T180 First Service

[vivianM]

Just had the first service and thanks to ThreeFive managed to beat his price by a few coppers but also was given 4 litres of 5W oil FOC !

The service person said they normally used 10W oil but I insisted on 5W as per Toyota spec and they did supply this, did not also have the ECU upgrade come up on the list of jobs so again I asked for a check and they found it was due and did it.

The staff RRG Stockport are very helpful and each time I commented about the oil and ECU he went away to check and never complained.

The RAV seems much smoother since the upgrade and whilst it has always been very responsive to a heavy foot on the throttle is seems even better now - will take some time to see if fuel MPG is better or same, hopefully not any worse.

Once again thanks ThreeFive for saving me some money as I would never have thought to ask for a discount for the service cost!

Guy

[three5]

Just had the first service and thanks to ThreeFive managed to beat his price by a few coppers but also was given 4 litres of 5W oil FOC !

The service person said they normally used 10W oil but I insisted on 5W as per Toyota spec and they did supply this, did not also have the ECU upgrade come up on the list of jobs so again I asked for a check and they found it was due and did it.

The staff RRG Stockport are very helpful and each time I commented about the oil and ECU he went away to check and never complained.

The RAV seems much smoother since the upgrade and whilst it has always been very responsive to a heavy foot on the throttle is seems even better now - will take some time to see if fuel MPG is better or same, hopefully not any worse.

Once again thanks ThreeFive for saving me some money as I would never have thought to ask for a discount for the service cost!

Guy

Cheers Guy, as I usually say, I'm not a Yorkshireman - but I've learnt a lot since I came. Mine was serviced at RRG Rochdale yesterday. Got the bill at the end - £168!!!! - Explained to service manager that they had offered me £142. "Oh, sorry" he said "we normally mark an offer like that on the service record, must have forgotton". Very keen to sell me a service plan. Now need to calculate what the discount should be and negotiate from there. I'm sure that there are vacancies up here for the right sort of fellas if you feel like moving ;) Out of curiosity more than anything, I asked a couple of other dealers what they would charge for the service. Replies varied between £162 and £183 but they ALL would match the £142 when pushed.

[local hero]

Just had the first service and thanks to ThreeFive managed to beat his price by a few coppers but also was given 4 litres of 5W oil FOC !

The service person said they normally used 10W oil but I insisted on 5W as per Toyota spec and they did supply this, did not also have the ECU upgrade come up on the list of jobs so again I asked for a check and they found it was due and did it.

The staff RRG Stockport are very helpful and each time I commented about the oil and ECU he went away to check and never complained.

The RAV seems much smoother since the upgrade and whilst it has always been very responsive to a heavy foot on the throttle is seems even better now - will take some time to see if fuel MPG is better or same, hopefully not any worse.

Once again thanks ThreeFive for saving me some money as I would never have thought to ask for a discount for the service cost!

Guy

Cheers Guy, as I usually say, I'm not a Yorkshireman - but I've learnt a lot since I came. Mine was serviced at RRG Rochdale yesterday. Got the bill at the end - £168!!!! - Explained to service manager that they had offered me £142. "Oh, sorry" he said "we normally mark an offer like that on the service record, must have forgotton". Very keen to sell me a service plan. Now need to calculate what the discount should be and negotiate from there. I'm sure that there are vacancies up here for the right sort of fellas if you feel like moving ;) Out of curiosity more than anything, I asked a couple of other dealers what they would charge for the service. Replies varied between £162 and £183 but they ALL would match the £142 when pushed.

I am possibly going to come across as being a bit neurotic here, but in the past when i have negotiated a discount i have often wondered if they have made up the difference by skipping something on the service schedule.. I know on one occasion after agreeing a discounted price, my wife dropped the car off at the dealers on her way to work + the service receptionist in front of other customers greeted her with the words OH! your the woman who expects a discount!! needless to say we have never been back..

[Mereside]

I agree with 'Local Hero' I negotiate for just about everything.

I did the service plan route with the dealer that supplied the car.... I then negotiated a better rate and got it for £19 a month (I think) anyway it was £6 a month less than the original one from my local dealer.

I alwys ring round for the price of any parts I want but generally it is the labour rate for fitting any parts that makes the difference.

When I got the car I had reverse sensors fitted and save £60 by negotiating with my local dealer. The chap also fit my mud flaps for free whilst he had the bumber off..

PS

If you got your service contract cheaper please don't shatter my illusion!

Regards

[sywy]

I always shop around too, and get the dealers to trade off each other. I've had 3 services so far, and they've cost me £112 for the first service, £210 for the second, and £125 for the third. I found that prices varied as much as £80 between dealers!!

[vivianM]

Just had the first service and thanks to ThreeFive managed to beat his price by a few coppers but also was given 4 litres of 5W oil FOC !

The service person said they normally used 10W oil but I insisted on 5W as per Toyota spec and they did supply this, did not also have the ECU upgrade come up on the list of jobs so again I asked for a check and they found it was due and did it.

The staff RRG Stockport are very helpful and each time I commented about the oil and ECU he went away to check and never complained.

The RAV seems much smoother since the upgrade and whilst it has always been very responsive to a heavy foot on the throttle is seems even better now - will take some time to see if fuel MPG is better or same, hopefully not any worse.

Once again thanks ThreeFive for saving me some money as I would never have thought to ask for a discount for the service cost!

Guy

Cheers Guy, as I usually say, I'm not a Yorkshireman - but I've learnt a lot since I came. Mine was serviced at RRG Rochdale yesterday. Got the bill at the end - £168!!!! - Explained to service manager that they had offered me £142. "Oh, sorry" he said "we normally mark an offer like that on the service record, must have forgotton". Very keen to sell me a service plan. Now need to calculate what the discount should be and negotiate from there. I'm sure that there are vacancies up here for the right sort of fellas if you feel like moving ;) Out of curiosity more than anything, I asked a couple of other dealers what they would charge for the service. Replies varied between £162 and £183 but they ALL would match the £142 when pushed.

Thanks ThreeFive,

For offer to move to Yorkshire - for 19 years I crossed the Peak District to work in Sheffield every working day! So now that I have retired I will stick to Derbyshire but must confess I was born in the centre of Manchester many years ago so as a Lancastrian it was interesting, to say the least, to work in what they call God's Own Country!

More seriously I was also pushed to accept the service plan at about £700 for three years but as I only do about 5/6000 miles per year now it seemed very costly - maybe for high mileages it might be well worth while.

Best wishes to all

Guy