[shady_lawyer]

Of course its a myth!
Car 2007 Alto Lxi

Paid Rs. 20K as a 60K KMS service coupled with two absolutely necessary running repair items, exhaust muffler and cat-con replacement and front struts (both) thanks to the horrible delhi jaipur highway that led to a complete failure of the LHS Strut. Quality of work however excellent. More details here

Detailed bill attached.


Maint. Sched.xlsx

[SPARKled]

I paid 15500 INR odd for my Ritz 40000 kms service at SK wheels Navi Mumbai. EGR and Turbo cleaning along with synthetic oil change are the main culprits for the high bill amount. Still a far cry from 6500 INR I paid for my Figo TDCi which is still on mineral oil at similar number of kms.

[coolboy007]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

I paid 15500 INR odd for my Ritz 40000 kms service at SK wheels Navi Mumbai. EGR and Turbo cleaning along with synthetic oil change are the main culprits for the high bill amount.

Can you please provide a break up or a snapshot of the bill, 15500 is extremely high for a Maruti product and that too at just 40k kms. I did the 30k service of my 2014 Fiesta and it costed me 5.1k, you have paid thrice of it.

Were there unnecessary add ons like wheel alignment, uv treatment etc? How much was the labour cost alone?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

I paid 15500 INR odd for my Ritz 40000 kms service at SK wheels Navi Mumbai. EGR and Turbo cleaning along with synthetic oil change are the main culprits for the high bill amount. Still a far cry from 6500 INR I paid for my Figo TDCi which is still on mineral oil at similar number of kms.

Do post the bill here for easier understanding and helping you out to know the wrong items that can be avoided next time.

15,000 bucks is too much.

Can you ask what they did fir "Turbo Cleaning"?! It is a sealed unit that is not to be cleaned IMHO. So it is an eye wash.

[avdhesh15]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

EGR and Turbo cleaning along with synthetic oil change are the main culprits for the high bill amount.

Sniff sniff ... Do I smell a new scam here for inflating service bills?

I would request you to upload a copy of the bill here and the experts to share their views.

The amount is way too much!

[SPARKled]

Originally Posted by avdhesh15

Sniff sniff ... Do I smell a new scam here for inflating service bills?

I would request you to upload a copy of the bill here and the experts to share their views.

The amount is way too much!

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Do post the bill here for easier understanding and helping you out to know the wrong items that can be avoided next time.

15,000 bucks is too much.

Can you ask what they did fir "Turbo Cleaning"?! It is a sealed unit that is not to be cleaned IMHO. So it is an eye wash.

Originally Posted by coolboy007

Can you please provide a break up or a snapshot of the bill, 15500 is extremely high for a Maruti product and that too at just 40k kms. I did the 30k service of my 2014 Fiesta and it costed me 5.1k, you have paid thrice of it.

Were there unnecessary add ons like wheel alignment, uv treatment etc? How much was the labour cost alone?

Here is the breakup. The Turbo cleaning is not opening the actual turbo itself rather the inter cooler cleaning and was discussed in a discussion earlier. Had done it at 20k kms as well I think.

Now I am not sure what PMS is. Did not check it earlier

So the big ticket items are

Break pads : 1407
Inter cooler cleaning : 1500
PMS : 1500
Mobil 1 Synthetic oil : 3540
EGR clean : 1999

Comments are welcome. I will surely think twice before buying a Maruti again.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

Here is the breakup.

Now I am not sure what PMS is.

When I had my Ritz VDi, never have cleaned the intercooler or EGR in its 1.1L kms. Same goes for my Swift ZDi. In the 90K kms never cleaned the EGR or intercooler at MASS. They charge too much IMO.

Items that costs you the high bill:

1) Synthetic oil
2) Brakes Cleaning
3) Intercooler cleaning
4) EGR cleaning
5) SDT check
6) Electrical check
7) Pollution check and Certificate
8) Cowl Centre Garnish - What is this?

PMS in the bill stands for Periodic Maintenance Service

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

Here is the breakup. The Turbo cleaning is not opening the actual turbo itself rather the inter cooler cleaning and was discussed in a discussion earlier. Had done it at 20k kms as well I think.

