Servicing Opinions - Main Dealer Or Time For Indy?

[Dabooka]

Hi everyone, my second post in as many minutes!

Our Rav is due it's 80k service, and the missus and I are deciding if it's worth continuing with Mr T or if it's worth going to local trusted indy we use for the other car.

Currently it's got a FDSH, and initially we were looking at trading it in this year. Now we're faced with a house relocation we've decided to keep it until it dies, or at least for another good few years, and it was suggested that is it worth keeping it within the delaer network now the trading in issue isn't likely.

I'm guessing the 80k service will be a big one (?) but have no idea what's covered / additional to a normal one or if it's the one service Mr T should be doing.

I appreciate it's subjective, but it is opinions I'm after really; what would you do? Is it the wrong time to stop dealer servicing?

As always, thanks for your help!

Dabooka

[FROSTYBALLS]

With the Toyota Fixed Price Servicing scheme the difference in cost may not be that great, although any chargeable extras like brake fluid change, etc may be the decider. I' be inclined to check costs and what is included with the two first.

If the cost difference isn't great, one thing to bear in mind that if something major goes wrong in the next year, if the servicing was all Toyota, you're more likely to get goodwill from Toyota. With an indie service you'd lose the goodwill.

Check the costs, etc and see where you are then.

[Dabooka]

Thanks for that Frosty, the goodwill factor was partly what helped us decide on going Toyota. I don't know how much goodwill for anything anyone can expect on a 7 year old motor, but it'd be a lot more than the likes of Fraud or VW offer!

It's what is included in the 80k service I was hoping to find out on here; we're comfortbale to keep the dealer service, if it's warranted.

Cheers,

Dabooka

[Parts-King]

Print off the service schedule, look at the Toyota FPS price, then take the schedule to your independant and get him to price the like for like service using decent oils and genuine parts, I bet they are not too far apart

Kingo

[Dabooka]

Cheers Kingo,

Do you know if the 80k has anything other than fluids etc included?

[Parts-King]

Go to Toyota.co.uk/owners/car servicing you will see a list of services you can choose from, intermediate, full and full plus. It tells you what is covered on each service and what is replaced. The site seems to be throwing a wobbly at the moment and is not displaying properly for me, maybe try later

Kingo

[dwilson]

Our petrol RAV is a Jan 2007. The 60000 mile service cost me £419 but that included a service on the air conditioning which made a noticeable difference. We did have Toyota goodwill to help with the cost of the middle section of the exhaust which was still a stupid price £787 but would have been much more without the discount. I now know of an independent near to me with Toyota trained master technicians but it is still not an easy call.

Let us know what you decide,

David

[FROSTYBALLS]

Have a look at: http://www.toyota.co.uk/service-and-maintenance/car-servicing and http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/cdnlive.toyotaretail.co.uk/ToyotaFixedPriceServicing.pdf

Does your service book detail any extra servicing work at 80,000 - such as gearbox oil change, differential oil change, etc - as these would be extra to the Fixed Price Service.

[Dabooka]

Thanks for your input chaps, I'll follow up what Kingo says and get back to you.

David, I assume it was eyewateringly expensiv ebecause of the exhaust issue?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Could save a bit by checking/replacing the air conditioning filter yourself

[dwilson]

Thanks for your input chaps, I'll follow up what Kingo says and get back to you.

David, I assume it was eyewateringly expensiv ebecause of the exhaust issue?

Hi - not sure what you are referring to ?? Which bit was eyewatering expensive? Let me know and I'll get back to you..

Cheers

[Dabooka]

Thanks for your input chaps, I'll follow up what Kingo says and get back to you.

David, I assume it was eyewateringly expensiv ebecause of the exhaust issue?

Hi - not sure what you are referring to ?? Which bit was eyewatering expensive? Let me know and I'll get back to you..

Cheers

The bit about it being £419; I know that had the a/c bit involved, but I've never paid anything like that at Mr T (yet!). I'm sure I get change out of £250, although you'v egot me thinking I've got my cars mixed up a bit now..... I'm having a fluffy head kind of week at the minute!

