I have just had the car serviced at the RACV shop for about $80 more than the “fixed price” service, so it does not appear to be significantly more expensive, at present. My experience, with the first Subaru, is that the cost of out of warranty services with the dealer escalates dramatically.
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Agree @Fred123, perhaps you are more important to the dealership and have some of that special status?
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@Fred123 I am glad you secured the deal, it doesn’t/didn’t hurt to ask for a deal from your dealer, being armed with quoted costs from others helps make the advance an easier task both to secure a discount and to compare the costs of all the service providers. In the case of your Honda dealer to keep a customer it was obviously worth beating the opposition by 10% and if you went back to some of the others with that figure you may have even got a better one. But a 10% saving is still a good catch and as they are the trained in Honda personnel then just from that point of view it may be worth sticking with them but with regular checks with other providers to ensure no ‘bracket creep’ occurs.
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I didn’t actually ask the Honda dealer for a discount, but after they quoted me the Honda book price for the first service, I the rang our old service centre and Ultratune as I expected that they would be cheaper.
I never told the Honda dealer that the others were dearer and I had expected them to charge the quoted price but they always charge less.
I was under the impression that the discount was either for senior citizens or customers who had bought their Honda from them.
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Why I used doesn’t/didn’t as I was unsure. The method however of getting some figures does still help in the market place as many times it can lower an expected cost you would otherwise pay. Keeping an active eye on charges also gives you insight as to whether a deal is better for you or not. I still think the 10% is a good outcome as I am sure you do also.
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An interesting side to this is that, according to one of the local VW service consultants, when many people are told that their diesels may loose performance when fixes are implemented to reduce emissions, they just never surface for the fixes ?
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The RACQ had this article in their recent member magazine about sludge buildup in engines…
Their advice and recommendations to avoid include to the quality of oil used in the engine and frequency of its replacement. Frequency of replacement would be the nominated service intervals by the manufacturer.
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To my mind, this is a little off topic.
I started the thread to highlight how Subaru Australia had hijacked the manufacturer’s service schedules to increase, and in many cases, double, service requirements set out by the manufacturer. The original schedules always included provision for arduous conditions of heat, cold, dust, short trips and so on and a requirement to take these into consideration. Those prepared by Subaru Australia appear to have adopted extreme conditions as the norm in developing their schedules.
I asked several times for an explanation of the discrepancy but received no answer better than “this is how to service your Subaru in Australia”.
There is nothing wrong with what the RACQ says. Sludge can cause problems. Hovever, has anyone ever seen it do so in less than three years or 10,000 kilometres? Really?
Perhaps Subaru Australia have chosen a different standard or interpretation. It’s their warranty?
The service intervals in the warranty are fixed and available if a consumer chooses to enquire fully prior to purchase. That does not prove they are excessive, appropriate or deficient. Buyer be aware, they are there in writing.
What would you choose to do different next time, assuming Subaru Australia and their dealers positions remain unchanged?
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You’re right on your first point, Mark. It is legally Subaru Australia’s warranty, although it may well be supported by the manufacturer, Fuji.
And, yes, the intervals are there in writing. However, you’d have to pick up the discrepancy by reading both sets of conflicting information.
What would I do differently? Well I do have some brand loyalty but I’m prepared to consider a Mazda CX-5 as an alternative. I do need an AWD for my skiing habit. My wife has a MX-5 and we find the Mazda dealer more amenable in many ways. He doesn’t, for example, misrepresent lubricant quantities nor that he has done work that he clearly hasn’t eg lubricate door fittings.
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Another reason may also be the warranty period. Just doing a quick search, the warranty between countries is different. An example is the USA where a 2016 Subaru Outback had a 3 years or 36,000 miles (58000 km) warranty. These differences did surprise me as I had assumed that warranty periods would have been standard worldwide.
I suspect that car manufacturers may also change service intervals based in the warranty offered in the particular country. I wonder if the warranty duration is influenced by consumer laws, competition between manufacturers, the prevailing climatic conditions, normal vehicle use etc.
Where a warranty is longer (say to 100,00km instead of 58,000km), I suspect that they may require additional servicing to ensure that their (manufacturer’s) risks associated with vehicle use (longevity and mileage) is reduced.
I’d be more inclined to believe that warranty duration is more a factor of market pressures. What has happened in Australia is that newer manufacturers have needed a marketing edge and used warranty as a lever to establish, or in the case of Hyundai, reestablish market share. Established brands have followed rather than led a general increase in duration.
In the case of service intervals, I’d suggest that people assume that most cars have similar requirements that are influenced more by usage conditions than the importer’s or dealer’s bottom line. Let’s face it, the lubricants come out of the same refineries and things like filters often the same factories.
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An article regarding independent mechanical workshops not being able to access the manufacturers’ data that they need, which is claimed to be costing consumers $1 billion annually.
Wouldn’t it be nice if something is actually done about this?
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I’ve read somewhere that this problem is even worse with new farm machinery…
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There have been articles like the ones below regarding owners not being able to repair their machinery due to the manufacturers’ denying access to the software.
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1.153 million reasons why nothing will be done, unless???
(Total number of new car sales, Australia 2018).
Do the sums as to what this is worth based on any guess at the average retail sale price across the market. The new car industry speaks tens of billions of dollars to whoever will listen.
The desire for manufacturers to maintain control of their product and warranty through servicing plus the dealer servicing being profit centres, there is even more money in the pot.
This might not be a justification for how things are. Just an observation.
P.S.
Rank the following as it seems appropriate.
Car Salesperson, Real Estate Agent, Bank Financial Services/loans/super advisor and planners.
Yes, you pay extra for them to come to you, or for the big jobs, it’s a float and wide load escort! Think of the average car service with some extra zeros before the decimal on the bill.
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Where are the pollies? (No need to answer. #0)
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Given the reduced distance I am driving these days due to Covirus restrictions, I reckon it is pointless thinking about car service every 12 months, just every 10k, which may be every 3 years. Car is past warranty and housed in garage. Service guy says, well oil goes off, or brake fluid absorbs water. I reckon this is just a BS spin to get more servicing work.
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Hmmm… I still get mine done every year, at rego time, especially as my car is getting on in years (as am I) and will be replaced with a mobility scooter and Uber. Speaking of which, its almost that time of year again, for me.
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The community has an existing discussion on servicing.
There are increased risks to safety and of vehicle breakdown if a minimum standard of maintenance is not carried out.
As owners we are able to choose to not follow the minimum standard set out by the manufacturer. Australian authorities consider this a risk. They attempt to mitigate it by requiring annual roadworthy inspections. Others only require an inspection on transfer of ownership.
Hopefully the previous discussion is of some assistance.
P.S.
Note that high temperature brake fluid does absorb water over time. Generic advice, your vehicle manual may differ:
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