Dealers charging for tissue box and paper mats post service

We already know that some brands are now charging for steering, gear and seat cover they place when giving the car in name of COVID safety.

BHPian Vid6639 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Yesterday moderator Manson sent me his Skoda Laura service bill to do a once over to see if anything was unnecessary and whether prices looked in line.

I noticed one very amusing entry:

The service centre was charging Rs.79 for the tissue box they place in the car after service. This has always been complimentary and it's just hilarious that a premium Skoda brand for a service that costed him 60K still charged him Rs.79 for the tissue box.

Then came the bigger shock. Another member shared that this was nothing and better than what Maruti does. Take a look:

The dealer has charged Rs.5 for 3 paper floor mats i.e. Rs. 1.69 per paper mat in the bill.

We already know that some brands are now charging for steering, gear and seat cover they place when giving the car in name of COVID safety. These are usually around Rs.20-30.

What are some of the silly charges you have seen on your service bills?

Here's what BHPian CrAzY dRiVeR had to say on the matter:

I'Il see your Skoda and raise you a Hyundai:

Two weeks back I was charged Rs 16.95/- for dashboard polish and Rs 18.64/- for tyre dresser. Thought it was silly of them to charge these, but let it go thinking they might have used it to prep up the car post service (and most places are struggling with margin in these Covid times anyway)!

Doesn't end there. While cleaning the car over the weekend, I found these thrown in the glove box. To be frank, makes me laugh rather than be angry on this. This was a new low from Hyundai service.

Yes, 58.48/- for the perfume and 16.93/- for the windshield washer was added without asking too, but at least the washer was genuinely added and the perfume card smells nice.

Here's what BHPian anjan_c2007 had to say on the matter:

Becoming difficult to make both ends meet for the ASC's, they are doing a commercial research on all freebies that they could have been offering for free to their valued customers. The coffee and coffee service charges for serving coffee, pure drinking water charges, entertainment charges (WiFi/ TV as applicable), comfort charges for using their lounge, sofa and AC could all be the next in line. The fleecing will be perhaps complete by the ASCs then.

Luckily the tissue paper box as in image # 1 is not shown as meant for automobiles and hence is charged @12% GST is but not 18% .

And the battery petroleum jelly is charged GST @ 28% as in the second image. Vaseline is a petroleum jelly that can be liberally used for application on battery terminals. I am using it for two plus decades, but if the taxman comes to know that this fella uses it on his automobiles, I could be in for a GST shock.

In the third image, a consumable has been charged GST @ 5 %. That's an unbelievable discount by the taxman.

And if all these items were meant for an automobile viz. Skoda Laura that attracts 28% GST, the taxman would be much richer. Luckily, these have escaped the Finance Ministry's notice.

Here's what BHPian gkveda had to say on the matter:

I am still very happy that they are generous enough not to charge for these items and give them free to customers:

• Invoice paper charge.
• Printing charges.
• Ink for cartridge.
• Credit card machine electricity charges.
• Credit card machine maintenance charges.
• Job card stationary charges.
• Pen for SA to note down the complaints.
• Air charges to fill the tires.
• Customer lounge seat rentals on a per minute basis.

I am not surprised if dealers go through this post and get inspired to implement from next week.

Seriously, it is high time for us to clearly disapprove all these unwanted "Services" or business and get bare minimum required services. Customers do not have a legal right to say, I will not pay for these items. But he has full rights to reject the services or products that dealer tries to sell.

Honestly, I have asked myself, 100 times that the tyre polish that they apply and charge around 40-50 rupees, is it really required? It will not stay on tires for more than 5 mins. The moment car is out of dealership, on the road, the polish is gone.

There are 100 such waste "value added services" that the dealer offers and we customers go for it in the name of diplomacy. I think we should be ruthless and reject all nonsense from the dealership and be very harsh with SAs for offering this nonsense. It is not a question of money spent. But, it is business ethics or principles that I am questioning here.

Absolutely not tolerable.

Here's what BHPian vishy76 had to say on the matter:

Wait until you hear what I was charged for at the VW stealership.

Measuring charges.

Total amount: 1K

I was laughing.

The rest of the useless stuff includes:

• AC disinfectant: Amounts to 1.2K and includes spraying a bottle of AC foaming agent into the ac vents.
• Lock cylinder lubrication: Around 400 bucks IIRC. Again, spraying a can of lubricant into the door handles. God alone knows if they even performed this.
• Suspension lubrication: No difference to the suspension whatsoever. I highly doubt this was ever performed. And I don't think modern suspensions need any external greasing either. Used to cost around 1K.

VW has gotten rid of the last two items these days (atleast the ASC here). The rest remains the same. I still don't understand what vehicle measurement (front+rear) means. If some VW owner could please shed light on this and put me out of my misery.

Here's what BHPian Varun_HexaGuy had to say on the matter:

Dealers need an opportunity to charge people for the smallest of things and inflate the bill with unnecessary value add-ons.

My experience with VW has been something similar. When I'd gone to the workshop for the 6-monthly checkup (second free service) with my GT TSI soon after lockdown (this was in June 2020). From the get go, I knew my car had no work primarily because of zero running plus I had no complaints. Guys take in the car, inspect it, wash it and return it back. Wash was complementary. So the end bill should have been Rs. 0/-. But no, the final invoice had gone upto Rs. 4000/-.

When asked, the SA started saying the engine bay was degreased and detailed and AC disinfection was done. When I'd asked them if they'd sought approval from me for these services, the SA started saying it's mandatory and had to be done. Well, I put my foot down and let her knew that I wasn't falling for this BS. Long story short, walked out of the ASC with Rs. 0/- bill and those "value added services" were already done. I didn't pay up because they didn't seek my approval and these couldn't be reversed.

Second visit was four months after this for the first annual service (third free service). Labour was waived off and I had to pay for service parts and consumables. I'd anticipated a bill of close to 6-grand. But the SA hands me an estimate of ₹14,643/-.

Went through the estimate and gave my approval for the oil and filters. That bought the estimate down to a figure slightly higher than ₹5000/-. Since the SA by this time was fairly good with me and he had helped me a couple of times getting a few rare parts for my other cars, I decided to opt in for the cheapest value added service and call it a day. That incl GST ended up to ₹6200/-.

So long story short, go through the estimate and final bills in detail prior to paying up for the services. These value added services take up the final bill by a fair bit.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.