[dwilson]

Thanks for your input chaps, I'll follow up what Kingo says and get back to you.

David, I assume it was eyewateringly expensiv ebecause of the exhaust issue?

Hi - not sure what you are referring to ?? Which bit was eyewatering expensive? Let me know and I'll get back to you..

Cheers

The bit about it being £419; I know that had the a/c bit involved, but I've never paid anything like that at Mr T (yet!). I'm sure I get change out of £250, although you'v egot me thinking I've got my cars mixed up a bit now..... I'm having a fluffy head kind of week at the minute!

The Toyota fixed price servicing http://www.toyota.co.uk/service-and-maintenance/car-servicing

has the full service at £229 but my 60k one was full+ service at £299 but then there was the air conditioning at about £80 (probably plus VAT) and finally the MOT.

Hope that clarifies things.

All the best,

[Dabooka]

Ah, sure does. it sharp adds up doesn't it?!

Cheers,

[ALake]

I'm pretty sure my next service will be indy - mainly because its the £299 service which is a lot for some oil and a filter and a few 'checks'. Plus based on the fact the two near toyota dealers have been unable to fix my problem I don't have a lot of confidence in their abilities.

It will invalidate whats left of the warranty but I'm yet to see the advantage of this.I think the goodwill referred to with toyota only occurs when they know their is a fault with their car (i.e the rav4 diesel engines) and not when something else happens.

Indy said they'd do mine for £130 - its basically oil and a filter however you look at it - anything else they find (i.e disks and pads) are always extra. I've yet to see any dealer change the pollen filter when they're supposed to!

A friend of mine gets his Lexus RX450h serviced at the main dealer and the prices are cheaper than toyota, which seems ridiculous to me! (£269 for the last one which was a 40,000 mile I believe)

[Dabooka]

I assume your dealer is Lancaster at Gilesgate?

That's where I got our RAV from, after checking the diesel engine issue had been resolved prior to purchase. Guess what.....

Had it back in on 6 different occasions getting the repair repaired. Granted it was all free and they were very accommodating with loan cars etc, but I'm talking leaks because a gasket was ommited in the rebuild, faulty water pumps, all sorts of issues. And my MPG has plummeted since it was fixed with no found reason behind it all.

So yeah, I guess your post has summarised perfectly why we were considering an indy!

[Parts-King]

It will invalidate whats left of the warranty but I'm yet to see the advantage of this.I think the goodwill referred to with toyota only occurs when they know their is a fault with their car (i.e the rav4 diesel engines) and not when something else happens.

Having a service at an independant does not invalidate any warranty, you must keep all receipts and records. If the car is outside of warranty and you get it serviced at an independant, then you would most likely lose any goodwill if for instance a part failed outside the warranty period. Goodwill is a two way process, you get goodwill for stopping inside the Toyota network, NOT for going to an independant

Indy said they'd do mine for £130

Your Toyota dealer does an intermediate for £139. As I mentioned earlier, not a lot in it, you will get a genuine oil filter and a decent grade of oil, can you guarantee that at your independant? maybe you can but very many will not

Kingo

[FROSTYBALLS]

"It will invalidate whats left of the warranty but I'm yet to see the advantage of this.I think the goodwill referred to with toyota only occurs when they know their is a fault with their car (i.e the rav4 diesel engines) and not when something else happens."

"Having a service at an independant does not invalidate any warranty, you must keep all receipts and records. If the car is outside of warranty and you get it serviced at an independant, then you would most likely lose any goodwill if for instance a part failed outside the warranty period. Goodwill is a two way process, you get goodwill for stopping inside the Toyota network, NOT for going to an independant

Kingo"

The posters car, according to their profile, is a 2008 Rav4, which would have come with the 3 yr/60,000 mile new car warranty. So if the car is still within a warranty period, it must have something like an extended warranty - and if that is a Toyota Extended Warranty, then servicing should be done via a Toyota dealer. Presumably, that is why having an independent service would invalidate the warranty the car has.

