Hey Chris,

I don't think you're going to get much change from 250 quid. I was quoted more than that (on the previous MITO)...300-odd quid!

 

We just did one for £160 and that included oil & filter which some dealers do not. First services for £250-£300 is just outright robbery from dealers taking advantage.

 

Check your Local Regional Lounge or the Sticky Thread in GAD for recommendations of your local Alfa Indy Specialists then give them a call for a quote :thumbs:

 

Check your Local Regional Lounge or the Sticky Thread in GAD for recommendations of your local Alfa Indy Specialists then give them a call for a quote :thumbs:

As above

 

Hey, Pud. When you say 'we just did one', do you mean you're in the business and do them for that price?

 

Autolusso

 

take it to an indie garage specialising in alfas, im taking mine to a local fiat garage it will prob be about £165.....alfamoment is having his 159 done there for £140 service and oil change

 

Ah, cool, thanks David.

take it to an indie garage specialising in alfas, im taking mine to a local fiat garage it will prob be about £165.....alfamoment is having his 159 done there for £140 service and oil change

Which Fiat garage is that, Tess? My local 'official' Fiat dealership won't touch Alfas.

 

I cant believe people are willing to leave there oil in for 17,000mls

 

Totally agree, its mental.. All the 1.4s are based on the old F.I.R.E bottom end, when those engines first came out they were spec'd with 6 month/6,000 mile intervals. Oil hasn't improved that much..

 

I'm still scratching my head about where to take the car local to me. My nearest Alfa dealer is over an hour away from Cardiff (via the M4) and they charge £110 for an oil change!

Tess, Newport is too far away for me. Somewhere in Swansea would be fab. Yellow Pages? Hmmm...

 

LC motors hun 01633 259892, i know they are a long way from you...before anyone else points it out... but they are excellent, they are italian and most have alfas themselves, might be worth a call, you never know...

 

When I recently went to my nearest dealer they actually talked me out of having an oil change saying that it was totally unnecessary until the first service shedule of 17,000 miles.

I found this odd as I've always given my cars low-mileage oil changes purely for the health of the car. Dirty/carbon-filled oil simply cannot be as effective as clean, fresh oil. Particularly on a car that runs a turbo, too.

My car has currently done 7,000 miles without an oil change. It will have one soon. I just need to find somewhere close by that's VAT registered.

 

Thanks Tess, I'll certainly keep them in mind for future reference if every other path proves unsuccessful. I'll want an oil change soon enough, so I might give them a try. I'll have to meet up with you for lunch while they're seeing to the car!

 

no probs hun, just let me now first so i know im off, we can go for hot choc and cheesecake nom nom:cheese:

 

I agree Chris, there’s been a lot of stuff said on this forum about oil changes that, despite what people have forcefully argued, completely contradicts the official word of Alfa Romeo.

I guess it all comes down to this: Changing the oil does no harm, infact it can only do some good.

Personally I would rather have an early oil change purely for peace of mind. Yes, it contradicts the official interval (as stated above), but I just feel better knowing that the life blood of my car is fresh and clean. I had the oil changed on my first MITO at 9,000 miles and I’ll do the same with this one!

 

i have been consulting alfa-certified mechanics on servicing recently and have been reliably informed that there is little consensus amongst alfa garages as to when first service should be done, largely thanks to mixed messages from alfa themselves. most have the 18k miles suggestion, but whether it's one, one and a half or two years depends on who you ask apparently!

my best quote yet has been £130 for a full service (inc tyre rotation, filter changes etc etc.)

 

[sigh]

Yet another service thread where the waters are muddied,
by those who prefer to change oil as often as they like/can afford,
get "oil change" mixed up with "service".


An oil change isn't a service. You can oil change to your heart's content.

An oil change does form part of the (warranty schedule) service but
it isn't the be-all-end-all.

When the dealers start spouting nonsense about annual ~£300 "services"
it's a rip-off. And people are right to come on here and ask for advice.

 

Too far for you, but for comparison my local indie has a Alfa Mito Servicing Costs page.

I wonder if there's something intrinsically expensive about the Alfa's service schedule for the Mito. I mean, compare the servicing costs the Mito and 159/Brera, they seem disproportionate. Or maybe OEM parts haven't filtered(sic) through to the indies yet.

HTH

 

Too far for you, but for comparison my local indie has a Alfa Mito Servicing Costs page.

I wonder if there's something intrinsically expensive about the Alfa's service schedule for the Mito. I mean, compare the servicing costs the Mito and 159/Brera, they seem disproportionate. Or maybe OEM parts haven't filtered(sic) through to the indies yet.

Cheers for that Padders, yeah I see what you mean about the service costs for the MiTo being disproportionate. I was kinda expecting to pay cira £250 for the 18k service, but it looks like the price of servicing only seems to increase thereon after (and is much more than any of the previous models). Its a bit dissapointing to discover these 'hidden' costs to Mitownership, it's not quite a ferrari or lambo - but I suppose it's worth it for such a gr8 little motorcar.

