Car servicing

Foster · December 2017

RaymondLin said:

Sassafras said:

RaymondLin said:

The fact is that it depends on

There is a thinking that goes something like....there are reasons why people have specialties. Doctors fix you, lawyers defend you, plumbers fixes your pipes and architects design houses. Mechanics fixes cars, so you pay the right people to do what they are good at, whist you do what you are good at that earn your living. Nothing wrong with that is there?

That's the whole problem; finding the 'right' people to do the job.
Not every doctor, lawyer or plumber is as competent as we would wish.
Exactly the same case as mechanics. I've known some truly appalling 'mechanics' and some excellent ones. Unfortunately the excellent ones are in the minority.

That is a completely different debate entirely worthy of its own thread but the point is people specialise in a field for a reason (in principle).

I dunno, I find most people specialise in a field through accident. You might plan to become whatever and then through circumstances, people you know, etc you end up working in a field you've never heard of.

RaymondLin · December 2017

Foster said:

RaymondLin said:

Sassafras said:

RaymondLin said:

The fact is that it depends on

There is a thinking that goes something like....there are reasons why people have specialties. Doctors fix you, lawyers defend you, plumbers fixes your pipes and architects design houses. Mechanics fixes cars, so you pay the right people to do what they are good at, whist you do what you are good at that earn your living. Nothing wrong with that is there?

That's the whole problem; finding the 'right' people to do the job.
Not every doctor, lawyer or plumber is as competent as we would wish.
Exactly the same case as mechanics. I've known some truly appalling 'mechanics' and some excellent ones. Unfortunately the excellent ones are in the minority.

That is a completely different debate entirely worthy of its own thread but the point is people specialise in a field for a reason (in principle).

I dunno, I find most people specialise in a field through accident. You might plan to become whatever and then through circumstances, people you know, etc you end up working in a field you've never heard of.

What job you end up doing and specialised in is also a TOTALLY different debate than car servicing....

randella · December 2017

boogieman said:

Depends entirely on the dealership in my experience. When I lived in West London my local Dagenham Motors branch were terrible, on the other hand their Epsom branch were great. For instance, Epsom offered me a loaner car when I booked the service, I didn’t even realise this was supposed to part of the service cost; the other branch had never mentioned or offered it. The West London lot also tried to load the bill with unnecessary “essential” work (like changing the plugs at 24k miles, when the Ford service schedule said they didn’t need replacing until 60k) and once they tried to bill me for a job that I had already refused beforehand. Right bunch of chancers.

@boogieman I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Unfortunately my handful of experiences with two different dealers where not great so I went elsewhere. There’s only so much daft nonsense (and that’s pretty much what it was) before you go elsewhere entirely.

Kudos on getting a courtesy car, I was told I’d have to pay for one (and they didn’t have any).

chillidoggy · December 2017

RaymondLin said:

Sassafras said:

RaymondLin said:

The fact is that it depends on

There is a thinking that goes something like....there are reasons why people have specialties. Doctors fix you, lawyers defend you, plumbers fixes your pipes and architects design houses. Mechanics fixes cars, so you pay the right people to do what they are good at, whist you do what you are good at that earn your living. Nothing wrong with that is there?

That's the whole problem; finding the 'right' people to do the job.
Not every doctor, lawyer or plumber is as competent as we would wish.
Exactly the same case as mechanics. I've known some truly appalling 'mechanics' and some excellent ones. Unfortunately the excellent ones are in the minority.

That is a completely different debate entirely worthy of its own thread but the point is people specialise in a field for a reason (in principle).

Maybe it's because they're REALLY shit at everything else.

midlifecrisis · December 2017

randella said:

boogieman said:

Depends entirely on the dealership in my experience. When I lived in West London my local Dagenham Motors branch were terrible, on the other hand their Epsom branch were great. For instance, Epsom offered me a loaner car when I booked the service, I didn’t even realise this was supposed to part of the service cost; the other branch had never mentioned or offered it. The West London lot also tried to load the bill with unnecessary “essential” work (like changing the plugs at 24k miles, when the Ford service schedule said they didn’t need replacing until 60k) and once they tried to bill me for a job that I had already refused beforehand. Right bunch of chancers.

