Am I getting royally f'd over on my service? [1.0 ecotsi 95]

[LeonDood]

Took the wife's car in for a service, not had a proper one in years so went for the full works, including spark plugs and A/C re-gas.

£450.....

The bloke tried to make the case that because its an ecotsi it needed Iridium spark plugs or some bs which are expensive hence the increase in cost over a normal service.

I wholeheartedly expected it to cost a hair over £300 (£350 tops) all in considering its a little 1.0 litre - this seems outrageous IMO.

Checking Eurocarparts and found out within 2 seconds that I can find compatible spark plugs for £15 a pop, not exactly expensive.

This was the same garage who charged £200+ for a new battery because again it had to be a particular type for this car apparently - I mean ffs its a 1.0 litre Seat, its not anything unique that requires really obscure parts so wtf?

Am I being told a load of BS? I'd like to know before ever considering going here ever again.

 

[H Rafiq]

Shop around. Get 3 quotes from elsewhere. Check Seat too.

 

[jcbmally]

Took the wife's car in for a service, not had a proper one in years so went for the full works, including spark plugs and A/C re-gas.

£450.....

The bloke tried to make the case that because its an ecotsi it needed Iridium spark plugs or some bs which are expensive hence the increase in cost over a normal service.

I wholeheartedly expected it to cost a hair over £300 (£350 tops) all in considering its a little 1.0 litre - this seems outrageous IMO.

Checking Eurocarparts and found out within 2 seconds that I can find compatible spark plugs for £15 a pop, not exactly expensive.

This was the same garage who charged £200+ for a new battery because again it had to be a particular type for this car apparently - I mean ffs its a 1.0 litre Seat, its not anything unique that requires really obscure parts so wtf?

Am I being told a load of BS? I'd like to know before ever considering going here ever again.

I would say yes. The wife’s 1.0 Ibiza was serviced for £169 at the local garage (3rd service).

 

[SRGTD]

@LeonDood; that sounds like main dealer prices, although I assumed (maybe incorrectly) that you didn’t use a Seat main dealer. I would expect a reputable independent specialist to charge quite a bit less than £450 for a service + air con regas on an Ibiza.

For comparison purposes, VW main dealer prices for the work you had carried out are below. I have a VW so I‘m not familiar with Seat servicing costs but would think VW and Seat servicing costs would be broadly similar as they’re essentially the same cars under the skin.

• Major service including new pollen filter (cars over 3 years old and engine size 2 litres and under); £235. Spark plugs aren’t included in that price - VW charge would charge an extra £115 for plugs.
• Minor service £195 (spark plugs would be extra at £115).
• Air con service; £139.

Total cost;

• major service + spark plugs + air con service; £489
• minor service + spark plugs + air con service; £449

 

[rdraheim]

How many miles?

For me, I would do a full oil service (should run around £80-100 w/VAT) for 4L of proper oil and an OEM Mann filter. I don't do tyre rotations or any of the useless stuff and just got around 100k miles out of the rear tyres on my Golf.

For the EA211 1.2L engine, spark plugs are recommended at 60 000 km (40k miles) and an air filter at 90 000 km (55k miles).

Personally, I would simply do an oil change every 10k miles, and swap out the plugs/air filer/cabin filter every 3rd oil change (30k miles).

My local indie shop charges 0.5h for an oil change and 1h for an oil change/air/fuel/cabin filters and HT leads (£56/h+VAT) on my EA111 Golf. They also charge £30 for a brake flush and refill. This is in SE England and prices might be higher than where you are.

I can calculate an estimate with more information about your car.

I assume that your timing belt is similar to the 1.2 TSI, which has a project lifespan of 210 000 km (130k miles). Plugs are indeed £15 each and should be easy to change.

I could do all of this myself in under an hour, but I like having the mechs look at it every 30k miles.

I wouldn't go for a "full service" as a lot of useless stuff is included and I find the service schedule from VAG to be VERY expensive.

 

[mty12345]

Took the wife's car in for a service, not had a proper one in years so went for the full works, including spark plugs and A/C re-gas.

