Expensive Service for Kia Sportage

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gcorgnet

1078 posts

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#272996 29-Jul-2020 17:06

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

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#2530878 29-Jul-2020 17:15

Your items don't add up to $850.

We had the previous gen Sportage and never had a service that expensive.

We replaced the Sportage with a Vitara - same dealer. Every service we've ever had they show you the price before. I know this as I usually tell them not to bother with the pollen filter.

gcorgnet

1078 posts

Uber Geek

#2530881 29-Jul-2020 17:17

Yeah, I know they don't. There's a few more small items + 15% GST.

And yeah, pollen filter is something we could have skipped, I'm sure...

Also, Engine flush. how often does it need doing?

tchart

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#2530897 29-Jul-2020 17:42

I just checked our diesel Ute's service plan for 60k.

Change engine oil
Change oil filter
Change pollen filter
Change air filter
Change fuel filter

That's the same as our 30k service which came out just under $500

Seems very expensive for what you had done.

RunningMan

8954 posts

Uber Geek

#2530911 29-Jul-2020 18:14

gcorgnet:

Also, Engine flush. how often does it need doing?

Is that task specified in the service schedule, or did you agree to it? If not, shouldn't pay for that, or the labour to do it.

gcorgnet

1078 posts

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#2530916 29-Jul-2020 18:27

RunningMan:
gcorgnet:

Also, Engine flush. how often does it need doing?

Is that task specified in the service schedule, or did you agree to it? If not, shouldn't pay for that, or the labour to do it.

They asked the wife and she said yes

surfisup1000

5288 posts

Uber Geek

#2530919 29-Jul-2020 18:31

gcorgnet:

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

Our last ford territory service at the ford dealer cost over $4k.

Service items with them, are bushes, arms, ball joints. These things which last a lifetime on other brands, regularly wear out. And, they're costly to replace. Especially so when multiple parts need simultaneous replacement.

So, $800-$900 is probably below our average ford service center cost. We have since swapped to a 3rd party auto service center, and , our services tend to be around $250-$450 now. The odd one goes higher, but, we're happy.

timmmay

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#2530920 29-Jul-2020 18:35

Seems expensive, but they did more than most services. Our Nissan dealer services are generally $350 - $450.

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dan

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#2530921 29-Jul-2020 18:36

pretty normal if you want to get it done by the dealer

as soon as my 3 year warranty was done, switched to a actual mechanic shop, its literally half the price (Hyundai Santa Fe)

If your in auckland PM me i can let you know who im using now

decibel

315 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2530924 29-Jul-2020 18:40

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.

alasta

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#2530925 29-Jul-2020 18:48

As others have mentioned, you need to have a look at the service schedule for your vehicle.

Are there items on the service schedule that weren't on the invoice? If so then the invoice may not be showing all of the work done. Does the service schedule indicate that the 60,000km service includes items over and above what would have been covered in previous services? If so then that would explain the difference in cost.

There may be items on the service schedule, such as the pollen filter, which some people consider unnecessary but they will be the first to moan and blame the car manufacturer when the vehicle and its ancillaries are not performing as well as they used to.

tehgerbil

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#2530928 29-Jul-2020 18:58

"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

Wyvern

91 posts

Master Geek

#2530929 29-Jul-2020 19:01

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.

WyleECoyoteNZ

1049 posts

Uber Geek

#2531018 29-Jul-2020 19:26

A quick google search says the Engine flush clears accumulated deposits, sludge and any other gunk.

In doing that, the engine may burn fuel more efficiently/be more fuel efficient. Maybe.

If they've done a engine flush, I'd guess one of the filters they replaced would have been the engine air filter, which would make sense after a engine flush. No point having a clean engine breathe through a dirty filter.

The labour cost is always generally the most expensive bit. The $305, was that 3 hours? An extra hour of labour easily adds $115 plus to the total of a bill.

Obraik

2123 posts

Uber Geek

#2531036 29-Jul-2020 20:12

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 😉

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Technofreak

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#2531052 29-Jul-2020 21:07

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

How would he know? It's my guess that from experience he knows that's about what they charge for a 60,000 km service on that model of vehicle.

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