G'day
I bought a Hyundai i30 2nd hand car from a dealer last year
In a couple of month, my 45,000km is due in for servicing
Should I either
A) Go to Hyundai Dealiership, and pay whatever to keep intact the 5yr warranty
B) Buy a Groupon car service , a reputable one base on many reviews at a good price
Need the wisdom of ozbrgainer, car servicing and car in general is not my strongest suit
That's about $300 profit there for the dealership. They use check/inspect to make it a much longer list to justify 30minutes of work.
Reminds me of when Homer used his coupon to get discounted tyres
Oil & filter for $40 inc labour?
In the words of Darryl Kerrigan - Tell im he's dreamin!
Dealers buy it all bulk. Labour is an apprentice
those things worth about $180 IMO
Just get it done by the dealer & do an end run around any potential warranty issues down the track.
IME most coupon type deals with mechanics tend to be bait advertising…as soon as it's up on the hoist with the wheels off you suddenly need something expensive & unnecessary…been there, done that, narrowly escaped the affray charge & associated green t-shirt! ;)
You don't lose any form of your warranty when servicing yourself or by any independent mechanic.
This is a myth, Its also illegal for any representative to tell you so. happens everyday,
You will rarely get an honest opinion at a dealership.
If you bought a used car at a dealership, very common for repairs only to be mentioned to customer when warranty has expired.
It's there job to upsell you anything your not wise enough to decline.
Why would you get your car serviced where there is a financial incentive by not being honest.
Most dealerships have 70% or higher of there technicians unqualified(apprentices).
Usually always less than 30% qualified.
Apprentices at independent workshops are far better trained, and are far more closely scrutinized by bosses and head mechanics.
When dealerships lose a few customer's its very insignificant, Where independent shops don't have this luxury.
When you work at a dealership as a tech you feel like a lemming, knowledge progression is very slow.
Obviously Im a mechanic,
You would have to pay me to take my car to a dealership,
Most educated customers Ive seen are the ones who go to independent shops, and when a fault/warranty issue arises.
They take the car to the dealership to repair for free.
Always get your inspected by a independent shop prior to warranty expiring,
They have no incentive to not tell you the truth.
Obviously Im a mechanic,
You would have to pay me to take my car to a dealership,
The bias is strong in this one…
Get fired from a dealership did we?
There about year,
Left for better pastures,
I knew if I wanted to stay in the trade, Id need far more knowledge that was given or had access to.
Can't judge dealerships based off 1.
Same as I had a non-dealership mechanic overfill the oil on more than 1 occasion, but I'm not going to base every mechanic on that either.
Funny that, two different "mechanics" in my town also overfilled my engine oil.
Either a rookie mistake or they need return business once there's top end damage.
There's only about four decent independent mechanics in the Launceston area. I was referred to a fifth who couldn't fit three belts correctly, destroying one. The inferior replacement squealed like a stuck pig.
He couldn't align it properly so conditioned the belt with some stick lube…
Thanks you for your wisdom … greatly appreciate it
Look, dorifta is right that theoretically (according to the ACCC) there should be no difference between mechanics for services; however, and here's the rub, most dealers are complete a$$holes (sorry SB, it's my experience) when it comes to warranty.
If they open that log book & get a whiff they can contrive some bullshit excuse that original parts or fluids weren't used, they will dick you around something shocking, possibly even voiding your warranty claim, forcing you to foot the bill unless you fight it out.
Now, if you can pay a similar(ish) price for a log book service; remembering that most mechanics will charge differently for a log book service vs a standard vanilla service; it's well worth it not to have the hassle later on.
They do not do a better job than your local mechanic, frequently it's pretty half-arsed IME, but it fulfills your warranty obligation to stop them whinging later.
Despite the other stuff :P this is the main point to make and people to be aware of:
remembering that most mechanics will charge differently for a log book service vs a standard vanilla service
Is it a factory warranty or a warranty offered by the dealership?
If it's factory I'd service with the dealer to retain the warranty, dealership warranties in my experience are toilet paper.
factory warranties still should cover any registered mechanic who uses genuine parts I believe. ask hyundai directly. then the fair trading depts in your state.
for peace of mind really so you know you can rely on a good independent value for money mechanic
Check whether it's covered by fixed price servicing - my wife's i30 is cheap (by dealership standards) to service at the dealer.
You could get quotes from places like Ultratune and Masters. I get my two cars (one is an I30 still in factory warranty) serviced at KMart Tyre and Auto. Never had a problem and has no impact on factory warranty. Plus, they promise to price match.
What year is it? I'd be surprised if it's not on a fixed / capped price service plan in which case you're probably going to struggle to do better externally….
The law states that any qualified mechanic can do the service and your warranty remains valid.
The mechanic must carry out the service as per the log book then stamp the page and sign it off.
An invoice detailing the service should also be obtained should any questions arise.
The "INSPECT" side of things only takes about 5mins and the under-body stuff is done concurrently with oil change so really no extra time at all.
The real work involved is in the last 4 lines:
Lube door, boot, bonnet hinges & latches (usually unnecessary and doesn't affect warranty anyway)
Perform fuel system treatment (this is probably just adding injection cleaner to your fuel @ $12 RETAIL per bottle but dealer would charge you much more)
Replace air cleaner element (air cleaner costs under $40 from Supercheap Auto and 5 mins to change so maybe $50 tops)
Replace engine oil & filter (Usually around $130 via any mechanic)
So you are looking at $200 for a mechanic to carry out this work vs $340 from a dealer that will stamp your log book and ensure your warranty is valid.
And don't believe that a dealer will carry out all these inspections. I have NOT seen a single service person walking around with a logbook checklist. They will inspect visually in the same way as any mechanic would inspect.
PS If you service your car every 10,000km by a qualified mechanic then nothing will go wrong and you wont need to claim on your warranty anyway
And don't believe that a dealer will carry out all these inspections.
Of course not, they will half-arse it IME.
My wife's car came back from one service missing 2/5 wheelnuts on both back wheels…I shit you not. They kept pretty quiet & looked pretty sheepish when I pointed out fairly condescendingly that the number of wheelnuts corresponded directly with the number of fingers on a single hand…there was thus little excuse for any idiot cocking that one up.
Thats why you are better off taking it to a qualified mechanic and getting the log book stamped.
If you don't know about how good/bad a mechanic is, I probably wouldn't be servicing through a mechanic that you choose from Groupon…
http://www.hyundai.com.au/owning/get-a-service-quote