£450.....

The bloke tried to make the case that because its an ecotsi it needed Iridium spark plugs or some bs which are expensive hence the increase in cost over a normal service.

I wholeheartedly expected it to cost a hair over £300 (£350 tops) all in considering its a little 1.0 litre - this seems outrageous IMO.

Checking Eurocarparts and found out within 2 seconds that I can find compatible spark plugs for £15 a pop, not exactly expensive.

This was the same garage who charged £200+ for a new battery because again it had to be a particular type for this car apparently - I mean ffs its a 1.0 litre Seat, its not anything unique that requires really obscure parts so wtf?

Am I being told a load of BS? I'd like to know before ever considering going here ever again.

Sounds fairly reasonable to me given how expensive everything is atm. Car parts have gone up massively in the last 2 years just like everything else. There are also a lot of overheads in running a garage that many people don't realise.

Iridium plugs are OE fitment and any reputable garage is going to want to fit the OE plugs. £60 a set is about the going rate.

Air con service and re-gas is expensive these days at around £140 on it's own. ( and if you have a new car with the fancy refrigerant, you can pretty much double that)

Then you have the oil which if good quality synthetic then is probably £40, even for enough to fill a 1.0 engine. Then there are charges for disposal of your waste oil etc, plus all the other filters etc, that probably comes to another £60 at least.

Then you have probably have a couple of hours labour by the time they have sourced the correct parts and changed all those service items, plus checking the tyres, brakes, fluids, wipers etc etc that any garage would do at a full service. Add in the fact the garage owner has to pay insurance, extortionate electricity prices,business rates, and various other bs (including the 20% VAT) and £450 doesn't seem like a rip off at all to me.

I doubt the owner himself made much more than £50 profit from the whole service.

 

[R3k1355]

Took the wife's car in for a service, not had a proper one in years so went for the full works, including spark plugs and A/C re-gas.

£450.....

The bloke tried to make the case that because its an ecotsi it needed Iridium spark plugs or some bs which are expensive hence the increase in cost over a normal service.

I wholeheartedly expected it to cost a hair over £300 (£350 tops) all in considering its a little 1.0 litre - this seems outrageous IMO.

Checking Eurocarparts and found out within 2 seconds that I can find compatible spark plugs for £15 a pop, not exactly expensive.

This was the same garage who charged £200+ for a new battery because again it had to be a particular type for this car apparently - I mean ffs its a 1.0 litre Seat, its not anything unique that requires really obscure parts so wtf?

Am I being told a load of BS? I'd like to know before ever considering going here ever again.

If it's fitted with Iridium plugs from the factory you don't really wanna be throwing any old cheap plug in there.

If the car has Stop/Start you'll probably need a Absorbent Glass Matt (AGM) battery, they're a fair bit more expensive than regular batteries.

 

[rdraheim]

I stand corrected, perhaps that price is reasonable looking at my invoices tabulated below.

I'm looking through documents right now as I have to apply for my son's citizenship and just came across the stack of invoice for my 2011 Golf (1.2 TSI EA111) ... these are all services at an indie that I trust and does good work in SE England.

date/miles/what/cost

11/6/21 97818mi MOT, leads, iridium plugs, oil filter, air filter, washes, vw spec full sun oil £248
23/6/23 97819mi coil pack, fuel filter, install two new tyres £178
23/6/23 97819mi labour for used gearbox install (I sourced it myself for £520 shipped to the garage), clutch disc, bearing, pp, gear oil £371
25/8/21 100377 replace cracked front spring, top mount, drop link £160
21/5/22 110619 MOT, both front struts leaking and replaced, other spring, top mount, drop link, bulk holder rear (corroded) £398
29/6/22 115322 oil change, filter, plug £102
12/9/22 122254 front driver window mech, used motor (eBay sourced by me for £25) £210
13/10/22 125205 oil change, filter, plug £78 (no idea why cheaper)
25/1/23 135289 tyre rotation, puncture fixes (2 tyres), washer jets new (hi-spec), leads, oil change, headlight bulb, plugs, air filter, feel filter, pollen filter £419
20/4/23 144018 oil change and MOT £150
11/5/23 145291 new front discs, new front pads, new front tyres (i supplied £120 shipped to me) £278
12/7/23 150895 water pump change (4th pump now) £190

two years of ownerships costs (53k miles) = £2782 + £520 for the used gearbox and £120 for the tyres = £3432

i just bought a 2015 SEAT León SE Tech (1.2 TSI 6-speed) with 48k for £6k ... hopefully less of a money pit.

