Fiat Ducato service.

[davidmac]

Hi ,just had my Merc based Rapido "B" service done at a local independent Merc specialist garage, the labour cost was £162, oil, air and fuel filters £44, 13lt oil £87.50 all + V.A.T. grand total £362. When I had a problem last summer I took the motorhome to a Mercedes truck specialist in Milton Keynes, they sorted the problem o.k. but their hourly rate is £106 +V.A.T. At the time I enquired about a 'B' service but they would not quote a price saying that the difficulty of access and the possibility of specialist parts could be a problem.

Regards David

[ChrisD]

Hello everyone.

 

Thank you all so much for your replies.

I did phone Fiat and as Derek quite rightly says this service can be carried out by another Garage.

Bearing in mind Fiat pro quoted me £492 the garage that services my car have quoted me £288 inc vat and that includes changing the brake fluid (superfluous I would have thought at 3750 miles)

 

This particular garage - Swift motors of Worthing - I absolutely trust to do the best job.

On my previous campervan a Peugeot the fuel gauge failed. I took it to Peugeot who stated a new instrument cluster was required. £850. I took it to a couple of others, said the same minimum £700.

 

I took it to Swifts who said that was a possibility - a new cluster- but would insist on a full diagnostic first.

It required an MOT so I asked them to do whatever was necessary.

 

Imagine my surprise when on collection I was presented with a bill for under £60 which included the MOT.

Faulty connection to a sensor.

So there are some good and honest ones out there.

 

Thanks again for taking interest and replying to me.

 

Chris

[mikebeaches]

My local Fiat dealer - Huttons, of Weston-super-Mare - always seems willing to do a 'low mileage' service, which typically costs around £175/£185. The service book and the Fiat system just shows it's had a Fiat service.

 

On my previous Ducato, which I had from new - 2010 - 2015 and covered 30k miles, I think I had one full service after about 3 years of ownership and that cost around £350.

 

My current 2016 Ducato had its first service last year - low mileage - and this year I may well ask them to do a 'full service', although I know a service is only supposed to be required every 2 years and the van has only done just over 13k miles.

 

It spends quite a lot of time abroad and I want it to be as reliable as possible.

 

 

[Rayjsj]

My 2014 Ducato has been serviced twice by our local Fiat Professional garage. Mainly to keep the Warranty active. Imagine my shock and surprise when I found that the oil filter very obviously had not been changed before ( it was very rusty with nearly all the paint had flaked off) probably from new. ?

Isnt the oil filter automatically changed when the oil is changed ?

I will be doing my own servicing whenever possible from now on.

 

 

[Deneb]

dawki - 2019-03-31 9:26 AM

 

Can anyone tell me why Fiat service seems expensive

I take my Merc to main dealer and I believe the Merc has a higher oil capacity

 

Full service £340 + vat

Interim service £200 +vat

Or you can do what I did last year get a full service and a interim service for £450.00 +vat

 

Depends where you are located. Don636 has recently had what is effectively a Fiat interim service at a main dealer in NE England for £195. I had a similar service carried out at a Fiat main dealer in the home counties and it cost £286 which was cheaper than some other Fiat dealers that quoted me.

 

They all have to cover expensive premises commensurate with their main dealer status, expensive equipment and training etc.

 

I remember quite a few years ago, when we did not have any Mercedes vehicles on our fleet. Merc loaned us three Sprinter vans for evaluation. At the end of the evaluation period, they offered to sell them to us for a very nominal sum, which our fleet manager grabbed with both hands. Only after the deal was done did he find that we had to buy some very expensive diagnostic equipment from them to carry out our own maintenance, with ongoing costs of around several thousands of pounds every three months to stay up to date and ensure that we had the right tools for the job!

