I phoned the local Land Rover dealers (in Cambridge, as unfortunately I don't live in Hartlepool) to book an annual, 12,000 mile service for the my car (a Freelander TD4) today - I asked how much it would be - "£614" they said. After I'd stopped laughing they said "plus any parts required".

I was going to say that you used to be able to buy a Morris Minor, tax it, insure it, put petrol in it for a year and still have money left over to buy a bag of chips but thought best and let it go! What I did say was, "oh, that's an expensive oil change".

The hourly rate is £115, last year the 12,000 mile service was £400 and as inflation is not at 50% (yet) I cannot see what warrants this price hike.

Anyway, I've booked it into a local garage with just a couple of mechanics, They will use genuine Land Rover parts which will comply with the warranty - all for £235 including VAT.

I would never go to the dealer for owt.

Mine goes to a specialist place and the wife's to a local garage, they tend to give more of a shit than the dealers anyway cos they generally own the business.

Well that's the route I'll be taking in future Mr Ripper. The local garage was recommended to me by a couple of people, it's family owned since 1938 and they took the trouble to check out the service schedule for the car as they were pricing it up.
The main dealers must rely upon servicing as a means of paying for their plush showrooms and advertising.

Do you live on a farm Hawklord?

No, but it would be nice if I did.

Bought my car from Cambridge and the garage bills he gave me of work he had had done were extorniate. £690 for a cambelt change for fucks sake!

That was an independent garage too. God knows what the dealer there would have charged.

No way would I voluntarily choose a land rover unless I lived out in some remote wasteland

(and before any of you smart alecs say it, yes im sure you do wish i lived in some remote wasteland!!!)

It's not a farm but it is fairly remote and in the winter a 4 wheel drive is an asset.

I have a Mondeo (new) a few weeks ago as I was stopping in a car park it packed up made loads of rattling noises and the 'engine malfunction' light came on.

The garage couldn't find anything wrong

Then it happened again, this time as I was driving, complete lack of power, steering locked, same warning light came on and the garage said they couldn't find a fault but reset the whole pc (or summat)

last night on the motorway the engine started missing quite a bit

now before you get on about shyte Mondeos etc etc etc any mechanics have any proper suggestions as I have quite a bit of driving to do in the next couple of weeks and do not fancy beng the first Bunkerite in the dead heads list!

weigh it in!

Its an option!

Price a long term lease hire, you gets a nice car, and fully maintained etc etc, you may be pleasently suprised !!
(then again you might not dunno but worth the enquirey) i seem to remember a few years ago pricing a merc from the garage near preston park, and it wasnt too bad a deal for a merc, going down market you might get a better one, unless you want a merc or a jag then all............ rambling now
but yer get me point !

Plug leads

DOn't know if this will help Mr. D

http://www.btinternet.com/~madmole/Reference/knownproblems.html

feckin thing died on me just past the travs

did you pop in for a pint?

As the old saying goes, 'you get what you pay for', and having your motor serviced or repaired is no different.

We often (most days in fact!) get punters bringing their car into us with a problem that "nobody has been able to fix" (in other words its been to every back street garage in town to have a go at) and we (the dealer) are a last resort "cos your labour rate is too high".

One of our lads looks at car, problem solved usually within an hour, resulting in customers usual retort of "wish i'd come to you in the first place"

And the high labour rates are as a direct result of the dealership spending thousands of pounds, per technician, per year on specialist training at the manufacturers HQ. The cost is of course passed on to the customer, but their motor is being looked after by a technician who knows his arse from his elbow!!

My gut instinct too! Although not sure why the steering would have locked

revs die, power steering pump not turning as should, loss of steering assistance meaning actually having to steer the car which will be a lot harder

Ah, right. Never thought of that, cheers.

well ive told 'em to keep it