@boogieman I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Unfortunately my handful of experiences with two different dealers where not great so I went elsewhere. There’s only so much daft nonsense (and that’s pretty much what it was) before you go elsewhere entirely.

Kudos on getting a courtesy car, I was told I’d have to pay for one (and they didn’t have any).

surely if you have to pay for it, its not really a courtesy car?

randella · December 2017

midlifecrisis said:

randella said:

boogieman said:

Depends entirely on the dealership in my experience. When I lived in West London my local Dagenham Motors branch were terrible, on the other hand their Epsom branch were great. For instance, Epsom offered me a loaner car when I booked the service, I didn’t even realise this was supposed to part of the service cost; the other branch had never mentioned or offered it. The West London lot also tried to load the bill with unnecessary “essential” work (like changing the plugs at 24k miles, when the Ford service schedule said they didn’t need replacing until 60k) and once they tried to bill me for a job that I had already refused beforehand. Right bunch of chancers.

@boogieman I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Unfortunately my handful of experiences with two different dealers where not great so I went elsewhere. There’s only so much daft nonsense (and that’s pretty much what it was) before you go elsewhere entirely.

Kudos on getting a courtesy car, I was told I’d have to pay for one (and they didn’t have any).

surely if you have to pay for it, its not really a courtesy car?

I think they were just trying to palm me off to be honest. They wanted fleet business, not some private punter turning up who queried whether or not four perfectly decent tyres on his car (that still passed an MOT five thousand miles later) needed replacing.

Foster · December 2017

Well it's all done, piece of cake to do (changing the fuel filter on a diesel isn't a great job but it's not that hard).

I thought this might've been an interesting thread for people to chat about working on vehicles, saving money by being more independent, etc. I'll carry on doing the majority of my own repairs and maintenance, learning and using valuable skills - I just won't mention it on here again.

RaymondLin · December 2017

Foster said:

Well it's all done, piece of cake to do (changing the fuel filter on a diesel isn't a great job but it's not that hard).

I thought this might've been an interesting thread for people to chat about working on vehicles, saving money by being more independent, etc. I'll carry on doing the majority of my own repairs and maintenance, learning and using valuable skills - I just won't mention it on here again.

I think it is interesting to work on your own car, but in your OP you make it sound like we all
should because everyone has the time and everyone drives an old car and everyone drives a car that can get serviceable parts for less than a few packet of strings.

There are certainly people like you out there but the majority of people, especially at the age of PCP and finance...very select few these days drives a car that fits your description and fewer still actually want to.

if the thread starts off as “have you ever checked how much the serviceable parts would be? Instead of “you lot are idiots paying other idiots dealer/mechanics 5x the money doing peanuts” then the result may be different, but because the thread started off in the latter and the debate shifted to that.

Stevepage · December 2017

Just serviced my 2012 Mondeo. Cost £36 for oil, oil filter and air filter (shell oil and Bosch filters) and about an hour of my time. Last year I paid £180 to have it serviced for the same as what I just done.

I'll stick to mechanics for major bits like timing belts, injectors etc but I'm pretty sure I'll do oil changes and filter changes myself in future

BigBearKris · January 2018

RaymondLin said:

Foster said:

Well it's all done, piece of cake to do (changing the fuel filter on a diesel isn't a great job but it's not that hard).

I thought this might've been an interesting thread for people to chat about working on vehicles, saving money by being more independent, etc. I'll carry on doing the majority of my own repairs and maintenance, learning and using valuable skills - I just won't mention it on here again.

