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Originally Posted by Gto Hondas have major services every 20,000 km which cost between 5,000 - 10000. For the rest, it is anywhere between 700 - 2000 including the engine oil. |
Great. we now have a general idea. What is the break up of the costs though? Could you include that as well? Like I said, Rs.2000 for a complete service is terrific, but lets have the break up.
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Originally Posted by GTO You own a Skoda - Tell me how much it costs to service 8 times over? |
As you know, I only ever went to the *** for services during the warranty period. The "
free" services totaled Rs.5,xxx/-. This was in 2004. March 2005 onwards its done at independent shops. The car is serviced and oil changed as per the service notification that comes up between 7500-9000 km, depending. For me, thats about once every 10 months.
Even at an independent garage, I have always paid Rs.5,000+. I mean, just the labour costs at any good independent garage will set you back atleast Rs.750. And the cost has nothing to do with the car being a Skoda.
The oil costs the same no matter which car it would be, the filters etc all cost within a few hundred of each other, the washing is the same. So I am really struggling to see how Honda, at their authorised service centre, can carry out a change of 4.5 liters of oil, oil filter, air filter, (fuel filter doesn't apply to the petrol cars usually) and labour charges all for Rs.2,000. We are talking out of warranty period here ofcourse. Its truly a marvel of cost management.
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Originally Posted by GTO VW recommends API CG-4 for their TDi's. There are some mineral oils that meet this recommendation. Check your Octy service manual. |
Again. Could you give me a link to where VW officially recommends a CG4 grade only? I asked earlier for the links. VW only specify their own VW marking for oil. This has been quite a bone of contention with many VW owners across the globe as VW dealers are very strict on using oils that conform to the applicable VW standard. But, I am open to correction if you show me. And yes GTO, I know what is in my manual. As mentioned in my earlier post, they only recommend it for top ups if nothing else is available.
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Originally Posted by GTO Absolutely not. What I am asking is for them to make available the cheaper oils which meet VW specifications. And sell them as "Skoda branded" oils just like Honda did when my Vtec goes for a service. |
Rush, all the VW oils for all their diesels are synthetics. At the risk of repeating myself far too often, VW already has its own standard. Across the world, the cost of Synthtics is almost the same as the mineral oils. Its only here we pay 100% more. If I get you correctly, you mean to say that VW should tie up with, say Shall Helix, stick on a VW/Skoda label on the can and price it at Rs.500? I guess they could. But usually when a manufacturer slaps their logo on the oil, the prices go up, not down.
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Originally Posted by GTO That is offering value to the customer. But Skoda India is hardly known for being a customer-centric organisation, isnt it? Sadly the parent company's attitude filters down to most of their dealerships. |
Value? C'mon man. Which car company in India is a saint. Was the OHC that sold for 9 lakhs in India value to the customer? Is the NHC which sells for 9 lakhs without airbags value? These are aspects directly controle by a company. Penalising a auto maker because the price of the oil they specify that is made, priced and sold by a third party company happens to cost more in India than in the rest of the world means the company is taking its customers for a ride? Again, I blame the oil company here, not the car company.
If its the dealer service you speak of, then that is an epidemic in India unfortunately as we do not have clear cut laws and regulations to them. It is surely not something unique to any one manufacturer. On BHP itself we have reports of Hyundai dealers assisting in the theft of vehicles, Tata dealers taking a bad car and making it worse, Ford dealers smashing customers cars during test drives and not accepting responsibility, Mercedes supplying cars with faults engineered into them, Fiat dealers who suddenly close shop or switch over to another manufacturer, Honda dealers who try and palm off a damaged car. The list is endless.
And that is also why I don't bother with them! I pay the same or almost the same outside as well, but atleast I know the job is done, and done well.
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Originally Posted by Gto Its important to consider that "cost of acquisition" is being sensibly replaced by "total ownership cost" in purchase considerations. |
I'm not good at maths, but let me try:
Accord/Civic: 0-15000km
Total service cost (as per your chart)=4100
Averge FE: 8
Total Fuel consumed: 1,875L x Rs.55=1,03,125/-
Total Fuel + service costs upto 15,000Km = Rs.1,07,225/-
Octavia TDi: 0-15000km
Total service cost (as per my experience in '04)=11,500
Averge FE: 12 (its higher, but lets stick to the lower figure)
Total Fuel consumed: 1,250L x Rs.35=43,750/-
Total Fuel + service costs upto 15,000Km = Rs.55,250/-
Total ownership cost (as you put it) for the Skoda over the first 15000km is almost exactly half that of the Accord or Civic.
Even if you take Rs.10,000/- per service for the Skoda, the saving every 15,000km over an Accord or Civic is a whopping Rs.43,475.
So, over 3 years and 45,000km, you would have saved Rs.1,30,425 by running the Octavia TDi.
Now we can argue that the petrol skoda will not give these savings. Sure. But maybe if Honda valued the Indian customer that much, they would have launched their own diesel here, which surely would have taken all the sales away from Skoda while providing even cheaper running costs to us.