Garage oil costs

[anonymous-user]

Sheepshanks said:

I vividly remember getting a quote to take it to the dealer for its first service in 2005 and the oil was £12.95 plus VAT per litre - so near as dammit £100 for the 6.5 litres of oil. When I baulked at this, they said "bring your own" - and they knocked the full £100 off the price of the service. I was amazed they would just throw profit away like that.

To be fair I think the price of fully synthetic oil has come right down over the years.

[vikingaero]

My local guy says that the best way to deal with Main Stealers is to turn up with the oil and tell them you work for Shell/Mobil/Petronas/Castrol and that they insist their oil is used in your lease car. They won't know you work for Widgets4less.com

[Pericoloso]

My car doesn't use expensive oil but next service I'm going to ask to supply my own oil.

simply because I have had a 5 litre bottle of oil unopened ,bought for a previous car but seeing as my car uses zero

oil between services ,it's never been opened and just sits in the garage gathering dust.

might as well use it.

[Sheepshanks]

vikingaero said:

My local guy says that the best way to deal with Main Stealers is to turn up with the oil and tell them you work for Shell/Mobil/Petronas/Castrol and that they insist their oil is used in your lease car. They won't know you work for Widgets4less.com

I did that with the champagne for my daughters wedding. I don't think they believed me!

[Smelly Dave]

You should be able to supply your own as long as it the correct spec. I supply my own at an Audi main dealer with no issues. Audi try to charge me £240 for the oil alone (11 litres) the exact same stuff can be purchased online for £30 for 5 litres.
I got 12 litres of Castrol edge this year from Europarts for £75!!! Personally I don't care if I look a fool supplying my own oil if it's going to save me £165!

[Burwood]

vikingaero said:

Mr lestat said:

I have my car booked in to a local BMW independent specialist for an inspection service soon and an oil change. They are quoting £11 per litre plus vat for shell helix ultra oil that I can buy myself for 5 pounds a litre at Euro car parts. I have asked them to check if the price is correct and they say it is. I have no issue with a garage making a profit on things they sell to you but more than twice the price for the oil seems rather steep to me. Obviously there is then labour charge for the oil change which you would expect.

After ringing the local very expensive main dealer turns out they’re actually £40 cheaper than the independent specialist as it comes under a BMW service plan.

Opinions please. I’m seriously thinking of a sytner stamp in the book

A lot of business sell products or services with 100%+ profit. By the time the cost of the product and cost of running the business is taken into account then the net profit is far less.

I bet you or your employer do the same. Would you or they reduce their costs?

Oil isn’t that bad. Look at some spare parts. Bits of plastic trim. I was quoted £90 for a tiny bit if plastic which would cost pennies to make. I’ve read on here 1400 for a headlight, 500 for a key. On the whole main dealers have very thin net margins. Up to the customer whether they pay or go elsewhere although I do believe parts etc should be reasonable. The oil price seems fair to me.

[Pica-Pica]

Burwood said:

vikingaero said:

Mr lestat said:

I have my car booked in to a local BMW independent specialist for an inspection service soon and an oil change. They are quoting £11 per litre plus vat for shell helix ultra oil that I can buy myself for 5 pounds a litre at Euro car parts. I have asked them to check if the price is correct and they say it is. I have no issue with a garage making a profit on things they sell to you but more than twice the price for the oil seems rather steep to me. Obviously there is then labour charge for the oil change which you would expect.

After ringing the local very expensive main dealer turns out they’re actually £40 cheaper than the independent specialist as it comes under a BMW service plan.

Opinions please. I’m seriously thinking of a sytner stamp in the book

A lot of business sell products or services with 100%+ profit. By the time the cost of the product and cost of running the business is taken into account then the net profit is far less.

I bet you or your employer do the same. Would you or they reduce their costs?

Oil isn’t that bad. Look at some spare parts. Bits of plastic trim. I was quoted £90 for a tiny bit if plastic which would cost pennies to make. I’ve read on here 1400 for a headlight, 500 for a key. On the whole main dealers have very thin net margins. Up to the customer whether they pay or go elsewhere although I do believe parts etc should be reasonable. The oil price seems fair to me.

But parts that ‘cost pennies to make’, have a regular and well defined route and costs to deliver to the factory. As spare parts, the logistics are vastly different. They may sit around for ages in warehouses and take up space, and for models no longer in production they then require a periodic ‘dusting down’ of old tools to do a limited run to re-stock. Manufactures are very skilled at driving down costs of production costs (one supplier once said ‘ soon I will be delivering you parts AND giving you money as well).

[Klippie]

Green1man said:

Over £140 for 8 litres of Mobil1 at Porsche Dealer, Under£40 at Costco!!,

I complained about this as I wanted to supply my own oil and was told some bullst about it needs to be supplied from the dealers stores to show a warranty auditor that the correct grade of oil had been used for the service...utter pish.

When challenged they gave a sizeable discount on the price of the oil.

[ruhall]

If the main dealer is £40 cheaper and you want a stamp in the book, what advantage is there in using an indie? Ask the dealer if you can supply your own oil, they can only say no.

If you don't want to pay dealer or indie, you could change it yourself b7t obviously no stamp in the book. Only you can decide your preferences.

[POORCARDEALER]

Running a garage comes with steep overheads.


I dont think that margin is over the top