I think it is interesting to work on your own car, but in your OP you make it sound like we all
should because everyone has the time and everyone drives an old car and everyone drives a car that can get serviceable parts for less than a few packet of strings.

There are certainly people like you out there but the majority of people, especially at the age of PCP and finance...very select few these days drives a car that fits your description and fewer still actually want to.

if the thread starts off as “have you ever checked how much the serviceable parts would be? Instead of “you lot are idiots paying other idiots dealer/mechanics 5x the money doing peanuts” then the result may be different, but because the thread started off in the latter and the debate shifted to that.

Wis'd.

Foster · January 2018

RaymondLin said:

Foster said:

Well it's all done, piece of cake to do (changing the fuel filter on a diesel isn't a great job but it's not that hard).

I thought this might've been an interesting thread for people to chat about working on vehicles, saving money by being more independent, etc. I'll carry on doing the majority of my own repairs and maintenance, learning and using valuable skills - I just won't mention it on here again.

I think it is interesting to work on your own car, but in your OP you make it sound like we all
should because everyone has the time and everyone drives an old car and everyone drives a car that can get serviceable parts for less than a few packet of strings.

There are certainly people like you out there but the majority of people, especially at the age of PCP and finance...very select few these days drives a car that fits your description and fewer still actually want to.

if the thread starts off as “have you ever checked how much the serviceable parts would be? Instead of “you lot are idiots paying other idiots dealer/mechanics 5x the money doing peanuts” then the result may be different, but because the thread started off in the latter and the debate shifted to that.

Could you be so kind as to directly quote where I said that people are idiots for paying a dealer/mechanic to do the job? As far as I recall I said "why would you".

You're the one who spouted the hooray henry shite of "my dear chap, why would I do any dirty work when I can make £1,000 a day.". We don't all earn that, I barely make £100 a day - I daresay there's a hell of a lot more people in the same boat as me.

So the question is "why would you", not "you lot at all retards" as you insist I said. For a lot of people they might not realise just how simple and cost effective it is to do your own work (not to mention how rewarding it is). I know when I started driving I was scared of doing any work myself and was misguided by some mechanics of how dangerous it is to do any work yourself, I never looked into doing any basic maintenance myself until I talked to people, watched car restoration shows or started reading classic car mags.

So while I might not earn £1,000 a day I'm happy with myself that I don't look down on others who do stuff for themselves.

RaymondLin · January 2018

Foster said:

RaymondLin said:

Foster said:

Well it's all done, piece of cake to do (changing the fuel filter on a diesel isn't a great job but it's not that hard).

I thought this might've been an interesting thread for people to chat about working on vehicles, saving money by being more independent, etc. I'll carry on doing the majority of my own repairs and maintenance, learning and using valuable skills - I just won't mention it on here again.

I think it is interesting to work on your own car, but in your OP you make it sound like we all
should because everyone has the time and everyone drives an old car and everyone drives a car that can get serviceable parts for less than a few packet of strings.

There are certainly people like you out there but the majority of people, especially at the age of PCP and finance...very select few these days drives a car that fits your description and fewer still actually want to.

if the thread starts off as “have you ever checked how much the serviceable parts would be? Instead of “you lot are idiots paying other idiots dealer/mechanics 5x the money doing peanuts” then the result may be different, but because the thread started off in the latter and the debate shifted to that.

Could you be so kind as to directly quote where I said that people are idiots for paying a dealer/mechanic to do the job? As far as I recall I said "why would you".

You're the one who spouted the hooray henry shite of "my dear chap, why would I do any dirty work when I can make £1,000 a day.". We don't all earn that, I barely make £100 a day - I daresay there's a hell of a lot more people in the same boat as me.

So the question is "why would you", not "you lot at all retards" as you insist I said. For a lot of people they might not realise just how simple and cost effective it is to do your own work (not to mention how rewarding it is). I know when I started driving I was scared of doing any work myself and was misguided by some mechanics of how dangerous it is to do any work yourself, I never looked into doing any basic maintenance myself until I talked to people, watched car restoration shows or started reading classic car mags.

