[Raccoon]

Good info, but I'v noticed very few people checking in depth whats been done on their cars.

One doubt: gave our Esteem for servicing to Millenium Mobility (Dapodi, Poona) and one of the points under Labour section reads:

STRUT GREASING Rs. 400

Any Maruti/Esteem knowledgeables here who can tell me if this is valid? Do the struts really require greasing? And that too for Rs. 400 ??

They are getting a hell lot of our hard earned money and still offer pathetic service.

Indeed, the way many/most service centres make money is appaling! And the quality of work is even more appaling...

[Zappo]

400 for strut greasing?!! IMHO, for 400 bucks one can buy enough grease to last the lifetime of that strut.

[Raccoon]

Hehehe... for sure, but then is not just the grease... they are entitled to charge for labour also. But does the work take that long... to justify what they have charged? Thats the question?!

Any adivice, anybody?

[ibm_jennifer]

I have the proof that Concord motors charged me more than the MRP for my brake boosters. If any Government authorities/TATA wants that, I am ready to provide them.

[mohang_j]

Originally Posted by AUTO_CRAZY

Dealers of most of the manufacturers try to extract more money from each service or each billing.

I had similar experience with Garuda service in kanakapura road.When I had complained about hard steering, service adviser said he will check entire transmission and for clutch shuddering (jerks when you accelerate mostly from stop- is it common in alto 800cc??? i don't know the exact name.) he suggested tuning. through out the servicing i was in front of the car and they just lifted the car and used OKS spray! rest was only visual inspection. They just cleaned the spark-plugs and informed me that both jobs are complete. I had to fight for the detailed explanation for the job conducted even today after 3 months explanation is pending. They had charged me 350 and 300 Rs respectively. (It would have been cheaper to replace Spark-plugs 80*3=240Rs)

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Hehehe... for sure, but then is not just the grease... they are entitled to charge for labour also. But does the work take that long... to justify what they have charged? Thats the question?!

Any adivice, anybody?

Separate labour charge for a de rigueur job like greasing a strut (or any other part)? I do not think so. If it had been something specialized like PS overhaul etc a separate labour charge would have been understandable. Greasing of parts prone to wear and tear, tightening of nuts, tension of belts etc forms a part of the regular service. If they charge separate labour charge for everything then what is the service charge there for?

At least for a Maruti Rs.400 just for greasing a strut is astounding IMO. Why do not you do something. Now that you have anyhow paid the charges just drop a simple, innocuous mail to Maruti and ask whether this does not sound a little too high to them for something as simple as greasing the strut? Just add a strong closing line like if Maruti service starts becoming this pricey then there are tough days ahead for the millions of Maruti customers.

[sriturl]

Originally Posted by AUTO_CRAZY

Washing - Please check , during free service most of the manf provide free washing , but still dealers will charge around Rs 300+ to customers.Some dealers charge washing and washing consumables seperately !!!

Consumables - Hmm this quite interesting. Lets say ... you go to a restaurant to eat. After you finish your food, you get a bill.
Roti -RS 50
Dal - Rs 20
Tissue paper - Rs 5
Tooth Pick - Rs 1
Finger Boul - Rs 2
__________________
Total - Rs78
__________________

Thats a pretty hilarious comparison but true...
Last time, for second service of Swift-D which is pretty much free, they had to charge me for something, and charged me 10 Rs for car shampoo.
Can they afford a 10rs shampoo????

[AUTO_CRAZY]

Brake adjustment: please check , how much labour dealer charges
Clutch Adjustment: Check the labour , as said in the post they spray cleaner through the transmission inspection window on the clutch shift fork/bearing - check the charges.
Door adjustment : If it is a old car like Amby or Fiat or Sumo or Qualis or Mahindras, may be OK. Dealer do door adjustment for cars like santro, Wagon R , Innova , City etc. There is no necessaty to do the door adjustment unless until the car has a accident history.
Fluid Top-up: Check how much they have topped-up and how much they are charging. To charge more they show more fluid replaced. If so much fluid has to be topped-up then there should be a problem in the car itself.

Request: Take little time and check the bills. Also share all your experiance .

All the jobs have a reference called Job Codes, each manufacturer defines these codes and are available in the system which are available with the dealers. These are the recommended jobs by the manufacturers. So dealer when they try to extra charge, they normally tamper the system or they use "others" code.
All such cases should be exposed to manufacturer , as they are responsible for controlling the dealers.

[white_vdi]

i was not charged for the shampoo also during the 2nd service. bill was zero. i am rich now!!

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Separate labour charge for a de rigueur job like greasing a strut (or any other part)? I do not think so. If it had been something specialized like PS overhaul etc a separate labour charge would have been understandable. Greasing of parts prone to wear and tear, tightening of nuts, tension of belts etc forms a part of the regular service. If they charge separate labour charge for everything then what is the service charge there for?