Now I am not sure what PMS is. Did not check it earlier

So the big ticket items are

Break pads : 1407
Inter cooler cleaning : 1500
PMS : 1500
Mobil 1 Synthetic oil : 3540
EGR clean : 1999

Comments are welcome. I will surely think twice before buying a Maruti again.

PMS is Paid Maintenance Schedule/Service.

Mobil 1 0w40 is more suited for a petrol mill, wonder why they are using it in the diesel. Intercooler + EGR cleaning charges are heavily inflated.

[SPARKled]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

PMS is Paid Maintenance Schedule/Service.

Mobil 1 0w40 is more suited for a petrol mill, wonder why they are using it in the diesel. Intercooler + EGR cleaning charges are heavily inflated.

So I guess not necessarily useless things to have done to my car but yes I will not get the Inter cooler and EGR cleaned again for the next few years. I had my Figo TDCi serviced for 6.5 INR odd at 40k kms which is running on Mineral oil so thus proved that Maruti definitely isn't cheap to own.

Another thing worth mentioning is that service and parts for Nexa cars is higher than those sold from regular Maruti outlets even if they are the same parts.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by SPARKled

Here is the breakup.

This is an over inflated bill. In other words, you have been ripped!!

I wonder why you have been charged for the labour of brake pads removal (Rs.560/-) because I wasn't charged for the same during my last service. The SA mentioned that labour charges for the pads replacement isn't separately charged if one gets them changed along with the paid service.
Please, my advice would be to write to Maruti directly and confirm the same. Who knows this is the next big scam these Service Centres are up on.
Maruti will definitely refund you if they find what the Service Centre has done is unethical. So please let them know about the Brake pads labour charges and see what they reply.

Attaching my bill for reference and you can see there is no labour for pads replacement. Sorry for the blurry images.


Now coming to your bill. What IMO could have been avoided:

EGR Clean - 1999/-
Tech 2/SDT Parametres checking - 500/-
All Electrical Check up - 150/-
Consumable check - 200/-
Blower Cleaning - 350/-
Inter cooler Cleaning - 1500/-
Front Disk Brake pads - 560/-
MGP Rust Smash - 86/-
Cowl Centre Garnish - 450/- (What is this anyway?)

Which adds up to 6000 approx and don't forget you will be paying Service tax on the labour amounts separately as well, so add another 15% to it.

Next time, avoid this MASS by all means or if that is not possible then avoid this particular over enthusiastic SA. Just run in the opposite direction when you see him approaching you.
I have one SA in the particular MASS in which I go to. The moment he sees old, out of warranty cars he begins with his skill of over inflating the bill.
He start pushing rust treatment, throttle body, injector cleaning, AC cleaning and what not, even if not warranted.

In your case, did your car show symptoms that it requires EGR or intercooler cleaning?
If they are charging 200 bucks for consumables check and replacement then heck, what are they doing the paid service for?

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

Attaching my bill for reference and you can see there is no labour for pads replacement. Sorry for the blurry images.

Hi Sherlocked I noticed that you live in Mansarovar. My house is also there is in SFS Mansarovar, I work in Blr.

KP is one of the good maruti dealers who doesn't rip customers for consumables, caliper pin greasing labour, front brake cleaning. Reason because front tires have to be removed for inspection anyways and removing the caliper pin requires to remove just one bolt.
However it is a common practice here in Blr to charge for these in addition to regular service charges. People are too busy to notice. One has to put his foot down and warn / inform the SA while giving the vehicle for service.

However there is no denying from the fact that Maruti service is getting expensive day by day. The labour costs are more than cost parts in most of the cases.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by PraNeel

Hi Sherlocked I noticed that you live in Mansarovar. My house is also there is in SFS Mansarovar, I work in Blr.

KP is one of the good maruti dealers who doesn't rip customers for consumables, caliper pin greasing labour, front brake cleaning. Reason because front tires have to be removed for inspection anyways and removing the caliper pin requires to remove just one bolt.
However it is a common practice here in Blr to charge for these in addition to regular service charges. People are too busy to notice. One has to put his foot down and warn / inform the SA while giving the vehicle for service.

