Booked my VW Jetta in for a minor service this week at the stated cost of £139 (ouch!)
Replaced the air filter myself today and, out of curiosity, looked up how much it would cost during the minor service. Turns out to be £35.
I got the air filter through Amazon, which was delivered within 48 hours of ordering. Took me about 10 minutes to remove about seven or eight screws, take out the old filter and replace it with the new one and then replace the screws.
The new air filter cost me £5.73 including the delivery charge (not offered on Super Delivery i.e. free service).....:-) Nice little profit for any VW dealership if you opt for them to do it.
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>>
>> The new air filter cost me £5.73 including the delivery charge (not offered on Super
>> Delivery i.e. free service).....:-) Nice little profit for any VW dealership if you opt for
>> them to do it.
>>
and yet, IIRC when SWMBO had a Golf IV our local VW dealer changed the wiper blades for free (after I purchased them from their parts dept) and the cost was within a few pence the same as Halfords.
The cost for changing the filter will include labour, that labour charge will include the cost of providing the servicing facilities plus (probably) a minimum 'labour time' which will itself need to cover the mechanic, their NI and any other benefits plus overheads like the receptionist and service manager. Finally there will be some element of profit.
So, even if your dealer were a charity it would cost significantly more to get it fitted. you can save all of these costs by fitting it yourself of course, however - if everyone did this then your dealer would go bust.
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But you don't just do the filter itself, do you? Surely you take the opportunity to clean the throttle body, engine breather hoses, oil traps, flame traps, etc?
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>> VW Jetta .......... minor service ......... stated cost
>> of £139 (ouch!)
Hourly charge £40 - £50 per hour plus VAT, plus parts. £139 is not bad.
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I'd like to know exactly whats involved in this minor service for the cost stated, presumably an oil change is part of it, if so how much oil for this car.
It always makes sense to buy and fit your own parts to keep costs down, however parts quality can vary greatly, when it comes to filters i want something like MANN or other reputable make if not genuine, i wouldn't dream of getting brake frictions parts from an unknown source.
Picked up a MANN fuel filter for the C2 1.6 HDi from my factor, will be fitting it today, cost £30.
It is a great lump of a thing, the chap at the factors used to work for Citroen, he mentioned that the filter is often sold by the MD with a new fuel heater attached, which is not needed unless it fails though customers are not told this, the cost with new heater being around £110 apparently.
It would make for serious cheesing off if the aveage joe knew what mark up there is on fast moving parts like filters at main dealers.
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>>I'd like to know exactly whats involved in this minor service for the cost stated, presumably an oil change is part of it, if so how much oil for this car.>>
I did cost up the oil and filter aspects. Five litres of Mobil 504.000 VW standard was just under £49 plus delivery and the filter about £5 to £6 (only 3.6 litres with filter is used for the work).
The actual work covered by the £139 is, according to this VW link:
www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/fixed-price-servicing
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A quick search found Millers C4 5W30 longlife full synthetic for £40 incl, with free delivery over £60 spent, you might find it cheaper elsewhere though.
caraccessoriesandparts.co.uk
Had a look at the VW link, apart from changing the oil and filter and giving the car an inspection, wash and fault code read i see little else for the money (extra charge for fluids etc?), also be interested as to exactly what oil they are going to put in from their bulk drum.
As a guide my MB indy currently charges me around £140 to fully service my MB which includes 7 litres of Fuchs full synthetic and new filter, all levels checked and topped up and a full brake strip inspection and clean.
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I'm using a VW dealer for this service as it's the first needed since I acquired the car. After that, I'll be using an independent outlet as I've always done in the past (much cheaper!).....:-))
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>>Picked up a MANN fuel filter for the C2 1.6 HDi from my factor, will be fitting it today, cost £30.
Do you realise your factor made a 60% profit margin?? £30 less vat is £25. Factor cost is around £9.95+vat on that filter.
Dealer would have made a lower margin of 50% but his cost price would have been £22.38+vat with a RRP of £44.76+vat. (They don't come these days with the fuel heater or water sensor parts)
To be fair it's the vehicle manufacturers that make the profit before the dealers resell the parts but the dealer has to take the rap for charging the inflated prices.
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>> Do you realise your factor made a 60% profit margin?? £30 less vat is £25.
>> Factor cost is around £9.95+vat on that filter.
I could have shopped around and picked a MANN up for around £25 online, and around £9.95 plus postage for something not named.
Having had the pleasure of poorly stamped el cheapo filters before i only buy a good brand or OE item, incidentally the MANN filter has made in Britain moulded on the casing, that was a pleasant surprise.
Without the fuel heater it looked quite different in situ, before i'd ponced about and finally managed to remove the old one (without breaking something luckily its all a tight squeeze in there) i thought i might have been given the wrong part, fuel heater is a tight screwdriver levering sliding fit on the side of the filter, i hate trying to shift things like that, made of brittle plastic.
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Dealer labour rates were at £40-£50 per hour a decade ago.
According to an article on moneyexpert, citing Warranty Direct research, the national average franchised dealer labour rate currently stands at £95 per hour.
bit.ly/wa5bbZ
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I really don't think £139 is bad for a minor service at a franchised dealer. Yes of course you could have done it cheaper yourself but that's not exactly a fair comparison. And the next buyer of your car might not pay as much for your car if he didn't think it had been properly serviced.
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Volkswagen - Replacing air filter - idle_chatterer