 

 

[dawki]

Deneb - 2019-03-31 5:29 PM

 

dawki - 2019-03-31 9:26 AM

 

Can anyone tell me why Fiat service seems expensive

I take my Merc to main dealer and I believe the Merc has a higher oil capacity

 

Full service £340 + vat

Interim service £200 +vat

Or you can do what I did last year get a full service and a interim service for £450.00 +vat

 

Depends where you are located. Don636 has recently had what is effectively a Fiat interim service at a main dealer in NE England for £195. I had a similar service carried out at a Fiat main dealer in the home counties and it cost £286 which was cheaper than some other Fiat dealers that quoted me.

 

They all have to cover expensive premises commensurate with their main dealer status, expensive equipment and training etc.

 

I remember quite a few years ago, when we did not have any Mercedes vehicles on our fleet. Merc loaned us three Sprinter vans for evaluation. At the end of the evaluation period, they offered to sell them to us for a very nominal sum, which our fleet manager grabbed with both hands. Only after the deal was done did he find that we had to buy some very expensive diagnostic equipment from them to carry out our own maintenance, with ongoing costs of around several thousands of pounds every three months to stay up to date and ensure that we had the right tools for the job!

 

 

I’m based in surrey and I’m lucky enough to have a Merc commercial dear at Heathrow

[Billggski]

My local Fiat dealer hasn't got a workshop with a high enough roof for a motorhome, so sends it to a local indy. Presumably still charging full whack. I took it straight to the indy instead, and the fuel filter leaked next holiday!

[Billggski]

I now take it to my local truck garage.

[Yorkyrunner]

Had a Fiat based Tribute 650 on a 3ltr comfomatic (Excellent setup) and got it serviced at a local garage franchise and as long as I used geniune Fiat parts all was fine, The only downside to it was the day after my 3 year warranty ran out the throttle body went down (this included renewing the wiring loom as well) and when I contacted Fiat to see if they would do anything for me they were very good and as long as I paid for the parts they would cover the labour as long as the local Fiat main dealer could do it. . The Franchise charged £35 per hour at that time as against £65 per hour at the main dealers. Fiat said if I had had the servicing done at the main dealers from the off they would probaly have coverd the full cost.. However I still continued to use my francise garage since. Now got a Peugeot base van and luckily for me the main dealer cannot do MH serviceg because not big enough facilities and so hav e continued using my regular franchise garage who incidentally were Peugeot trained before setting up there own buisness .

[Derek Uzzell]

This AA website link

 

https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/service-repair/faqs#5

 

advises as follows

 

Do I have to get my car serviced by a main dealer?

 

You are not obliged (since October 2003) to get the car serviced by a franchise dealer during the warranty period.

 

You must though get it serviced according to the manufacturer's recommended schedule and criteria using only manufacturer approved parts.

 

The legislation only applies to the part of the warranty offered by the manufacturer, i.e. insurance-backed extended warranties offered by dealers are not covered and may stipulate different conditions.

 

If you do get the car serviced outside the dealer network, you must make sure it's done to the maker's recommended schedule and criteria using approved parts. You must also keep records so you can demonstrate to the manufacturer that servicing was undertaken to their requirements.

 

You should still get warranty work undertaken by the franchised dealer as it is easier for them to deal directly with the manufacturer.

 

Read about repairs after the warranty expires before deciding to go outside the dealer network for servicing during the warranty.

 

If the servicing of (say) a Fiat Ducato-based motorhome within the Fiat warranty-period is carried out by a Fiat agency, the parts used should be expected to have been approved by Fiat and the tasks performed be as described in the Ducato Owner Handbook. If a non-Fiat garage carries out the servicing the motorhome owner should check beforehand what that garage will do and what parts will be used, and confirm that the subsequent invoice provides that information. A non-Fiat garage won’t normally be authorised to carry-out under-warranty repairs, ’safety’ recalls or ‘improvement’ work like software revisions. The garage may also be unable to carry out tasks that require specialised Fiat equipment (eg. resetting service/oil-change interval data). I can’t see why (say) Fiat should be influenced by a motorhome owner living far away from a Fiat agency, or that a nearby Fiat agency is unable to service a large motorhome. Servicing is something that needs to be researched before buying a motorhome in the same way that where geographically the motorhome is bought from needs taking into account.