So while I might not earn £1,000 a day I'm happy with myself that I don't look down on others who do stuff for themselves.

Here we go, getting very defensive there.

The tone of your posts and are the problem

"Why would you pay someone 5 times"

Why not? I have listed many reasons. You say that like we are doing it all wrong and your way is the right way.

"it's not exactly difficult to do is it"

How would you know what car I drive? It has already explained to you some modern cars are notorious for anyone else but the dealer to access the parts.

Then you make comments like "I doubt many of us hire a company to run a bath for us"

What is that meant to be? That it is simple like running a bath and if we can't service our cars, we are thick?

Then you reveal that you drive a 17 year old Citroen Dispatch. 1.9 XUD non turbo. 17 year old car !!! How many people here drives a 17 year old car? In the world of Finance and PCP, honestly, how many people drive a 17 year old car? Why didn't you open the thread with that? If I drive a 17 year old car that is easy to work on, I would service myself too, because the cost of a service by the garage cost more than the value of the car !!! it's pure economics above anything else.

And then you make comments like "A dealer stamp is worthless really."

For a 17 year old car, sure. Not for a 3 year old BMW or Merc or even a 3 year old Ford.

The whole perspective of yours is from the owner of a 17 year old car that is worth less than the scrap value of its parts. It is not the perspective of the majority of people. The tone of your original post assumes that most people are in your shoes. You made the disclaimer that if the car is under warranty its fine but seriously, under warranty means likely still under finance, it is likely to be still under PCP, and technically it isn't your car still and you would be obliged to get that stamp anyway. If you do own it after the 3 or 5 years, and it has been stamped for the duration of your ownership….would anyone suddenly say on the 6th year….Hmmmm, i am going to service it myself now it is MY car, not the bank's car.

Not really.

The whole thing is about perspective, different people in different scenarios have different perspective. We can all run baths but we don't all want to work on our cars. Is that wrong? You say like it is. I think THAT is wrong. I don't look down on anyone, i was making an example how if you earn at a certain amount per hour, it is uneconomical to "work" when you can doing something else. Is that wrong? Is that logic wrong?

I can see your perspective that for a 17 year old car you work on it yourself, why can't you see other perspective that sometimes, people simply don't work to. It's like "do you want some ice-cream? No I don't want to. Its free. No, I don't, now stop asking me I just don't want to. Often it is that simple.

I have tried to be amicable and wrote that your OP came out wrong and would have had a different reaction in the thread if you had opened it differently then you came out with that, using words like "henry shite".

I am done here.

Sporky · January 2018

Foster said:

Sporky said:

Surely it depends on how you value your own time?

You could say that about most things, I doubt many of us hire a company to run a bath for us

Fos - this is why you got the reaction you did. I pointed out, completely politely, why someone might not service their own car, and you replied with ridicule. I tried to explain further with examples and you got more and more narky about it.

I even apologised if I'd given the wrong impression, and you didn't even acknowledge it because you were too busy being rude to people.

You set up the responses you're objecting to.

Foster · January 2018

If you can't tell that a comment about "running your own bath" is tongue in cheek then you need to get out more.

And yes, a stamp in a book means that you got a stamp in the book - nothing more and nothing less. I've known plenty of people who will either buy a stamp on ebay or get lad from the pub to "borrow" one from work. There's also dealers who employ lazy mechanics who will just stamp the book and not actually do the work.

I've worked on my van (2000 plate), BMW (1993 plate), Toyota Avensis (2005 plate), VW Passat (2006 plate), both Peugots (2004 plates), Rover (1995 plate), mums cars (1986-2012 plates), sister's vehicles (1995-2014 plates). A lot of that work has saved hundreds from one quick job alone (replacing a broken window clip for £2 rather than £200odd for a new window regulator on a modern nissan van).