Looking back at that page, I notice that the prices are now substantially lower (£156 for the 18,000 service).

The power of AO or just a coincidence??? ......I guess we'll never know.

 

Cheers for that Padders, yeah I see what you mean about the service costs for the MiTo being disproportionate. I was kinda expecting to pay cira £250 for the 18k service, but it looks like the price of servicing only seems to increase thereon after (and is much more than any of the previous models). Its a bit dissapointing to discover these 'hidden' costs to Mitownership, it's not quite a ferrari or lambo - but I suppose it's worth it for such a gr8 little motorcar.

 

DONT TAKE IT TO A MAIN DEALER..... way too expensive:tut:

my local indie garage is nowhere near as expensive as that one

 

Yeah, but can Indies do warranty repairs? I've got a little knocking sound which needs looking at (and hopefully can be fixed under warranty). I'm gonna give Simonstone a call and get a quote soon, the only problem with Newport (apart for the highway robbery/distance circumnavigating) is it's a bit out of my way and Simonstone is on my route to work and I can car-share with a college on that day. I just hope that they ain't gonna try charging the earth, at least I now know how much to expect and roughly what to negotiate.

 

Yeah, but can Indies do warranty repairs?

I've heard people banging on about Alfa 'approved' dealers. Not really sure what that means. I thought as long as they have the experience necessary to be able to carry out the work effectively (not essential, but y'know), are VAT registered and use official Alfa parts then your warranty is safe.

 

Some people are car snobs and only want officially approved dealerships to stamp their service book (well they do in another forum I frequent :lol. Yes, I've also wondered about what this is supposed to mean, and does it affect the warranty/resale value of the car (not that I'm really that bothered about the latter I'm keeping mine!).

 

Post edited by myself as my information was way off.

 

And there's the answer.

The garage Tess is referring to must be the one in Cwmbran...LC Motors.

As much as I love Alfa, it's a real pain in the neck that there isn't a dealer further west!

 

ali, its the one in newport they have two dealerships and are a professional garage doing warranty repairs, i wouldnt take babe2 there if i didnt know they were gonna do a proper alfa job and the work is top class.....friendly and knowledgeable.....best indie garage i know

 

Thanks Tess. I'll probably end up taking the car there for a service then, as they obviously have a lot of experience with Alfas (and that's good, as they know what they're doing and they have all the right parts/oil etc).

The car has just done over 7,000 miles so I think I'll wait until it gets nearer to 9,000 as it's halfway to the first official service point then.

 

they are a fab little indie garage, and know their stuff ali.....i recommend them to everyone, friendly and alfa mad.....they looked aftef babe really well and will be lookin after babe2, and you always get a courtesy car, might be a punto or a mito, but hey who cares lol
Did you see that roy posted the phone number for the indie he uses in swnasea?

 

Did you see that roy posted the phone number for the indie he uses in swnasea?

I did indeed Tess, thanks. I've 'favourited' that page of the thread in order to make a note of the number.

 

they are a fab little indie garage, and know their stuff ali.....i recommend them to everyone, friendly and alfa mad.....they looked aftef babe really well and will be lookin after babe2, and you always get a courtesy car, might be a punto or a mito, but hey who cares lol
Did you see that roy posted the phone number for the indie he uses in swnasea?

 

ooh get you, "favouriting the page"....:cheese:

 

The AA have just launched a mobile service service! ... from £149 for a full service. Might be interesting to get a quote off their new website ...

 

Hello all.... After reading all this helpful info I am sorry to say that I am still confused. My Mito is approaching 12 months old and has covered just under 8,000 miles. I want to get the oil and filter changed for the sake of good practice as much as warranty.

The handbook says this should happen if it has covered under 6,000 miles or has done a lot of city driving. It has done a lot of city driving and some decent longer trips and is obviously comfortably over 6,000. My questions are:

- Does the book get a stamp for this so-called 'low mileage' service? Alfa (Lookers Cardiff) want £161.56 to change oil and filter - £114.56 labour and £47 parts. Labour seems a lot.
- If I were to leave it til 2 years or 18,000 miles that still seems to be within the terms of warranty. The Selenia oil is called 20K..... supposedly good for 20,000km or c.12,00 miles. This seems at odds with the warranty if you can leave it in for 18,000 with no questions asked.
- If I took it somewhere else would I need to prove that the oil was changed at a certain time or with a particular brand (i.e. Selenia)?

I hope that makes sense.

 

if you dont mind travelling outside Cardiff give LC motors a ring and see if they will do it cheaper, much much more reliable than Lookers, i would never take my QV to Lookers LC number is 01633259892 ask for craig hes fab and knows a lot about alfas, he has a 156 SW.....oh and you will get a courtesy car if you need one, Lookers rarely have a CC....

 

It's simple:

Get the car serviced and booked stamped at the mileage
specified in the manual.


Additionally if you want to get further oil changes then
go ahead, whether that be annually, every 10K miles or
every 1000 miles. (As some on here may say is necessary. )




It's up to you as the owner of the car.