Car servicing: dealer vs independent for a 4 year old car out of warranty

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Car servicing: dealer vs independent for a 4 year old car out of warranty

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sqishy

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#2274185 10-Jul-2019 17:00

The car is so new you only need oil and filter. There s no point checking brake lines, suspension a waste of time. WOF will check some of these anyway each year.

This car will go 10 years without fault unless the odd bearing fails on say alternator.

All that other stuff checking brake fluid - waste of time, a light will come on it it gets low.

Air/cabin filter do need replacement sometimes.

What you should do it go to say a place that does oil and filter and WOF and do it all in one go.

Lias

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#2277510 15-Jul-2019 22:38

My experience is it varies drastically between stores, be it dealer or not. I got my little Kia (used but with 3 year mechanical warranty) from a Toyota dealer that traded it in. I took it back to them for several years and they were always great to deal with, anything not covered by the warranty was reasonably priced, always provided a loan car, etc. When I moved cities, I thought I'd start using the local Holden/Kia dealership, and quickly discovered they are both expensive and not really interested in providing service, so now I get all my servicing done at the local Tony's Tyres, who are super friendly, very reasonably priced, and have won my repeat business by share dint of not sucking.

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Bung

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#2277523 16-Jul-2019 00:26

Fred99:
breese:

Took my suzuki to the kapiti agent for a service and very surprised to see a $10, environmental disposal fee tacked on.

It's free to dispose of used oil at recycling centres, Supercheap Auto stores etc, and with the volume of oil being disposed of by an auto service centre I'm sure they'd get it picked up for free - so what's the $10 actually for?

I'm not sure that commercial oil collection is free. Firms like Salters that do it talk of it being chargeable since 2016 and issuing a tax invoice as evidence that you disposed of the oil legally. In Wgtn private individuals can drop off 20l at a time at the landfill.

geoffwnz

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#2277570 16-Jul-2019 08:57

sqishy:

All that other stuff checking brake fluid - waste of time, a light will come on it it gets low.

Err, brake fluid level is the least of your worries. The level "should" only drop as the pads/rotors wear. And not all cars will have a fluid level sensor.

However, it should be changed regularly (12 months, or 10-20k) due to the nature of the fluid absorbing water which will cause it to boil under reasonable use which puts air in th ebrake system which then means you get the heart stopping sensation of the pedal going to the floor when you suddenly need to stop, often followed by car stopping crunchy noises.
This being a tech forum, you'd be expected to have some form of basic knowledge before posting such absolute statements. :-/

As to the topic at hand, dealers or independents have good and bad examples. Find one you trust and stick with them.
I get my Subaru parts from the dealer, do most of the servicing on my fleet myself but have two independent workshops that I trust for jobs that are outside my skillset or toolset (gearbox work, pressing bearings etc).

I've had good and bad experiences from independent and chain stores. Bridgestone being a classic fraudulent effort, charging me for a wheel alignment but not actually doing the work. Fairly obvious when there were no tool marks to be seen. Refund given when they were called out on it and I take my tyre business elsewhere now.

MotorDrive Rallying

Bung

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#2277631 16-Jul-2019 09:46

Checking fluid levels should be a regular thing. The windscreen washer water does need topping up and the others only take seconds to check.

geoffwnz AFAIK Bridgestone outlets are often franchised so your experience might just reflect on one outlet. Did they do nothing at all? I've had several alignment checks where the change since last time didn't justify altering anything and one where a lot of parameters came right after a subframe bolt was loosened and retightened.

geoffwnz

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#2277643 16-Jul-2019 10:05

Bung: Checking fluid levels should be a regular thing. The windscreen washer water does need topping up and the others only take seconds to check.

geoffwnz AFAIK Bridgestone outlets are often franchised so your experience might just reflect on one outlet. Did they do nothing at all? I've had several alignment checks where the change since last time didn't justify altering anything and one where a lot of parameters came right after a subframe bolt was loosened and retightened.

