Fixed Price Servicing

[zorrak]

Toyota say that a 20000 mile or 2 year service for an Aygo is a fixed price of £179 with the possible addition of £39 to change the brake fluid.

DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THIS !

My girlfriends Aygo Fire went in for this service at Jemca Toyota in Sidcup and was charged over £340. Not surprising you may think but her 2 year old car had only covered 7,000 miles yet the Toyota dealer charged double what Toyota say is a Fixed service cost for a car which has covered up to 20,000 miles!. This is a total con and it seems neither the Toyota dealer or Toyota themselves are bothered.

[ToyotaAuris]

Tell Toyota where you did your service then?

[rajivrattna]

Did your girlfriend enquire about the service cost before leaving the car?

[zorrak]

We checked the cost and looked it up on the Toyota website where it clearly said £179 fixed cost. If a car that has covered one third of the mileage of a 20,000 mile car and needs all this additional work then surely a car that has covered the full 20,000 miles MUST need it too? If this is the case the specified £179 is Grossly missleading.

[rajivrattna]

I always ask the garage for the service cost and what exactly they are going to do before leaving the car with them. My Aygo service is booked on December 1st with a Toyota garage 80 km from here and the price difference between the garage near by (45km) and the other 80km away was 400 Euro vs 240 Euro. Guess which one I picked for the major service. It does not hurt to do some home work and ring around. I have used this Toyota garage (the one 80 km away for 240 Euro major service) once before and am very happy with their work. I was present during the last service (two years ago) and he did all he was supposed to do point by point.

[zorrak]

I would have thought that Toyota wouldn't lie on their official website but it seems I was wrong! But now I know I can't trust them I won't be buying another one.

[Heidfirst]

What additional work was carried out over & above that mandated in the service schedule?

Btw doing little mileage on a car can actually be worse for it than doing high mileage.

[ToyotaAuris]

Also, why dont you tell the dealer this? Ask for your money back, unless you had work carried out like you said.

[FROSTYBALLS]

We checked the cost and looked it up on the Toyota website where it clearly said £179 fixed cost. If a car that has covered one third of the mileage of a 20,000 mile car and needs all this additional work then surely a car that has covered the full 20,000 miles MUST need it too? If this is the case the specified £179 is Grossly missleading.

All what additional work?? All you have mentioned is having the 2 year service and brake fluid change.

When I physically take our cars in for service I always check with the service department what work is expected to be undertaken, whether there are any items that need checking, and the cost of the work undertaken. That way there are no misunderstandings.

If you had booked the car for a Fixed Price Service and brake fluid change, why didn't you challenge the extra costs when you went to collect the car?

I have a service plan based on the Fixed Price Service costs including a free brake fluid change at two years. Just had the two year service carried out last Wednesday, and had no additional costs, and no query on whether the service plan covered the service. The car was serviced, washed and vacuumed whilst I waited - excellent!

[zorrak]

Firstly doing a low mileage in a diesel car is indeed worse than doing a high mileage but this is a petrol car. The dealership (who I have complained to) decided that the air conditioning required a service with new filters, oil and a re-gas which was ridiculous as it was working perfectly and the rest of the work was all non essential stuff. The car was going to be part exchanged for a new Aygo in January (not any more) so all that was needed was the basic service and a stamp in the service book.

It would have been nice if the Toyota dealer did offer a refund of the unnecessary work but they dismissed my complaint and don't seemed to be bothered what the Toyota website says about the 'Fixed' service cost. I could call Jemca Toyota in Sidcup a bunch of crooks but I don't want to get sued :)

[FROSTYBALLS]

An air conditioning service at a Toyota dealer is in the region of £59.

So you have had a full service, brake fluid change and air conditioning service. - which from my reckoning should cost around £280.

Yes they should have checked with you regarding undertaking additional work, but again you mention that all the other work was non-essential - all what other work?

[ToyotaAuris]

Well Im sure that they wouldn't just do all these jobs without consent. Your girlfriend must of given the go ahead.

[Heidfirst]

Firstly doing a low mileage in a diesel car is indeed worse than doing a high mileage but this is a petrol car. The dealership (who I have complained to) decided that the air conditioning required a service with new filters, oil and a re-gas which was ridiculous as it was working perfectly and the rest of the work was all non essential stuff. The car was going to be part exchanged for a new Aygo in January (not any more) so all that was needed was the basic service and a stamp in the service book.

It would have been nice if the Toyota dealer did offer a refund of the unnecessary work but they dismissed my complaint and don't seemed to be bothered what the Toyota website says about the 'Fixed' service cost. I could call Jemca Toyota in Sidcup a bunch of crooks but I don't want to get sued :)

Doing a low mileage is also worse on a petrol car.

So the £179 fixed price service was, in fact, that (things like a brake fluid or pollen filter change are additional if required). You are arguing about additional work done.

Somebody must have given them permission to do the extra work. If they didn't then you have a case to take up but in my experience it's extremely unusual for a garage to go ahead with extra work without checking..

(btw I recently had an ac service in addition to an Intermediate service at a Toyota dealer - cost £35 [although I did haggle them down to that]).

[zorrak]

The additional work was was a pollen filter, a wiper blade (£8.00 just for fitting plus cost of blade), air conditioning oil change. They rang my girlfriend and stressed that this additional work had to be done - which it didn't. They would never have tried it with a male driver but obviously see female drivers as a pushover. She thought this work was actually necessary as they stressed it needed to be done.

[rajivrattna]

It is a pity that your girl friend did not check with you before saying yes to the garage. I agree with you. The garage saw a female customer and took her for a ride. Very unscrupulous behavior. Luckily Toyota garages here in Sweden are honest as far as the work done is concerned. Their prices vary immensely though and it is worth ringing around before deciding on the garage and price.

