Heater Not Working

[tmac450]

Mine did it a copule of days ago, heater just blew cold air on the way to the inlaws house. On the way back home, it worked fine though, and has been OK since.

I's going in for a steering knock tomorrow, I'll get them to look at it, but knowing dealership servicing, they won't find anything.

By the way, they quoted me $380.00 for a 15km service!!!! I asked if he was quoting Pesos, but he had no sense of humor. Needless to say, they're only doing the warranty work, I'll take my servicing elswhere.

[f-wolf]

Re 15,000 km service / 380.00$$'s

I did keep a copy of what someone paid for a 15,000km servive last year.

Labor 237.00

Oil Filter 15.13

Engine Flush 13.10

Fuel System Cleaner 13.10

Engine Oil 62.00

Shop Supply 15.00

Enviromental 3.00

Plus GST

Total 394.16 $$'s

[xrdreaming]

Mine has an aircon issue, it only blows cold air out of the drivers vents and the passenger side just blows ambient temp air.

[tmac450]

Mine has an aircon issue, it only blows cold air out of the drivers vents and the passenger side just blows ambient temp air.

Dual zone climate control

[tmac450]

Re 15,000 km service / 380.00$$'s

I did keep a copy of what someone paid for a 15,000km servive last year.

Labor 237.00

Oil Filter 15.13

Engine Flush 13.10

Fuel System Cleaner 13.10

Engine Oil 62.00

Shop Supply 15.00

Enviromental 3.00

Plus GST

Total 394.16 $$'s

But, in reality, what they did was, 1/2 hour apprentice labour, $15.00, Cheap Oil $40.00, Oil filter $12.00.

The rest is just made-up crap. Adding on environmental charges is crap, as if they don't build the cost into the labour rates anyway.

Rip off bastards!

[Buf-Phoon]

Funny thing ,3 weeks after the original post the T was gooorne and I was into a Rapid Phoon

[tab]

Bit of a drastic way to fix the heater

[Buf-Phoon]

Bit of a drastic way to fix the heater

Not really Trentus , I am not usually one to muck around

[Falchoon]

But, in reality, what they did was, 1/2 hour apprentice labour, $15.00, Cheap Oil $40.00, Oil filter $12.00.

The rest is just made-up crap. Adding on environmental charges is crap, as if they don't build the cost into the labour rates anyway.

Rip off bastards!

I don't agree with charging out apprentices at full rate. Half the "mechanics" at my work are actually only Trade Assistants, not actual tradespeople.

They are entitled to charge retail price on parts, I'm sure other workshops such as C&V or Nizpro do. One local non-dealer workshop I was talking to the other day said he charges the customer 200% of his invoice price on the parts, regardless if it is a spark plug or a gearbox. You can always buy your own parts at trade price somewhere else and supply them to the dealer/workshop servicing your car.

Yes and no on the workshop and environmental stuff. The workshop charges are for rags, degreaser etc and environmental would be for disposal of oil. They save all the old sump oil in a big tank and then maybe once a month get a truck to come and pump it out and take it to some presumably "environmentaly friendly" place for recycling. Can't just dump it in the back paddock or behind the shed these days. And they charge the dealer to take the oil away, they don't do it for nothing.

[tmac450]

Of course they're entitled to charge retail, it's just that dealerships charge more than retail. They generally use cheap sh*t oil, bulk bought in drums, then charge more that the retial per liter cost.

My point on the labour, was that they charge a premium for their 'expertise', but the majority of dealership 'mechanics' are apprentices, with only 1 or two full time mechanics to supervise (sign off). Alternitavely, go to someone like C&V, or a trusted indipendant mechanic and they'll use quality oil, and charge you no more that what you could buy the oil and parts at Repco (generally a little less). Their labour rates are less, and you generally get a qualified spanner man doing the work. All for around a 3rd of the cost of a dealership.

I understand what the environmental charge is for, but they are running a business, with the servicing as their product. 99.99999999% of businesses will factor all running costs into the product, then add in their margins (profit). 99.9999999999% of businesses that charge extra for freight, packaging, tyre disposal, environmental, etc are double dipping, and they generally charge more than the actual cost anyway. It's a fact of life. Environmental charges are a great little earner, because it makes it look like they care, and gives the customer warm and fuzzy fealings for helping the environment, etc.