Oil and filter change.

[TheTigerUK]

I was talking to the Toyota AD this morning and asked what they would charge for an engine oil and filter change, £96.73, gulp.

Just had mine done so not needed but I thought I would ask while I had his attention.

[Jimbo]

Hour labour (and parts) I guess?

[Topdownman]

I would ask MattPerformance what he charges as I guess he's not that far from you?

[McMr2]

I was talking to the Toyota AD this morning and asked what they would charge for an engine oil and filter change, £96.73, gulp.

Just had mine done so not needed but I thought I would ask while I had his attention.

Still about double what it would cost to do it yourself, but not horrendous compared to what a lot of places would Rob you.

[Ardent]

£96.73
It's a simple oil change.

Any competent local mech could do that. No need to go all the way over to Matt either.

If parts supplied. I'd do it for £20.
A Mann oil filter from ECP £3.29

Bearing in mind Mr T would use his own oil, which we know is only specc'd as semi synth. Last tub I bought was about £18.

Ironically bought oil n filter today £24.02 all in.

[Call the midlife!]

You have to factor in the overheads with any professional business, even if it's a freshly qualified junior tech on around £12/hr it would cost the business probably £15 to pay them for that hour. Then you've got business rates, utilities and insurance etc plus the wages of everyone else involved such as the service desk receptionist and parts person.
I've just done a full brake replacement on the bus, discs and pads and fluid change.
Saved over £400 on the retail price of the parts and no labour fees, no idea what it would've been at a BMW main dealer but I expect around £1500 at least.
Not everyone CAN diy and although a lot of people do their own I wouldn't necessarily want them doing mine, it only takes a small mistake and your engine is fubar, try getting that sorted out by someone with no insurance etc.

[Ardent]

I was talking to the Toyota AD this morning and asked what they would charge for an engine oil and filter change, £96.73, gulp.

Just had mine done so not needed but I thought I would ask while I had his attention.

I suppose the elephant in the room question is, how much did you pay to have it done?

[Topdownman]

Years ago I did an oil change on a civic, took off the old filter and saw that the sealing ring was on it and popped the new one on and filled her up to see all the oil flowing out under the car....

What I had seen was just dirty oil in the groove, the ring had stayed on the car so I had 2 on there which obviously didnt seal at all.

Had to get my bike out and ride a few miles to halfords for some more oil!

[Dev]

From my side dealerships quote high prices which I did not understand until it came to my attention by the car wizard who deals with many dealership that they sometimes quote high for somethings because they do not want to do the work since they make more by getting paid from the manufacture for warranty work. It is a tactic to turn you away so you go to an independent or you pay for their losses by having to service your car taking up valuable shop time.

Up until the last five years my local Toyota dealership would offer $20 oil changes which was ridiculously cheap. They did this to bring in customers so they can also go over the car to find things wrong with it so they could make money on additional and sometimes unnecessary repairs.

[TheTigerUK]

I was talking to the Toyota AD this morning and asked what they would charge for an engine oil and filter change, £96.73, gulp.

Just had mine done so not needed but I thought I would ask while I had his attention.

I suppose the elephant in the room question is, how much did you pay to have it done?

I had a full service at ETS, £207.

https://www.edentyres.com/full-servicing/

[Ardent]

I tend to recall now.

I also thought you were recommended an independent by a family member. So might have gone that route.

[TheTigerUK]

I tend to recall now.

I also thought you were recommended an independent by a family member. So might have gone that route.

The independent is a mobile mechanic and was booked up for quite a while and I wanted the work doing asap, impatient.

[paulj]

I wanted the work doing asap, impatient.

Good tradespeople always have waiting lists!

[TheTigerUK]

I wanted the work doing asap, impatient.

Good tradespeople always have waiting lists!

In the watch world which I am involved in a good watchmaker often has a waiting list of four or six months and sometimes longer and they are worth waiting for.

But my car is different I want to enjoy it now

[Alex Knight]

From my side dealerships quote high prices which I did not understand until it came to my attention by the car wizard who deals with many dealership that they sometimes quote high for somethings because they do not want to do the work since they make more by getting paid from the manufacture for warranty work. It is a tactic to turn you away so you go to an independent or you pay for their losses by having to service your car taking up valuable shop time.