[dwilson]

"It will invalidate whats left of the warranty but I'm yet to see the advantage of this.I think the goodwill referred to with toyota only occurs when they know their is a fault with their car (i.e the rav4 diesel engines) and not when something else happens."

"Having a service at an independant does not invalidate any warranty, you must keep all receipts and records. If the car is outside of warranty and you get it serviced at an independant, then you would most likely lose any goodwill if for instance a part failed outside the warranty period. Goodwill is a two way process, you get goodwill for stopping inside the Toyota network, NOT for going to an independant

Kingo"

The posters car, according to their profile, is a 2008 Rav4, which would have come with the 3 yr/60,000 mile new car warranty. So if the car is still within a warranty period, it must have something like an extended warranty - and if that is a Toyota Extended Warranty, then servicing should be done via a Toyota dealer. Presumably, that is why having an independent service would invalidate the warranty the car has.

I have issues with the price of Toyota replacement parts but putting that to one side I think the servicing costs are fair and reasonable: certainly cheaper than Subaru that I have used in the past. My car a 2007 RAV is outside warranty but last year I did have Toyota goodwill as it was a low mileage, 30k, and main dealer serviced car. The mid section of the exhaust would have cost about £1100 instead of the £786 I paid thanks to contributions from the dealer and Toyota. So whilst I think £786 is still too much I was pleased that Toyota made the goodwill payment.

[ALake]

I assume your dealer is Lancaster at Gilesgate?

That's where I got our RAV from, after checking the diesel engine issue had been resolved prior to purchase. Guess what.....

Had it back in on 6 different occasions getting the repair repaired. Granted it was all free and they were very accommodating with loan cars etc, but I'm talking leaks because a gasket was ommited in the rebuild, faulty water pumps, all sorts of issues. And my MPG has plummeted since it was fixed with no found reason behind it all.

So yeah, I guess your post has summarised perfectly why we were considering an indy!

Yup, lancaster were the original supplying dealer and they're hopeless. I assume they have the same staff from when they were Minories because they were equally useless in dealing with my avensis years ago!

Maybe its just me but I don't think there is any goodwill in charging £785 for an exhaust! Thats a mickey taking price and £1100 is simply criminal. I guess when my exhaust goes it gets patched up and the car moved on. I'm pretty sure now my noise/vibration issue is coming from the exhaust so maybe collapsed baffles/something else is going on in there - with the price of the centre box being so stupid no wonder toyota don't want to fix it. Presumably they'll just wait until the warranty expires or simply put it down as a wear and tear component despite me raising the issue soon after purchase.

As for the warranty its proved to be as much use as any third party warranty direct style of warranty. Toyota may charge £139 for a intermediate service but mine is scheduled for the £299 one next - which equates to the £130 the indy charges. After all, an indy doesn't itemise such things as 'check wipers' as they take mere seconds.

[Awebb180]

It wont affect the original manufactures warranty but if you have the aftermarket Toyota warranty the conditions stipulate that it must be serviced at a Toyota Outlet from memory.

Alex

[gjnorthall]

I would have thought that making a warranty dependent on Toyota servicing was in contravention of the EU Block Exemption Act. This act removed the requirement to have cars serviced at franchised dealers in order to preserve warranties. The only requirement is that the manufacturers schedule is followed and parts used are to the same specification as the manufacturers parts.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Block Exemption only applies to the new car warranty. Extended warranties don't need to conform to Block Exemption, and, can make stipulations as to where a vehicle is serviced.

[gjnorthall]

So an example of double dipping by Toyota - the cost of a fairly expensive extended warranty plus assured revenue from servicing!

[FROSTYBALLS]

It is not only Toyota who do this - Mazda certainly do, and I would imagine most other manufacturers who offer their own extended warranty scheme have similar conditions..

At the end of the day, it is down to the customer choice - either no extended warranty, manufacturer's extended warranty or third party extended warranty.

One pays one's money ....