Ripped off with an oil change!!

[ol' dirty]

Took my car to a garage for an oil change who shall remain nameless, NO NAMING AND SHAMING PLEASE ...oops

Oil change no more than 40 quid + VAT mate, he said

No worries ill pick it up tonight mate, i said

66 quid please sir?

WTF!! you said it was 40 thats a 50% increase in the price!

Yeah sorry about that, must have quoted you wrong but thats the price and theres the job card so you can break the prices down.

Anyway, paid him 60 and left, did not have time to argue with the chap, so left very unhappy.

Now i had an oil change with a main dealer-Vauxhall about 6 months ago & they charged me £35 for full synthetic & filter for my Merc
I cant see how anyone can justify 1 hr's labour for an oil change. At the most its 30mins on the ramp.
so 20 for labour, 15 for oil 5 for a filter- £40+VAT...

I dont like dealing with liers and con-men and will not be using him in the future.
Choose to listen or not, this is just my experience with this garage.

Edited by nick heppinstall on Sunday 22 October 22:42

[simes205]

Three words, do it yourself.

[ol' dirty]

I could'nt be arsed mate, It was raining & I only had 1 trolley jack-with no handle!

[paulmjg66]

ol' dirty said:

Took my car to a garage for an oil change who shall remain nameless, NO NAMING AND SHAMING PLEASE ...oops

Oil change no more than 40 quid + VAT mate, he said

No worries ill pick it up tonight mate, i said

66 quid please sir?

WTF!! you said it was 40 thats a 50% increase in the price!

Yeah sorry about that, must have quoted you wrong but thats the price and theres the job card so you can break the prices down.

Anyway, paid him 60 and left, did not have time to argue with the chap, so left very unhappy.

Now i had an oil change with a main dealer-Vauxhall about 6 months ago & they charged me £35 for full synthetic & filter for my Merc
I cant see how anyone can justify 1 hr's labour for an oil change. At the most its 30mins on the ramp.
so 20 for labour, 15 for oil 5 for a filter- £40+VAT...

I dont like dealing with liers and con-men and will not be using him in the future.
Choose to listen or not, this is just my experience with this garage.

1 hours labour where i work is £117.50 shame my hourly rate is not anywere near that.

Edited by nick heppinstall on Sunday 22 October 22:42

[falcemob]

An hours labour at a main dealer will be at least £70 plus oil at probably £30 a gallon, I make that about half hour £35 plus oil so it's easily £60.
What do you or your company charge per hour and do you work for half an hour?

[combemarshal]

Mobile 1, £20, oil filter £10 MAX, super absorbant granulals for huge spill £20!!!
And don't stick a rag in the oil filler like someone else did and end up withit wrapped around the cam shaft!!!

[deadslow]

Its great how some garages try it on - my missus was quoted £45 to change an earth strap. Part £2.95 time: 5 mins

But they were 'experts'

[timbob]

A friend of mine whilst at uni got done over good and proper. Her J plate Astra estate failed it's MOT. She was blonde and pretty clueless about cars, I think the mechanic saw her coming a while off.

She showed me the receipt afterwards, he'd charged her £90 to fit a new sealing "fire ring" gasket at the downpipe join on the exhaust. The total bill came to more than £600 and she'd had nothing but minor jobs done - handbrake adjusted, new brake pads, exhaust gasket, oil change and washer fluid topped up.

[paulmjg66]

timbob said:

A friend of mine whilst at uni got done over good and proper. Her J plate Astra estate failed it's MOT. She was blonde and pretty clueless about cars, I think the mechanic saw her coming a while off.

She showed me the receipt afterwards, he'd charged her £90 to fit a new sealing "fire ring" gasket at the downpipe join on the exhaust. The total bill came to more than £600 and she'd had nothing but minor jobs done - handbrake adjusted, new brake pads, exhaust gasket, oil change and washer fluid topped up.

show the bill to trading standardstotal rip off.

[timbob]

It was 4 years ago now, and I haven't seen the girl in question for more than 2. Bit too late I think!

[busta]

Changed my oil yesterday. Drove onto some wooden blocks, drained oil, new filter £6 from wilco's (easy to take off becasue i didn't over tighten it last time like all the garages seem to do!) 4.5 litres of 15w40 we get for about £4/ gallon in 5 gallon drums. Job done in 10 mins. If you can put up with getting your hands dirty and laying on the floor for a bit its well worth the hassle.

And it gave me a good chance to check all the other things that get forgotten about in daily driving while the oil drained out.

I'm sure that, even if you don't fancy doing it yourself you have a frined who will for a tenner. Hell, if your in Norfolk i'll even do it for you next time.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Ah but you don't get the loverly stamp in the book...don't you love the system.

Rob

P.S. I generally pay £2.50 to £3 for an OEM oil filter

[busta]

I write it all down, therefore i have a full service history. And my car is long out of warranty so stamps don't really matter.

The 'gotta get the stamp in the book' thing definitely works for dealers though. I know people with cars 10 years old who still insist on having them dealer serviced and have extra pages in the book for extra stamps.

My little brothers have a winnie the pooh stamp set so if anybody needs a stamp i can help out with that too.

[notthehamster]

I read a US road test recently for a Lexus 4x4 thingy. The oil change cost $35 at a main dealer. Yes £20!!!! I just bought 2 lires of Power steering fluid for a Land Rover, and paid £24. We're having our legs pulled boys!