Up until the last five years my local Toyota dealership would offer $20 oil changes which was ridiculously cheap. They did this to bring in customers so they can also go over the car to find things wrong with it so they could make money on additional and sometimes unnecessary repairs.

I don't know what it's like your side of the pond (though I have an insight, as I used to work for Sytner who are owned by Penske, and I saw a lot of financial data from the US), but your first paragraph just absolutely isn't the case in the UK.
I've been a Motor Trade (Dealership) accountant for nearly two decades, and I can say categorically that the highest workshop margin is absolutely in retail work, and the lowest margin is in warranty work.
Service departments do not quote inflated prices to turn away work. Service departments will *never* turn away retail work. They don't make up the prices at all. It's done on a matrix.

[Dev]

From my side dealerships quote high prices which I did not understand until it came to my attention by the car wizard who deals with many dealership that they sometimes quote high for somethings because they do not want to do the work since they make more by getting paid from the manufacture for warranty work. It is a tactic to turn you away so you go to an independent or you pay for their losses by having to service your car taking up valuable shop time.

Up until the last five years my local Toyota dealership would offer $20 oil changes which was ridiculously cheap. They did this to bring in customers so they can also go over the car to find things wrong with it so they could make money on additional and sometimes unnecessary repairs.

I don't know what it's like your side of the pond (though I have an insight, as I used to work for Sytner who are owned by Penske, and I saw a lot of financial data from the US), but your first paragraph just absolutely isn't the case in the UK.
I've been a Motor Trade (Dealership) accountant for nearly two decades, and I can say categorically that the highest workshop margin is absolutely in retail work, and the lowest margin is in warranty work.
Service departments do not quote inflated prices to turn away work. Service departments will *never* turn away retail work. They don't make up the prices at all. It's done on a matrix.

 I don't know myself but it is what the Car Wizard said in one of his videos for some of the jobs that are highly inflated where an independent is 1/3 the cost. 
The dealerships here very in cost every time I get a quote  for work or even parts as it seems to be  more dealer independent.

 

[shnazzle]

From my side dealerships quote high prices which I did not understand until it came to my attention by the car wizard who deals with many dealership that they sometimes quote high for somethings because they do not want to do the work since they make more by getting paid from the manufacture for warranty work. It is a tactic to turn you away so you go to an independent or you pay for their losses by having to service your car taking up valuable shop time.

Up until the last five years my local Toyota dealership would offer $20 oil changes which was ridiculously cheap. They did this to bring in customers so they can also go over the car to find things wrong with it so they could make money on additional and sometimes unnecessary repairs.

I don't know what it's like your side of the pond (though I have an insight, as I used to work for Sytner who are owned by Penske, and I saw a lot of financial data from the US), but your first paragraph just absolutely isn't the case in the UK.
I've been a Motor Trade (Dealership) accountant for nearly two decades, and I can say categorically that the highest workshop margin is absolutely in retail work, and the lowest margin is in warranty work.
Service departments do not quote inflated prices to turn away work. Service departments will *never* turn away retail work. They don't make up the prices at all. It's done on a matrix.

I do believe there are ways though.

@jvanzyl could tell you a lovely tale of his old family car, which I can vouch for, of ways that a dealership "inflates" prices.
Not by inflating the prices themselves, but by engineering the processes in such a way that they get the most out of every customer they legally can.

Toyota is surprisingly fair/honest. Look at the workshop manuals and it's a case of finding the simplest solution and building out from there.
VAG dealerships on the other hand... Just have a look if you can. "car won't go into gear with auto box"... Step 1 - check for codes. Step 2 - replace entire Mechatronic unit at ridiculous 4-Figure cost... Surprise, it didn't fix the issue,.. Step 3 - check wiring. Oh, well, what do you know.. That did the trick! That'll be 4k please. For a 200gbp fix.

I'm sure there are honest dealerships.
I just haven't found one yet.

[Zspeed]

From my side dealerships quote high prices which I did not understand until it came to my attention by the car wizard who deals with many dealership that they sometimes quote high for somethings because they do not want to do the work since they make more by getting paid from the manufacture for warranty work. It is a tactic to turn you away so you go to an independent or you pay for their losses by having to service your car taking up valuable shop time.

Up until the last five years my local Toyota dealership would offer $20 oil changes which was ridiculously cheap. They did this to bring in customers so they can also go over the car to find things wrong with it so they could make money on additional and sometimes unnecessary repairs.

