Bulk oil - really?

[julianf]

PS. You shouldn't be paying for disposal on batteries either. About 30pence a kilo at the moment, i think.

 

[premmington]

I would if you were making out to your customers that it was expensive to dispose of... As that would be, well, dishonest.

What the motoring public should be aware of is

PS. You shouldn't be paying for disposal on batteries either. About 30pence a kilo at the moment, i think.

Battery's by law need to leave my premises in grey double skinned pallet type containers.

I can't just chuck them in the back of my truck and "weigh them in" for a bit of cash.

There is a cost to everything, this has to passed onto the customer!

Oh, I forgot to add to the list: Recovered aircon gas spoil and separator cleaning contracts for rain water!

I run garage premises which are trading within the law. But our charged out labour rate will be higher than some back street premises pouring oil and anti freeze down the drain.

 

[RonA]

Check how much oil your engine takes and compare it to the bill. An Audi dealer charged a friend of mine for anywhere between 4.2 and 5 litres of oil in his A4 1.8 at each service when it only takes 3.9 litres, he managed to get a backdated refund.

A local neighbour of mine religiously took his car to be serviced at a garage which lies approx 1/4 mile away. mainly because it was a short convenient walk back home. He became suspicious however, when on checking the oil approx 2 weeks after the service, he found the oil level below minimum on the dipstick. Suspicions aroused, After the next service when he got the car back, he found the oil level exactly on minimum. On returning to the garage & confronting the owner, he was told that's how they always did it. Needless to say he had been charged for a full 5 litres of new oil. The capacity between the full & minimum on his car's dipstick was a litre. If the garage applied this principle to every car they serviced over the years they were saving a full can of oil on every 5 cars serviced. The next time the car was serviced not unsurprisingly he changed his garage!!! Whilst I know it's not a good idea to go past the full mark & risk damage to your catalyser or contaminating your clutch lining surely this must count as very sharp practice.
RonA

 

[500e]

With doors but no windows

 

[Bill Edwards]

I own a garage, and waste oil sells at about 9p a litre in bulk.

While I don't charge a disposal fee (except for tyres). If you had the bills I have to pay. You would not think selling a bit of waste oil was dishonest.

I would if you were making out to your customers that it was expensive to dispose of... As that would be, well, dishonest.

Charging a disposal cost for something you're being paid for isn't necessarily dishonest. Despite being paid for it I wouldn't be surprised if it still costs money by the time you've paid staff to decant it into containers, move it round/store it etc.

There are many things where someone pays a firm to get rid of something, and that firm then sells it on, often for a profit. It's quite common, and I don't see it as dishonest - it's another way of doing business.

 

[AndyStobbs]

I think Premmington is perhaps a bit over zealous on the battery front. A local scrapyard simply send a hook lift, to collect batteries if you have a huge amount, or I take them in amongst the scrap myself, no jazzy container either way. You really shouldn't be paying to have batteries removed at the moment. The roving scrap people around here are only interested in batteries or CATs and pay for both.
Used to be able to see off waste oil in a similar manner but since the crash in fuel prices, it now costs me to dispose of oil.

 

[ukracer]

Complete nonsense. Its just main dealer prices and any reason they can think off to validate them. If the "additives" were needed or better for your car then the main oil suppliers would be using them in all there oils. You pay hiked up prices at main dealers because there technicians are "specially" trained to be "specalists" of that make of car. Nothing fancy its all the same nuts, bolts and fluids in every car.

My brother in law was recently quoted £847 to fix an issue with his relativley new car at the main dealer and its got sorted for £450 at and independant garage and they had to buy the part from the main dealer. So that should tell you something.

same with BMW same ×@#$/ just more expensive. My son shelled out 8k and when he went to change the bushes and rear shocks.everything was seized in.....

280 for 2 shock and 6 bushes and that was factor prices....mates rates. Not BMW...I hate to think what that would be even without labour.

 

[AndyStobbs]

A local neighbour of mine religiously took his car to be serviced at a garage which lies approx 1/4 mile away. mainly because it was a short convenient walk back home. He became suspicious however, when on checking the oil approx 2 weeks after the service, he found the oil level below minimum on the dipstick. Suspicions aroused, After the next service when he got the car back, he found the oil level exactly on minimum. On returning to the garage & confronting the owner, he was told that's how they always did it. Needless to say he had been charged for a full 5 litres of new oil. The capacity between the full & minimum on his car's dipstick was a litre. If the garage applied this principle to every car they serviced over the years they were saving a full can of oil on every 5 cars serviced. The next time the car was serviced not unsurprisingly he changed his garage!!! Whilst I know it's not a good idea to go past the full mark & risk damage to your catalyser or contaminating your clutch lining surely this must count as very sharp practice.
RonA

Never heard of a clutch being oil contaminated due to over fill. I have had issues with Mercedes-Benz sprinter vans, where I have filled them to the mark, and they go down a hill and pops up a warning for oil quantity excessive, I no longer aim for the max oil level on those, but do only charge for whats gone in, to the nearest 0.5L sometimes the customer profs, sometimes I prof.