However there is no denying from the fact that Maruti service is getting expensive day by day. The labour costs are more than cost parts in most of the cases.

Hey, I live in SFS too!

Now coming back to topic, yes, KP Automotives in Mansarovar are ethical and honest and has not given me any reason to switch to another MASS in last 11 years or so. Our Wagon R is religiously been sent to them for servicing since we bought it 11 years back and so is the Swift since last 2 years.
Only once or twice I have had a bitter experience with them but that was due to a lousy mechanic's fault. The manager resolved it quickly.

They have never charged me for caliper pin greasing or any unwarranted labour.
Even the PUC rates are reasonable - 40 bucks.

Earlier they used to push to get the car serviced every 6 months or 5k kms (manual says 1 year or 10k kms), but now they have stopped this practice it seems.

But still one needs to develop a good rapport with the SA and abide by the manual while getting their cars serviced.

The prices have increased definitely but so is the inflation and they too have salaries to pay and other huge infrastructure costs.
I remember a paid service used to cost around 450 bucks 10 years back and now it's almost thrice of that!

[SPARKled]

Originally Posted by Sherlocked

This is an over inflated bill. In other words, you have been ripped!!

I wonder why you have been charged for the labour of brake pads removal (Rs.560/-) because I wasn't charged for the same during my last service. The SA mentioned that labour charges for the pads replacement isn't separately charged if one gets them changed along with the paid service.
Please, my advice would be to write to Maruti directly and confirm the same. Who knows this is the next big scam these Service Centres are up on.
Maruti will definitely refund you if they find what the Service Centre has done is unethical. So please let them know about the Brake pads labour charges and see what they reply.

Attaching my bill for reference and you can see there is no labour for pads replacement. Sorry for the blurry images.


Now coming to your bill. What IMO could have been avoided:

EGR Clean - 1999/-
Tech 2/SDT Parametres checking - 500/-
All Electrical Check up - 150/-
Consumable check - 200/-
Blower Cleaning - 350/-
Inter cooler Cleaning - 1500/-
Front Disk Brake pads - 560/-
MGP Rust Smash - 86/-
Cowl Centre Garnish - 450/- (What is this anyway?)

Which adds up to 6000 approx and don't forget you will be paying Service tax on the labour amounts separately as well, so add another 15% to it.


In your case, did your car show symptoms that it requires EGR or intercooler cleaning?
If they are charging 200 bucks for consumables check and replacement then heck, what are they doing the paid service for?

Thanks!! I will write to Maruti and see what they say. I did the EGR and Inter cooler cleaning as I had completed 5 years with the car and the inter cooler cleaning was done 2 years back. Next year surely will look for a different place to service.

[rajathv8]

I got my A-Star serviced at Benaka motors, Vignan Nagar last weekend. I noticed I was charged about Rs.70 for coolant top-up. I was present throughout the service and was pretty sure that the only thing they did was check the level, which was up to max. I confronted them on seeing it on the bill, the man at the desk checked with the mechanic and then reduced the amount. I see that the item was on the previous service bill as well.

Also I do not understand why they charge Rs.68 for consumables. I was with my car throughout the service and did not see any "consumables" being used except for a small rag to clean their hands! Unless they charged me for the water that went into the washer reservoir! I do not let them wash my car so no other cloth/consumables was used.

Do any one of you know if there was a bulletin to move from 5W30 to 0W20 shell engine oil for the 1L K-series engine? The manual suggests 5W30 and the same was used for all previous services. I am not sure why they used a different grade of oil. The 5W30 costs Rs.851 while the 0W20 costs Rs.1087.

[ZMG]

I recently got my Swift petrol serviced for 30K Kms service.
The bill came to about INR 6000/-

This included mineral oil change and brake pad change.

I was not happy that the brake pad was worn out in about 33000 kms.

I believe Maruti is getting costlier by the day.

Cabbies often tell me it is cheaper to own a Etios vs Dzire due to Marutis high service cost.