Expensive Service for Kia Sportage

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#2531055 29-Jul-2020 21:14

Obraik:

decibel:

Unfortunately all the car companies are like that. Ford has an online calculator that tells you the price in advance https://www.ford.co.nz/owners/service/calculator/

The other thing is that they assume that the driver is a senile old grandmother who wouldn't know what a flat tyre drives like or any other death-knell sounds or smells, so they check far more than necessary.

Well, not all...Tesla has no service requirements 😉

Servicing means checking and fixing/replacing before a part fails. I guess Tesla must have super special non wearing parts like brake pads, and never need the brake fluid to be checked/changed. Doesn't have steering arm bushes that wear out, etc, etc.

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Ultimate Geek

#2531069 29-Jul-2020 21:26

Wyvern:

Is it part of keeping the warranty intact that you have to have the Kia serviced by Kia service centre or can you just go to a regular mechanic? Have a Sorento that will need its first service shortly and keen to avoid chance of high charges also so long as it doesn't affect warranty.

I saw something about this on Quora recently. Just google as well and get the same answer - overseas (probably in the USA), you don't have to go to a dealer but the place should at least be an authorized repairer and not just your regular Joe's garage.

Also some info in this thread from a few years ago:

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=162&topicid=108199

I would say at the very least do some research beforehand.

Obraik

2123 posts

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#2531070 29-Jul-2020 21:26

Technofreak:
Servicing means checking and fixing/replacing before a part fails. I guess Tesla must have super special non wearing parts like brake pads, and never need the brake fluid to be checked/changed. Doesn't have steering arm bushes that wear out, etc, etc.

Tesla has no scheduled service. IE, no 10k, 60k, 100k service schedule. I'm not saying a Tesla will never need maintenance carried out over its life.

The only thing they recommend is having the brakes checked after 2 years but since the brakes are rarely used and we don't use salt on our roads it really is just a check.

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Handle9

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#2531076 29-Jul-2020 21:32

Obraik:

decibel:

Unfortunately all the car companies are like that. Ford has an online calculator that tells you the price in advance https://www.ford.co.nz/owners/service/calculator/

The other thing is that they assume that the driver is a senile old grandmother who wouldn't know what a flat tyre drives like or any other death-knell sounds or smells, so they check far more than necessary.

Well, not all...Tesla has no service requirements 😉

And generally horrible reliability

1cloud

164 posts

Master Geek

#2531117 29-Jul-2020 21:38

gcorgnet:
Hey guys,

My wife dropped off her car for a service on her 2016 Kia Sportage. (we've had it since new)
It has done 48k but they consider this the "60k" service, which I guess make sense.

Bill came out to $850 which seems super excessive to me. I realise that having your car serviced at the dealership could be more expensive than the local mechanic but this feels huge.

In the past, we've had service on that car ranging from $300 to $550..

Invoice Includes $305 of labour, $130 Engine Flush, $100 of Oil and about $110 for 2 different filters.

Are they having us on? I don't know much about cars so hard for me to know if that's justified..

Weird part is my wife said when she dropped the car off and the guys prepared the worksheet, he wrote "estimate $800-900" on the sheet. This sounds fishy to me as how would he know?

He also didn't say that to my wife, he just wrote it down. Is that normal?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

They should never flush the engine with only 50k on the clock and reasonable new engine. From my memeory genuine korean vehicle oil filter is super expensive for no reason.

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#2531118 29-Jul-2020 21:38

tehgerbil: "servicing" is a total rip off, it's easy money for the dealer and a total rort.
Sorry but in this case they appeared to have given fair warning to the wife.

If you do approach them, be prepared with a number, e.g. you want a 20% discount as they're not market prices. But they can just say we did warn you.. ymmv

Regarding the warning, they did ask if my wife wanted to do a Engine Flush, which was "about $100" (nevermind it ended up being about $150 in reality).

She said yes to that. But no one told her how much the rest was gonna be... this was a surprise!

gcorgnet

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#2531119 29-Jul-2020 21:40

1cloud:

They should never flush the engine with only 50k on the clock and reasonable new engine. From my memeory genuine korean vehicle oil filter is super expensive for no reason.

Interesting... I wonder why they offered it then... I wish my wife had jsut said no... I guess we'll know for next time..

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#2531124 29-Jul-2020 21:45

gcorgnet:
Hey guys,

My wife dropped off her car for a service on her 2016 Kia Sportage. (we've had it since new)
It has done 48k but they consider this the "60k" service, which I guess make sense.

Invoice Includes $305 of labour, $130 Engine Flush, $100 of Oil and about $110 for 2 different filters.

Are they having us on? I don't know much about cars so hard for me to know if that's justified..

Weird part is my wife said when she dropped the car off and the guys prepared the worksheet, he wrote "estimate $800-900" on the sheet. This sounds fishy to me as how would he know?

He also didn't say that to my wife, he just wrote it down. Is that normal?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

Cars often have minor services that are just oil changes and major services that involve maintenance items. Your handbook should contain details. At 48k I'd expect the 45k service to be done. Jumping to 60 because you are over 45 smell like a stunt. The 60k probably has extra work. What happens next service when it does reach 60k? Engine flush might be a radiator drain and refill with new coolant. I can't imagine a low km vehicle needing a lubrication system flush.

