With all this talk of maintenance issues and failing turbos, I thought I'd enquire about a full service for Buzz. As I can't be absolutely sure about his recent service history, I made an enquiry at our closest approved Daihatsu dealership, thinking an 'official' service stamp in his book might be the right thing to do. I don't quite know what I was expecting, but the quote came through at £160.55 Can I ask other members, is this in line with other parts of the country, and do we think it's reasonable for a service from an 'official' dealership? Cheers! PhillandLin and Buzz.
I used to pay about 150 ish for minor and 225/250 ish for major at Honda for my Civic and that was 5 years plus now. Its like how long is a piece of string, ebcause what does 160 get you? gear box oil change, brake fluid change? I wont to do those in the not too distant future.
Good morning! Thanks for the reply to trustafox. Looking at the quote, here's what I'm paying for: Lots of checking of things. Fluids, brakes, chassis nuts and bolts, and other bits. Oil filter £21.45, Drain plug gasket £3.34, Oil (GTX100) £25.06, Screen wash £1.48, Super Lube £2.49, Brake cleaner £2.54, Topup 1 litre of GTX100 £8.95, Environmental charge??? £3.50, Labour £65.00. All plus VAT. No brake fluid or gearbox oil change. What do we think? Cheers! PhillandLin.
Right. Got Buzz booked in for his 7 year service this morning at SG Petch, Richmond in North Yorkshire, en ex Daihatsu dealer. It's quite a drive out, but it's dry and there's lots of twisty country lanes I'll report our findings soon. PhillandLin
Hi, I didn't see your reply Environmental charge will be for disposal, of the oil mostly I expect. I don't think commercial can waddle down to their local council tip and pour 100 litres of oil in the stylish mobile 1 oil can lookalike receptacle. Some might not charge for this, but they probably pour it on the rats in the drains. I used to seen brake cleaner and thought wow yeah brakes are cleaner, great. Its probably just a squirt of organic solvent that removes some of the dust and then they looks cleaner! but unless more is done it might not do anything more that look better for a few days. They need a good brush as well and clean the split in the pad lining of compacted brake dust. Why do they need a top up? why isn't the £25 worth of GX100 enough in the first place? You only need about 3.5 litres for an oil change. Its not like they buy a 2.5 litre tub and then go oh now we need a top up, get the litre pot and charge them! don't garages buy in bulk and just take from that? No air filter either? Brake fluid is every 2 years or so, it can go long as I sure for many cars it does. But this may not be a main main service when brake fluid would be done. I'm doing my friends on Saturday, £2 250 mL tube of DOT 4 should do it on her old banger. In fact I'm doing a full service. o Again gearbox oil isn't changed often as it doesn't suffer thermal deg like engine oil. Have to check service schedule to see how often D recommend its changed. I know some DIYers on performance cars will do theirs every year and the diff oil (if got). I was considering doing my gearbox oil on the Copen but need to see if it has a drain or it a ball ache suck out. Which might mean its not needed to be done often. Sump plug gasket for 3.34!! a small disc of copper or aluminium. Go steal them from cars and sell as scrap and you'd be rich! For that much I want a massage as Bubbles Spa with extras!
Right, well here we are, returned back from SG Petch, Richmond, North Yorkshire, following Buzz's 7 year service. I'm glad to report that was an (almost) pleasant experience, and the invoice was less than the quoted price! Most unusual. There were 4 items in total. Oil filter £21.23, Drain plug gasket £3.34, Castrol Magnatec 5W-30 oil 2.8 litres £25.06 and an environmental charge of £3.50. They also noticed that the rear driver's side tyre had a screw stuck in it! So a puncture repair was completed for £12.50. Total was £156.76 including VAT. To be honest, I'm quite chuffed with that. As part of the service there was also a 25 point Visual Health Check. Buzz passed 23 points with flying colours but failed on 2 points His front brake discs were slightly pitted, and there were a couple of exhaust joints that were starting to corrode. I think that we'll live with those for now, but put them on the 'must do soon' list. Regarding the air filter, I recently won the Ebay auction for Adam's D-Sport version, which has only been used for 2500 miles, so that was just checked and ticked on the Health Check. Whilst the service was being carried out, one of the Salesmen gave myself and Linda a quick lift into Richmond Town Centre to do some shopping And he collected us when we were ready! Excellent service indeed! The drive up to Richmond from Bingley was about 60 miles and quite enjoyable but cold with the roof down. Especially on the A1(M) when a couple of 90 mph overtakes were needed! So, overall I'm very pleased with the service for Buzz, and the excellent manner in which we were treated. Definitely a 9 out of 10 score for SG Petch, Richmond. Well done! That's all for now. Cheers! PhillandLin.