edit: also, Halfords did a BOSCH S4 battery replacement onsite for like £120 (battery was around £90). so really around £3600 or so for 2 years and 50k miles

 

[rdraheim]

edit2 (I guess the ability to edit times out): I just stepped out of the Golf and I missed the three new BOSCH wipers and a few headlamps ... one is out now and a set of tyres in the previous calculation (so around £3600 really in the last 2 years, 50k miles) ... ugh.

 

[RUM4MO]

I've recorded over £64 for correct plugs and pressure pipe O-ring seals as these should be replaced every time that tube is removed, and it needs removing to reach some of the plugs - which equates to just under £15 a plug for genuine VW Group branded NGK Iridiums - which beat or equals any price I could get for non VW Group branded NGK plugs, many/most VW Group Indies will only use genuine VW Group parts to stay on the right side of "you've fitted the wrong parts" when things unrelated to the service, go wrong 3 months down the road!

 

[RUM4MO]

edit2 (I guess the ability to edit times out): I just stepped out of the Golf and I missed the three new BOSCH wipers and a few headlamps ... one is out now and a set of tyres in the previous calculation (so around £3600 really in the last 2 years, 50k miles) ... ugh.

No harm in logging all costs, it makes you able to make a statement about running costs years down the line, instead of claiming it cost next to nothing to run.
I used to find that Ford cars especially tended to "request some of your wallet" regularly, whereas my VW Group experience leaves me thinking that some unusually large "wallet hits" have appeared out of the blue - so similar or higher real world running costs to my previous Fords.

 

[rdraheim]

No harm in logging all costs, it makes you able to make a statement about running costs years down the line, instead of claiming it cost next to nothing to run.
I used to find that Ford cars especially tended to "request some of your wallet" regularly, whereas my VW Group experience leaves me thinking that some unusually large "wallet hits" have appeared out of the blue - so similar or higher real world running costs to my previous Fords.

I feel like it's been manageable but our usage has gone way up (50k miles in the last two years). Thus, the cost/mile is probably the same ... But not the £/year.

Also, some parts have completely worn out by 110k (gearbox and front suspension), so hopefully, I'm good for another 50k miles.

Interestingly the same gearbox is on the EA111 and EA211 engine even though they are oriented differently and I can't imagine that the same fill hole can be used.

VWs "lifetime" gear oil resulted in a sheared bolthead in the diff and I'd like to change the oil in SEAT gearbox but I can't imagine how to refill it correctly.

 

[Jpbroad1970]

This may help you. I have downloaded all the catalogue for my car. Was worth the money to VW for them off ErWin

 

[rdraheim]

This may help you. I have downloaded all the catalogue for my car. Was worth the money to VW for them off ErWin

thanks. I was checking out this thread as I believe I have the 0AJ 6-speed and the RGN as it's the 81kW 1.2 TSI engine as shown on page 6 but that Golf 7 forum is awesome for a great deal of things.

 

[Jpbroad1970]

Mine is only 5 speed so that gearbox hence the diagrams I downloaded

 

[rdraheim]

shoot, I was trying to get both children to sleep and forgot to upload the file and attach the link:

gearbox links with different types: https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/inde...250-5-speed-or-6-speed-manual-gearbox.348763/

files:

 

[martin j.]

Just ask at the time of booking work”what will it cost?” If it doesn’t suit, query it or go elsewhere?

 

[rdraheim]

Just ask at the time of booking work”what will it cost?” If it doesn’t suit, query it or go elsewhere?

you, get outta here with your sensical responses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!