The dealer service guy is pushing the same cars through the workshop all the time. Unless there is something unexpected he should know usual cost.

I used to clean the obvious debris off air and pollen filters before sending car into dealer. On sealed roads neither looked any dirtier than the reg number written on them. The air filter got changed finally at 105k

Scott3

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#2531153 30-Jul-2020 00:11

With regards to the 48000km vs 60,000km thing, your car may be on age based services rather than mileage based services. If service intervals are 15,000km or 1 year like my car, you would expect a 2016 car to be doing it's 4th service in 2020 based on age.

My vehicles are higher mileage, but I wouldn't be surprised by a $900 for a "Bigger" service by a dealership for a SUV.

Last time I had my SUV serviced (180,000km service) it came to $2300. That was lot of things coincidental at once (prices incl GST):

Rear break pads & new rotors installed $773
6x iridium spark plugs installed $533
Standard service (oil + filter + checks + loan car): $440
Engine Air fliter installed $80
Break fluid replacement: $110
Cabin Air filter installed: $125
Trans fluid replacement: $240
plus some small stuff.

This was the second service I had with the car, and it had always been serviced by the dealership. First service was just a standard $440 one (lasts 15,000km or a year), I was OK with that price. Car is old, a luxury brand, and they were giving me a new SUV off the lot with with a $85,000 price sticker in the window as a loan car which was quite nice.

The kicker after all the above, was that they told me that the car had not yet had it's cam belt changed (due at 150,000km), despite the same dealership stamping the service book for the 150,000km service prior to my ownership... Hence I brought the car assuming it had been done - a bit of a learning experience on my part - check for a sticker under the bonnet not just a stamp in the book.

They also fed me a bunch of mis-infomation about the water pump looking OK and only needing replacing if it looked really bad when the cam belt was out, encouraging saying the job will cost half if the water pump doesn't need done. Best practice on this model is to replace it with the cambelt.

At that point I decided paying $120/h for labour is a bit out of hand, and decided to start taking the car to my normal mechanic. Got the cambelt done (incl waterpump seals etc, all genuine parts) for $1450, rather than the $2000 quoted by the dealership. When the waterpump was removed, corrosion made it clear it had been leaking for some time.

Will keep using my normal mechanic. I think I get better service at half the hourly rate.

With regards to Tesla service, the list of items is super short, and seems quite optmistic.

https://www.tesla.com/en_NZ/support/car-maintenance#:~:text=Tesla%20recommends%20an%20air%20conditioning,6%20years%20for%20Model%203.&text=Tesla%20recommends%20cleaning%20and%20lubricating,cars%20in%20cold%20weather%20regions.

For comparison here is the service guide for the Nissan leaf (US verson so in miles):

https://owners.nissanusa.com/content/techpub/ManualsAndGuides/LEAF/2019/2019-LEAF-service-maintenance-guide.pdf

As with most other car's there are heaps of items that are best inspected regularly for a high reliability, hand's off ownership experience. Everything from CV boots, to break consumables, to the need to lubricate the charging port hinge. Things like having the key battery replaced can also make the ownership experience better. I spouse the reduction oil in the Tesla is specked to last the life of the vehicle, but if I owned one, I think I would like to see it changed at least every decade...

Jase2985

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#2531162 30-Jul-2020 06:38

unless someone posts up what is in a 60,000km service from the Kia manual no one can say whether its expensive or not as everyone is just guessing.

gcorgnet

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#2531163 30-Jul-2020 06:39

wow, your $2300 service puts mine into perspective, for sure..

In my case, they didn't seem to have done anything large like the brake pads, etc.. Yeah, next step is to confirm the warranty is now out (couldn't confirm if it was 3 or 5 years, looking at the paperwork) and start going to a local mechanic.

Cheers

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#2531165 30-Jul-2020 06:40

Jase2985:

unless someone posts up what is in a 60,000km service from the Kia manual no one can say whether its expensive or not as everyone is just guessing.

Yeah, I'll need to have a look in the manual tonigh to check this.

1cloud

164 posts

Master Geek

#2531169 30-Jul-2020 07:18

gcorgnet:
1cloud:

They should never flush the engine with only 50k on the clock and reasonable new engine. From my memeory genuine korean vehicle oil filter is super expensive for no reason.

Interesting... I wonder why they offered it then... I wish my wife had jsut said no... I guess we'll know for next time..

https://amsoil.eu/blog/is-an-engine-flush-good-or-bad/

Most engine flush additive are solvent based and solvent kills seals

BlinkyBill

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#2531171 30-Jul-2020 07:51

I had a 4-year service done recently, at 45,000km. $4,800 incl gst. OK, it was a Porsche, but still ...

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#2531174 30-Jul-2020 07:58

BlinkyBill:

I had a 4-year service done recently, at 45,000km. $4,800 incl gst. OK, it was a Porsche, but still ...

Yeah... but getting cheaper services is the very reason I got a Kia and not a Porsche.. :-)

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