This is spot on. I used to work in the management team at Mr Clutch. Some jobs had an extra fee built in because even though the hours were calculated there were always problems with them. The branch managers would also overprice where they thought it was necessary to keep bad jobs out of the workshop, particularly a busy site smashing out quick jobs all day.

There were one or two smarter franchisees though that had juniors doing the basics at cheap rates to find the other work.

I don't think £100 is that bad for a dealer price, I'm sure my old BMW was £300 just for oil, filter and inspection and that was 12 years ago. 

You should have had them at Buttercups, we could have drained it whilst we had a coffee lol.

[Dev]

   What I like about Toyota compared to other flashy brands is they are very easy to repair and most of the time they do not need frequent repair. If you have to buy parts they are relatively cheap and their luxury line uses many of the same Toyota parts. Despite all of this there are many on the road over here that are neglected with general maintenance and they keep on running.

[shnazzle]

Just an additional anecdote...

Mother in law came in yesterday and asked about brake pads.
Their car had just been in for service and they said the pads needed changing. Said that if she doesn't, it ll need doing by January at the latest.
Not wanting to put herself at risk, she complied.
A bunch of cash later... 

On the receipt it said that the pads were 40% worn.

Now... I'm all for preventative maintenance but... They barely drive that car and who throws away stuff after using 40% of it.

Dealers.... Sheesh..

[Dev]

Just an additional anecdote...

Mother in law came in yesterday and asked about brake pads.
Their car had just been in for service and they said the pads needed changing. Said that if she doesn't, it ll need doing by January at the latest.
Not wanting to put herself at risk, she complied.
A bunch of cash later...

On the receipt it said that the pads were 40% worn.

Now... I'm all for preventative maintenance but... They barely drive that car and who throws away stuff after using 40% of it.

Dealers.... Sheesh..

Over here we have many stories like this. The dealers as I mentioned are a franchise and therefore somewhat independent and have all kinds of schemes to scare you into unnecessary services and repairs.
Each one is different and therefore you need to shop around.

 I cant even catch a break with the independents as they tell me that they have to do a multi point inspection before they can give me a quote on the work I want done. This makes it nearly impossible to shop around.

 It always leads me to roll up my sleeves and get it done because the hassle of dropping it off and dealing with all the nonsense is not worth the trouble. 





 

[Joesson]

Just an additional anecdote...

Mother in law came in yesterday and asked about brake pads.
Their car had just been in for service and they said the pads needed changing. Said that if she doesn't, it ll need doing by January at the latest.
Not wanting to put herself at risk, she complied.
A bunch of cash later...

On the receipt it said that the pads were 40% worn.

Now... I'm all for preventative maintenance but... They barely drive that car and who throws away stuff after using 40% of it.

Dealers.... Sheesh..

Would the Dealer have done that to you Patrick? I think not! They are out of order in so many ways and should be advised of the error of their ways.

[carolineasb]

You do know that a whole service kit including oil and wipers is only c.£56 for our cars with OEM Toyota parts from a dealership?

Some dealerships DO overprice certain jobs because they do not want the hassle of difficult long jobs that may block out a lift for a long time. They are looking mostly for quick churn with a reasonable profit margin.

[TheTigerUK]

My Avensis has a full main dealer service history from the same dealership.

July 2020 it went in for a intermediate service and MOT, I was told and it was in writing that the pads were 5mm and 3mm and that they would need changing on the next service.

July 2021 it went in for full service and MOT, I budgeted for the service and brakes, when I picked it up I only had the service to pay, I asked about the brakes and they said fine and showed me the paper work they were 7mm and 5mm, happy days.

But this started to niggle me, how come after 10K miles my pads had grown in size ?

So I got in touch with the dealership, told them the "problem" and they booked the car back in to be checked.

After checking the pads were indeed 7mm and 5mm so dident want changing, no apology just one of those things and that on an intermediate service they just estimate the size but on a full service they measure.

It does make you think should you trust anything they say ?

[TheTigerUK]

You do know that a whole service kit including oil and wipers is only c.£56 for our cars with OEM Toyota parts from a dealership?

Some dealerships DO overprice certain jobs because they do not want the hassle of difficult long jobs that may block out a lift for a long time. They are looking mostly for quick churn with a reasonable profit margin.

Can you just go to Toyota and ask for a full service kit or do you have to specify each item ?