If you used a figure to argue about earning vs diy then use the average uk wage which equates to roughly £86 in your back pocket each day - so is it worth the average person servicing their car (the average age of a car on the uk road is 7.7 years old) then yes it is. You can do your own service for £50 and save £100 for an hours graft (done at the weekend when you're not working, so can spend all day at it if you want) or go to work for 1.2 days to earn the money to pay someone to service your vehicle. Pulling figures out of your arse of £1,00 definitely makes you sound like a 'hooray shite' as you put it.

You'll find a lot of companies will get a new vehicle and get it serviced, etc by the dealer until the warranty ends. Then it'll be serviced by someone cheaper - that's not much different to saying "well my car is fully paid off, out of warranty, might as well do some of the easy jobs myself and save some cash"

So again, why pay 5x to get someone else to do it? Maybe someone pops along and claims "Ain't got the skills or the tools mate, my missis don't even trust me with a butter knife!" and they'll realise how easy it is to change an air filter that doesn't require any tools at all. To back this up I've known people who have paid a garage to fix their car and charged them a lot "because the air filter was clogged".

I've seen threads on this forum where people have showed the rest of us how to change a pickup on a guitar - it's threads like that which give me the confidence and knowledge to tackle the same job myself. They're damn good threads.

celentium · January 2018

This is not a genuine discussion to understand when it is worth to self service your own car.

Instead of acknowledging the valid scenarios where a professional service makes sense, you are just arguing and forcefully trying to push that your way is the right way.

Sporky · January 2018

Foster said:

If you can't tell that a comment about "running your own bath" is tongue in cheek then you need to get out more.

So, how's that "insulting people" thing working out for you?

Oh, yes - it's making people think you're a dick, so they don't participate in your threads how you want them to.

RaymondLin · January 2018

Foster said:

If you can't tell that a comment about "running your own bath" is tongue in cheek then you need to get out more.

I am back to just say this.

I get out enough, more than enough that I don't have time at home to work on my own car.

How's that for tongue in cheek?

I don't want to work on my own car, same reason that I can't be arsed to build my own PC and bought a Mac. Same reason why some days I want people to cook for me. Same reason why I don't want to walk the mile to town and drive instead. Same reason why I buy overprice coffee. Same reason why I have a Gibson and not a Chibson.

Sometimes I just want to.

I already said, had you started the thread with "Anyone of you have an old car that you work on yourself?

instead of

"If you are smart enough to run your own bath, you shouldn't give people 5x the cost of the parts to do something so simple."

The former is what it should be but you choose to stick to the latter, even when pointed out to you now multiple times and tried to redirect it. You choose to keep insulting people and be defensive about the whole thing. You don't know what we all drive, you certainly don't what we all do, nor what we do in our spare time or if we even have spare time or even have the desire to get our hands dirty. You presume that we should be doing what you are doing just because we drive. You presume that mechanics are idiots and you presume everyone don't care for that stamp. You presume that stamp is worthless.

You clearly presume a lot.

Foster · January 2018

Sporky said:

Foster said:

If you can't tell that a comment about "running your own bath" is tongue in cheek then you need to get out more.

So, how's that "insulting people" thing working out for you?

Oh, yes - it's making people think you're a dick, so they don't participate in your threads how you want them to.

Well Sporky, a new low for you. I sent you a PM where I acknowledge the points you made, apologise for not responding earlier and say that i'll have a re-read of the thread with what you've said in mind.

In return you decide to ignore it and just outright insult me. Nice.

ronnyb · January 2018

If you want to continue arguing you'll have to pay for another 5 minutes.

Garthy · January 2018

p90fool said:

£31 is a total waste of money, car engines don't need servicing at all.

I haven't changed the oil in a car for decades, when did you ever hear of the engine wearing out before the rest of the car is knackered?

Seriously?

There's plenty of examples for so many different cars.

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