Why such a rip off?????

Hi,

I wonder of anyone can help me with this please.
My ALFA gt is just up for its 48,000 MILE service. Fine no problem, phoned around, one dealer - 450 quid!!!! Then when I said actually I thought I could get for around 300, they said well we could talk about the price, so let me get this right, you were quite happy to rip me off but know you want to talk about it!!!phoned a few other specialist all circa £300 does anyone find this expensive - can anyone tell me why? is there something I am missing? The car is a JTD and I personally have serviced a few turbo diesel cars myself, why would this be so expensive, surely its a hour labour plus parts?

Also in general I understand that you need specialist to as they have the experience when it comes to repairng the car but why is everyone charging so much?????

The book time for a 48000miles service inc pollen filter is about 3-hours.

Obviously some garages will be more thorough than others.

It's also to do with market penetration ............ a Ford service is between £100 & £250, depending on service period. So more vehicles to service, drives the price down, whereas AR has "niche make" market penetration, so the lower volume of vehicles attracts a much higher service cost - as all garages have the same overheads etc., to recover in their charges.

They don't really have the same overheads though. A garage in London will be far more expensive to run than a one man band working out of a lock up.

Also approved dealers have to spend significant amounts of money on all the special tools that Alfa say they should be using. A friend of mine is a Ducati approved mechanic working for himself. He had to buy what is effectivly a screwdriver with the end bent over. (does some special job on the engine - most people would manage with a normal one). Nearly £60 from the factory, but he's got to have it to maintain his Ducati approval. Thats just one tiny item, then there are shelves and shelves of official workshop manuals that are updated every few weeks. He doesn't get them for free! You and i would use an ebay copy perhaps - he can't do that.

The list goes on!

Originally Posted by Rockhopper

They don't really have the same overheads though. A garage in London will be far more expensive to run than a one man band working out of a lock up.

Also approved dealers have to spend significant amounts of money on all the special tools that Alfa say they should be using. A friend of mine is a Ducati approved mechanic working for himself. He had to buy what is effectivly a screwdriver with the end bent over. (does some special job on the engine - most people would manage with a normal one). Nearly £60 from the factory, but he's got to have it to maintain his Ducati approval. Thats just one tiny item, then there are shelves and shelves of official workshop manuals that are updated every few weeks. He doesn't get them for free! You and i would use an ebay copy perhaps - he can't do that.

The list goes on!

Sorry to disagree, but "front line" main dealers, be they Ford or AR, incur the same costs. The higher volume "badges" like Ford, can pitch their service and/or repair prices lower than Alfa, as their throughput is much greater. The one-man bands (whole in the wall scenario), are not in the same league - operational cost wise. Saying that, I avoid all main dealer service/repair outlets (like the plague), and always use if possible, my local tried and trusted (reasonably priced) 5 man band, independent motor service, MOT & repair unit. They even admitted yesterday, not to having an AR workshop manual to hand - but helped me all the same with their "hands-on" experience.

My specialist in bristol charged me about £150 for a full service on my old GT JTD.

Included oil/oil filter/air filter/pollen filter/fuel filter/ brake fluid change/ all usual checks and other fluids.

£300, let alone £450 sounds too much!

If you are near Bristol.

The company is called Alfanet, and the servicing/repairs carried out by Duncan.

Number : 07968488942

Say Matt with the black V6 GTV recommended

Alfa Workshop charge £220, which seems far more resonable.
Alfa Romeo Servicing

Originally Posted by tcm

Alfa Workshop charge £220, which seems far more resonable.
Alfa Romeo Servicing

what he said

See that sounds a little more like it, I appreciate it might be a little more expensive, but the argument about niche markets etc doesn't wash with me im afraid, there are hardly any garages around which seems proportionate to the amount of alfa's I think 300-450 quid is a pure rip off and suggest that people are playing on the fact that Alfa are so rare. I also understand there might be a requirement for special tools, but do you need one or even more to service a JTD engine. Also more to the point I am told the engine is the same across other models which means maybe only one outlay on such an item. Besides the point does anyone actually know if you need any specials tools to change the filters/oil/fluids etc?

In short I think it might be a trip to the Alfa workshop or our friends in Bristol....thanks for all your help.

Alfaworkshop are really good, we charge £280, I think we do a good job and charge for it, we certainly take longer than 3 hours to do it which is the book time. I have been thinking about our prices and I think I want to make it clearer on our site what we do for the money, it is very difficult to get the balance just right.

That’s not advertising buy the way, that is me thinking out loud

Ned

i just paid £530 for a third year service on my GT JTD which included the replacement of the front discs

they quoted me £220 for the service but then charged me another £80 to reset the service indicator!! cheeky buggers, one would assume that would be part of the service??!! all they have to do is plug in a laptop.

other than that they seemed fairly decent - Alfamania in west london.

To charge to reset the Service clock - that is outrageous...

I would be going back to get my 80 quid back if I were you....with or without baseball bat



Chris

Originally Posted by chrisd_b

To charge to reset the Service clock - that is outrageous...

I would be going back to get my 80 quid back if I were you....with or without baseball bat



Chris

petrol+matches.

its Alfamanias loss though as I may not go back again......

it was a massive **** take though

Just booked my GT1.9 jtd in for it's 12000 mile service with my local Alfa dealer £220 inc. vat with courtesy car sounds not a bad deal! would try going indy but have a warranty issue (wind noise drivers window). p.s. they offered to price match without prompting.
pps which is £60 cheaper than Ned's (auto lusso) website rate!

So folk
what am i looking at paying for the 36k service on a 156 1.9jtd sportswagon? IU live in Bristol and have used Steve bateman on a previous car.

Go see duncan in Bristol, if you can. He's had a go on my car and it ran like new after a service and cambelt change there.

Originally Posted by liller123

but then charged me another £80 to reset the service indicator!!

WHAT????? You MUST go back and claim the 80 quid. It should be part of the service, and even if it is not, it should be complementary - it only takes 1 minute!!

Honestly, I am SHOCKED!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by woodbutcher

Just booked my GT1.9 jtd in for it's 12000 mile service with my local Alfa dealer £220 inc. vat with courtesy car sounds not a bad deal! would try going indy but have a warranty issue (wind noise drivers window). p.s. they offered to price match without prompting.
pps which is £60 cheaper than Ned's (auto lusso) website rate!

OK so the dealer is £60 cheaper than us for a service, we are not trying to be the cheapest we are trying to be the best.

Ned

Honestly, I am SHOCKED!!!!!!![/quote]

I was too, but being the idiot I am and new to this (always had company cars so have not ever had to deal with garages) did not really consider what had happened until I had paid and I highly doubt they will refund it to me now.

An oil and filter change on a 530d at bmw is £279+vat thats 1 years tax and insurance and mot for my 33 i dont do new cars to expensive ciao daz

Originally Posted by chrisd_b

To charge to reset the Service clock - that is outrageous...

I would be going back to get my 80 quid back if I were you....with or without baseball bat



Chris

Equipment is not free, but £80 for a 2 minute job IS outrageous.