!) at the moment. It's always been serviced by the main dealer as per the recommended intervals give or take 1000 miles. It went in for its 62,500 mile service last week and the dealer asked whether we wanted the brake fluid changing (for £30) which Nissan apparently recommend and I agreed they should do it.
So I returned for the car at 5pm to find that the car had been "serviced" but they were unable to change the brake fluid because the rear drums had seized and they couldn't get hold of me to authorise the extra work required. Why do the drums seize on a car that has had a full dealer service history to the extent that you cannot perform a routine operation recommended by the manufacturer I asked - it happens they said.
When you actually look at what's done, the only servicing is the oil change. Everything else, including plugs, is a visual check. For this I paid £175. It's called a service but in fact it should be called an oil change and visual check. Any actual work that needs doing is extra so at the previous service it needed new discs and pads for which they quoted £145 I think. My local garage did it for £80 all in.
Have cars improved so much that they only need regular oil changes and everything else lasts longer or has the word "service" changed its meaning?
L.F.
So I returned for the car at 5pm to find that the car had been "serviced" but they were unable to change the brake fluid because the rear drums had seized and they couldn't get hold of me to authorise the extra work required. Why do the drums seize on a car that has had a full dealer service history to the extent that you cannot perform a routine operation recommended by the manufacturer I asked - it happens they said.
When you actually look at what's done, the only servicing is the oil change. Everything else, including plugs, is a visual check. For this I paid £175. It's called a service but in fact it should be called an oil change and visual check. Any actual work that needs doing is extra so at the previous service it needed new discs and pads for which they quoted £145 I think. My local garage did it for £80 all in.
Have cars improved so much that they only need regular oil changes and everything else lasts longer or has the word "service" changed its meaning?
L.F.
lockhart flawse said:
Have cars improved so much that they only need regular oil changes and everything else lasts longer or has the word "service" changed its meaning?
Bit of both really - there's no points to change and adjust now or timing to set, and most cars don't have adjustable tappets. Plugs are long life etc. The work has been driven down to a minimum in a race to have the lowest cost of servicing for the lease companies.My biggest bug-bear is they don't (usually) strip and clean the brakes like they used to - except on daughter's Mitsubishi Colt, where that, and even things like brake fluid change, are an integral part of the 2yr major service. I'm bemused by what "rear drums siezed" means though?
FoundOnRoadside said:
French tat mostly still use them, and oddly the new model Focus still has them. WTF? 1945 is calling, it wants it's brakes back.
Rear disks can be a pain on light cars as they're so lightly used that the disks corrode the calipers can sieze. They also make the handbrake more complicated and are less forgiving of an incorrectly applied handbrake.
king idea!FoundOnRoadside said:
French tat mostly still use them, and oddly the new model Focus still has them. WTF? 1945 is calling, it wants it's brakes back.
Why are French cars"tat"?I'd really like to know how you have come to this conclusion - or is it the legendary quality of your Vauxhall that has given you an insight?
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