Money for jam

Rosco,

Know what you mean! At my last (yes last for Nissan) service they also mentioned that I needed rear pads by the next service (no quote) and a new rear muffler (threw anumber at me of about $260 for genuine or somerthing less for non). They are good indeed. Haven't looked at either as yet but with just 50,000 on the clock and very sparing use will do this myself before the next trip.

Kind regards

$225.15 per hour not too bad. I'm in the wrong trade me thinks.

Cheers Scoof

Yep, I know what you mean. Hubby puts his XR6 turbo in for the 45K service recently. Being the careful sort he actually read the service manual before it went in and discovered that the difference between this "major" service and a normal service was replacement of the air filter only. So he rang the dealers spare parts desk and got a price on the filter - $28.00. A few days later, in goes the car and when he went to pick it up they hit him up for $340. Well he says, why is it so much more expensive than the last service at $260 (rip off anyway)? Oh well it is a major service they say. B****hit he replies, I've read the manual and the only difference is a $28.00 air filter and yes, that's the price from your own spare parts division! Needless to say he had them by the you-know-whats so after a little bit of blustering and huffing and puffing the price was quickly reduced to $300.

:o) Melissa

Mate, a lot of this type of thing is purely dealer "up sell", "we'll give the mug punter a call and see what we can get away with". Brake pads are a common item for them to pick on as not many people can be bothered pulling a wheel off to double check. They just take the dealers word.

Had the local Mitsi stealer (big John...) do the same to me not long ago. Claimed the front pads were stuffed and needed replacing NOW. Told them to leave it alone and I'd get back to them. Checked myself when I got it home and pads weren't even down to the wear indicator. In fact I did a further 20K before they NEEDED changing. Got another 30K out of the rears till they were down to the wear line..

Mates wife actually had a casual job a while ago at local Ford place. Job was to ring punters who's car was in for work and attempt to "up sell" various products. She gave it up after a short time as she couldn't handle telling porkies all the time....

Oh, and don't go by what they print on the service invoice either. Usually it's pure fiction. All the items listed as being checked are just printed straight out of the service schedule onto the invoice whether they're done or not. I've caught them out so many times....... Now I'm out of warranty I do my own servicing ;-p