Sorry, yes, just the one BridgeStone outlet. Haven't had the pleasure of dealing with any others.
Same goes for Beaurepairs though. First outlet not only couldn't get the alignment straight but they damaged parts of the car in the process. Second one argued with me about settings and insisted on refusing to explain positive and negative toe (their terms) into toe-in or toe-out despite me trying multiple times to clarify which was which.
Third outlet is now my trusted aligner (see below) as they are friendly, approachable, knowledgeable and happy to work with me.

BridgeStone claimed to have made adjustments with the Before and After measurements appearing to show them going from out of spec to within spec. In reality, all they did was put it on the machine, then swing on the out of spec side until the measurement "showed" within spec then printed it out. The look on the guys face when I challenged him about it said it all.

It took my trusted aligner (aligns the race car which is almost entirely "out of spec") over an hour to actually do a full alignment on it and it now drives so much better.

MotorDrive Rallying

Fred99

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#2277820 16-Jul-2019 16:49

Bung:

I'm not sure that commercial oil collection is free. Firms like Salters that do it talk of it being chargeable since 2016 and issuing a tax invoice as evidence that you disposed of the oil legally. In Wgtn private individuals can drop off 20l at a time at the landfill.

Free - for 400 litres or more:

http://www.oilrecovery.co.nz/waste-oil-collection-recovery/free-pickups/

Charging $10 for say 4 litres of waste oil disposal is daft - if that's what the charge is for. If it's not for that, then I'd ask them what the charge was actually for. Charging a fee in that way for something that has no cost is probably illegal. Tyre shops have significant disposal costs for old tyres, most I've dealt with include that in the total cost - "free disposal" (which of course it isn't).

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Fred99

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#2277823 16-Jul-2019 17:02

geoffwnz:

However, it should be changed regularly (12 months, or 10-20k) due to the nature of the fluid absorbing water which will cause it to boil under reasonable use which puts air in th ebrake system which then means you get the heart stopping sensation of the pedal going to the floor when you suddenly need to stop, often followed by car stopping crunchy noises.

If you change your brake fluid once a year, that's remarkable. I never heard that recommended for general motoring.

You can get brake fluid moisture meters cheap these days, some WOF / service centres test it for free. Not a cure-all though, some of the water gets in from damp pistons sliding back into the calipers, so testing it at the top of the reservoir might not tell you the state of the fluid where the fluid can boil.

Anyway, depends on how the vehicle is used, and where you drive it. Fluid's going to get borked faster if you live somewhere wet and humid, cross rivers in a 4WD etc.

geoffwnz

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#2278124 17-Jul-2019 09:23

Fred99:

geoffwnz:

However, it should be changed regularly (12 months, or 10-20k) due to the nature of the fluid absorbing water which will cause it to boil under reasonable use which puts air in th ebrake system which then means you get the heart stopping sensation of the pedal going to the floor when you suddenly need to stop, often followed by car stopping crunchy noises.

If you change your brake fluid once a year, that's remarkable. I never heard that recommended for general motoring.

You can get brake fluid moisture meters cheap these days, some WOF / service centres test it for free. Not a cure-all though, some of the water gets in from damp pistons sliding back into the calipers, so testing it at the top of the reservoir might not tell you the state of the fluid where the fluid can boil.

Anyway, depends on how the vehicle is used, and where you drive it. Fluid's going to get borked faster if you live somewhere wet and humid, cross rivers in a 4WD etc.

Or drive a race car.
Yeah, so my use-case is not entirely standard. Race car gets done every 6 months or before a rally. Tow ute gets done yearly because the brakes get a decent workout trying to stop it, plus car on trailer behind.
For the $20 or so worth of fluid and half an hour of my time, it's good peace of mind. Also do the brake fluid on the low mileage commute hack as part of it's annual service.

Definitely worth at least checking the fluid moisture level yearly though. Not just the level in the reservoir.

MotorDrive Rallying

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