At least for a Maruti Rs.400 just for greasing a strut is astounding IMO. Why do not you do something. Now that you have anyhow paid the charges just drop a simple, innocuous mail to Maruti and ask whether this does not sound a little too high to them for something as simple as greasing the strut? Just add a strong closing line like if Maruti service starts becoming this pricey then there are tough days ahead for the millions of Maruti customers.

Thanks Zappo, that sounds like a good idea! I'd definitely like to bring this to MUL's notice... but any idea how responsive they are to mails... or do they even read them??

I still have to give the car back to them for some underbody damage work, and also painting (cus of scratches). So perhaps I should send that mail after my job is done...

They actually do charge much higher for many jobs, it seems. For eg. they charge Rs. 400 for wheel alignment. In fact they didn't do it even after my specifically requesting them to do so (it was clearly required). When I asked them why not, they said after test driving the car, it was found that alignment was not required!! I told him, its my car, and I know very well when the wheels are not upto it. Also, I asked him to just check in their records how many kms have been covered since the last alignment. After checking he said 7k. I ask, you think alignment is not required even after 7k? Then he says it should be done! I furthermore told him, their method of riding and checking if the alignment is perfect is bunkum... as you cant always detect it that way (for obvious reasons). He quitely agreed. After this frustrating convo, I just got it done at my tyre dealers place, and paid Rs. 250. Saved Rs. 150 in the process... lol!

Though Millenium did a good job last year, am not at happy with their work or their bill (Rs. 5.5 k!) this time... Don't know where else to give my car in future... its really frustrating.

Last time, for second service of Swift-D which is pretty much free, they had to charge me for something, and charged me 10 Rs for car shampoo.
Can they afford a 10rs shampoo????

Well, Millenium charged me Rs. 11.84 for "Screen wash concentrate" this time. Its actually seems quite nice, and I'll maybe buy a couple of sachets from them, next time, if they are for sale. I assume they sell it as a MGP. Are you sure its was Car Shampoo they charged you for and not Screen Wash Conc?

[AUTO_CRAZY]

Additives:
Most of the dealers try to sell these additives, just because it gives them extra money. Except for few manf like Hyundai and Tata etc they recommend. Other renouned manf like honda and Toyota, they never recommend any additives or performance boosters. At the dealership Service advisors are given target and they just push it to customers to get their incentive. So no one really knows about the additive, its sourcing and who is going give gaurantee? Dealer will put the blame on the manufacturer. If the manufacturer comes to know that additives are used , then they may cancell warranty. Then customer had to pay those huge bills for any damage.But just to convince the customer, they say that manufacturer has recommended to use these additives.
Underbody anti-rust coating:This purely based on where we use the car, places like kolkotta or coastal areas it still makes sense to go for underbody coating. There is no necessasity in places like delhi, bangalore etc. Neither we operate our cars in snow, where salt spray may be used for clearing roads, and that salt may damage the underbody. Few parts like Exhaust tail pipe may get rusted but anti rust coating cannot be done on such parts!.
Engine room coating: one more point of wasting or making money.
Body waxing: Quite useful.
Engine flushing; If you maintain the car well, there is no necessasity to go for flushing. And such things are more apt for very very old engines, that too for poorly maintained and with odo more than 2 or 3 lak kms mileage. With better engine designs the need to do flushing is only for dealer to make money.

They are keen in making money on all these allied services and products, but they dont do the basic servicing properly.

Raccoon, good thing you did about wheel alignment. Getting it done at your tyre dealer, you are sure the job is done and you also save money.

[AUTO_CRAZY]

Do you all know that when you replace your car battery with a new one, then the battery manufacturers give RS 300 to Rs 400 for your old battery. If you are getting your battery from the car dealer, then check whether this money is adjusted in your payment.

[GTO]

I hope everyone's aware of the fact that different authorised dealers charge different rates for the same job. As an example, cross-check with other dealerships on the cost of a scheduled service. Sometimes, the difference can be as much as 25%!

[TheHorse]

overpricing by dealer is long known fact, where else would they make big bucks then?
so I prefer to do all cosmetic accessories/changes in after market and stick to auth. dealers only for genuine OEM parts

[sabnavis]

Took the car for servicing, got it back after two days because of the weekend, and when i was finally driving out the car stalled, so i went back to the garage and they took the car apart to only tell me that the fuel had exhausted completely, i had to wait for 4 hours before they could glue the car back together and to top it all i was charged Rs 400 for breakdown assistance.

They use the fuel in the car, do not calliberate the gauge properly and charge me on top man it really is not a fair and consumer friendly world.