 

[Justme]

But I have to pay to get rid of everything else.


Batteries (free ish, have to pay for waste notes)

You should get paid for them. Normally have a good value. Last year it was around 45p per kg.

Currently 35p per kg

 

[atomant48]

Thanks guys for the comments. Didn't expect such a discussion! It was castrol edge synthetic, and comes out close to £20 a litre.

It does seem quite steep, but I do fully accept all the costs that need to be factored in. I do have a friendly independent that takes care of the "other" car, he will certainly be getting both our business at next service!

Thanks.

 

[the snooper]

Thanks guys for the comments. Didn't expect such a discussion! It was castrol edge synthetic, and comes out close to £20 a litre.

It does seem quite steep, but I do fully accept all the costs that need to be factored in. I do have a friendly independent that takes care of the "other" car, he will certainly be getting both our business at next service!

Thanks.

A call to trading standards regarding their extortionate pricing of oil may be worth a go

 

[AndyStobbs]

Thanks guys for the comments. Didn't expect such a discussion! It was castrol edge synthetic, and comes out close to £20 a litre.

It does seem quite steep, but I do fully accept all the costs that need to be factored in. I do have a friendly independent that takes care of the "other" car, he will certainly be getting both our business at next service!

Thanks.

Just to fly the flag for independent garages, we are able to service a car to a standard that retains your original warranty. The over-all header for this is 'block exemption' which is ALOT of reading, and lays down that providing quality parts are used (not even necessarily OEM parts) and the vehicle is serviced to the letter of the schedule, your warranty is maintained.

Sadly the makers have countered this by making cars with bugs, so that a software update generally becomes part of a service, and while they are required by law to make this info available to independents (under the right to repair header) they are free to set a price of their choosing - and so we are priced out.

 

[migcurious]

Just to fly the flag for independent garages, we are able to service a car to a standard that retains your original warranty. The over-all header for this is 'block exemption' which is ALOT of reading, and lays down that providing quality parts are used (not even necessarily OEM parts) and the vehicle is serviced to the letter of the schedule, your warranty is maintained.

Sadly the makers have countered this by making cars with bugs, so that a software update generally becomes part of a service, and while they are required by law to make this info available to independents (under the right to repair header) they are free to set a price of their choosing - and so we are priced out.

that's very interesting, I was aware of the removal of block exemption and this is what manufacturers have introduced to combat that ..naughty

 

[Bill Edwards]

Just to fly the flag for independent garages, we are able to service a car to a standard that retains your original warranty. The over-all header for this is 'block exemption' which is ALOT of reading, and lays down that providing quality parts are used (not even necessarily OEM parts) and the vehicle is serviced to the letter of the schedule, your warranty is maintained.

Does the service still have to be carried out by a certain garage, or does it allow anyone to do it?
Fitting of good parts is probably easy enough to check, when you say the service has to be done to the letter do they tend to include silly things which are likely to catch you out?
Just curious here, I don't own a vehicle that's under 15 ish years old and don't intend to change that, so warranties aren't a problem to me!

 

[AndyStobbs]

I would imagine it's still got to be a garage, don't quote me on this because I've not looked into the story, if a handy chap was to do his own service.

A garage that is VAT registered is probably the accepted benchmark. Also the use of a garage [as opposed to DIY] creates a paper trail, any one could present an invoice for purchasing parts but its not a guarantee of fitment - yes I know that the same could be said of a garage too.
In respect of service schedule, no I don't think they include silly things to catch you out, just its more thorough than perhaps people realise. Coolant and brake fluid changes for instance, paint and under body protection inspection is also something that is a factor.

It's hard to strike a balance, especially with things like coolant, the first time most cars get a coolant change is when the water pump fails or the radiator develops a leak (if the car is lucky enough not be crashed before that) and thats perfectly satisfactory. The RED anti freeze now is described as a 5 year protection, but even blue (predominantly 2 years) is still perfectly good in a UK climate 10 years later. Most cars receive a 50/50 fill water to anti freeze, so years on and allowing for the 'degradation of the antifreeze' the protection is probably still in the region of minus 10c, which in the UK at least, is a snorter of a frost.

So do you advise its changed because the maker says so, or do you stay in the real world and aim to deliver the savings that the customer expects to see from an independent and underpins their whole reason for coming in the first place.

 

[Bill Edwards]

I've always considered brake fluid and antifreeze changes to be service items, but then unlike so many I can see the benefits of preventative maintenance!
Antifreeze changes aren't too do with frost protection, that never diminishes. It's the corrosion inhibitors which fail which is why it must get replaced.
I don't suppose modern cars are likely to have issues with this in the real world as most will probably have died for many other reasons first, but it certainly rears its ugly head on the older machinery which is about now where it's clearly been neglected and the system is blocked up with rust.