By the way do not punish Toyota car for the dishonesty shown by a garage. You need to change your garage. Toyotas do make one of the most reliable cars.

I never heard of aircondition oil check as a part of the service schedule. The pollen filter only costs 10 quid or so and is included in the price of the major service.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Toyota dealers use oil when they regas air conditioning systems to lubricate the seals within the system- as far as I'm aware the oil is suspended within the refrigerant and one has to be careful that only the specific amount of oil required by that particular system is used.

[Heidfirst]

The additional work was was a pollen filter, a wiper blade (£8.00 just for fitting plus cost of blade), air conditioning oil change. They rang my girlfriend and stressed that this additional work had to be done - which it didn't. They would never have tried it with a male driver but obviously see female drivers as a pushover. She thought this work was actually necessary as they stressed it needed to be done.

The cost of supplying & fitting a pair of front Wiper Blades for an Aygo at a Toyota dealer should be £21. Hopefully supplying & fitting a single one came to 1/2 of that - if it didn't I would argue the point.

It is recommended to have your aircon serviced every 2 years but obviously if it was working satisfactorily & she knew that she was planning to trade the car in the Spring that would have been a valid reason not to have it done. Without seeing the old pollen filter you won't know whether it really needed replaced (£39) or not.

[zorrak]

The aircon was working perfectly and why would a pollen filter get clogged after just 7000 miles when it only might needs to be done at 20,000 miles ? Assuming the frame for the filter is intact the filter can be rinsed through, dried and replaced - so much for recycling! My main gripe is with Toyota who have, in my opinion, misled their customers with this totally unrealistic figure of £179 for a "fixed price" 20,000 service which in reality, is twice this amount for a car covering one third of 20,000 miles.

[FROSTYBALLS]

My main gripe is with Toyota who have, in my opinion, misled their customers with this totally unrealistic figure of £179 for a "fixed price" 20,000 service which in reality, is twice this amount for a car covering one third of 20,000 miles.

Just because your partner agreed to additional work on top of the full service you originally booked (whether she was misled or not) doesn't mean that Toyota's Fixed Price Service scheme doesn't work. I've used the scheme since it was introduced and had no problems in having my cars serviced for the advertised price, and I'm sure the majority of other Toyota owners have similar experiences to mine.

[zorrak]

The only possible listed addition to the £179 fixed price service is £39 for a change of brake fluid so why not specify the aircon service, aircon oil change and detox and the pollen filter? If the dealership says these need to be changed at 7000 miles then it's not unreasonable to assume they must need doing at 20,000 unless of course Jemca Toyota in Sidcup are a bunch of money grabbing crooks!!

[FROSTYBALLS]

The pollen filter is listed as a maintenance option on the Fixed Price Servicing scheme.

As far as I'm aware, Toyota doesn't specify a period of time or mileage for when the pollen filter should be changed - just that they should be changed regularly to maintain the efficiency of the air conditioning.

We shall never know now what condition your Aygo's pollen filter was in, or whether the air con service was required or not.

Of course you're quite entitled to your opinion of Jemca Toyota - others may agree or not, as is their wont

[eygo]

i agree with your dealer about the brake fluid, as it doesn't matter if the car has been stored for 2 yrs and not driven or done mega milage
as the fluid absorbs moisture and therefore can reduce your braking performance so yes it should be carried out,for the aircon you could use
a handheld infrared thermonitor close all vents bar the centre and point at the vent, you want a reading of around 5 - 7 degrees if its
working properly so there are things you could do yourself but if your still not a happy chap then go back to them and have a meeting

with the dealership manager at a pre arranged time to discuss your frustrations.

you leave your car with a main agent and you should be able to feel confident that you are going to be treated well,

i know where you are coming from as i made the mistake of believing my lexus dealership in liverpool when i picked up

my car they told me it didn't need servicing as it had been done recently, a few months after taking ownership i looked at the service history only to find

that the service was 3.5 months prior to me taking delivery and also 3500 miles out of a 10000 mile service interval had expired so to me that wasn't recent,i

spoke to them and they paid for the 4th service so made me happy.

if you dont ask you dont get you have nothing to lose but everything to gain

go see them

[zorrak]

Well I wouldn't want a free service from that dealer, I've lost all faith in them and my girlfriends replacement car is now going to be a Nissan not a Toyota.

[Conrod]

Having read through this thread several times im having trouble grasping why you were spending out on a big service, as you are planning to p/x the car in January.

With your business head on and watching every penny, the Aygo will have commanded it's best p/x price with a full dealer service history, this you could have done with a fixed price small service at £99, you get a dealer stamp in the book.......full service history achieved .

Again with your business head on you say to the dealer, a £99 service, please.....no extras , thank you.

The dealer got the upper hand by persuading you that the extra work was needed, yet you new your were p/x the car in ?

You also need to say to the dealer over the phone and at the point of dropping it off, you want the fix price service.

I feel there was a 50/50 blame on you allowing work to be done and the dealer giving a list of extra work, which they all do , that's how they make a living.

I stopped using the Jemca some years ago and went on to use beadles maidstone, only half hour down the M20.

Toyota is a great product and I would say don't let dealing with Jemca put you off, get a p/x price of them for a new Aygo, then pop down to Toyota Beadles maidstone and try get them to better the price.

Good luck.

[zorrak]

You're right, the dealer stamp in the service book was all that was needed but as my girlfriend (Shirley) was to be using the car for up to 3 months before it was part exchanged so she decided that safety was paramount but got hoodwinked by Jemca that the additional work was important and needed to be done so as she didn't know better she let them go ahead. It's a shame that dealers like this exist to tarnish the reputation of Toyota. I've had 3 new Toyota's myself and have never had a problem but my car is serviced by a reputable dealer, Hodgson Toyota up in Gateshead.