[Mike88]

Yorkyrunner - 2019-04-01 7:21 PM

 

Had a Fiat based Tribute 650 on a 3ltr comfomatic (Excellent setup) and got it serviced at a local garage franchise and as long as I used geniune Fiat parts all was fine, The only downside to it was the day after my 3 year warranty ran out the throttle body went down (this included renewing the wiring loom as well) and when I contacted Fiat to see if they would do anything for me they were very good and as long as I paid for the parts they would cover the labour as long as the local Fiat main dealer could do it. . The Franchise charged £35 per hour at that time as against £65 per hour at the main dealers. Fiat said if I had had the servicing done at the main dealers from the off they would probaly have coverd the full cost.. However I still continued to use my francise garage since. Now got a Peugeot base van and luckily for me the main dealer cannot do MH serviceg because not big enough facilities and so hav e continued using my regular franchise garage who incidentally were Peugeot trained before setting up there own buisness .

 

 

I'm amazed at how cheap the labour rates are. For example my Audi dealership charges £165 per hour.

[ChrisD]

Thanks Derek

 

Highly informative as always.

I did ask my Garage for a schedule and they advised that they would only use Fiat parts to maintain the warranty.

 

Chris

[Derek Uzzell]

Mike88 - 2019-04-02 9:58 AM

 

Yorkyrunner - 2019-04-01 7:21 PM

 

Had a Fiat based Tribute 650 on a 3ltr comfomatic (Excellent setup) and got it serviced at a local garage franchise and as long as I used geniune Fiat parts all was fine, The only downside to it was the day after my 3 year warranty ran out the throttle body went down (this included renewing the wiring loom as well) and when I contacted Fiat to see if they would do anything for me they were very good and as long as I paid for the parts they would cover the labour as long as the local Fiat main dealer could do it. . The Franchise charged £35 per hour at that time as against £65 per hour at the main dealers. Fiat said if I had had the servicing done at the main dealers from the off they would probaly have coverd the full cost.. However I still continued to use my francise garage since. Now got a Peugeot base van and luckily for me the main dealer cannot do MH serviceg because not big enough facilities and so hav e continued using my regular franchise garage who incidentally were Peugeot trained before setting up there own buisness .

 

 

I'm amazed at how cheap the labour rates are. For example my Audi dealership charges £165 per hour.

 

The Trigano Tribute 650 was available on a Ducato X244 or X250 base, and Yorkyrunner’s mention of the 3.0litre motor and ComfortMatic transmission indicates that his (hers?) was constructed on the latter. But that still means that the vehicle could have been 2006-vintage when labour rates were significantly cheaper than now.

 

There’s little point quoting monetary figures for vehicle sevicing unless it’s known what the ‘servicing’ entails. In ChrisD’s case the quote of £492 by a Fiat Professional agent for an initial at-24-months service seems a lot, but to confirm this it would be necessary to establish which parts would be replaced and their individual cost, which oil would be used, which tasks would be performed and the charge for the labour involved.

 

In my earlier posting of 29 March 2019 2:04 PM I was suggesting a cost (VAT inclusive) of approaching £200 for replacement parts and SELENIA oil being used, which would leave nearly £300 remaining for labour. So either Chris’s Fiat Professional agency charges a helluva lot per hour for labour, or they allow a helluva long time to carry out the service, or they are performing tasks additional to what’s in Fiat’s Scheduled Servicing Plan.

[Billggski]

It would be interesting to know the extra value a main dealer service record means when coming to sell. It would certainly make it more attractive and easier to sell and may balance out the extra costs involved.

For my Volvo, the main dealer isn't costing much more than an indy garage, but provides free European wide breakdown and free software and sat nav updates. So it makes it very attractive.

[Mickproc1]

I have just paid a Fiat Professional workshop £506.00 for a full service, but I was glad I did.

 

I bought the van second hand with 4000 miles on the clock, it was still less than 5000 miles at two years old and the workshop suggested an intermediate service, but I didn't know what had been done before I had bought it, plus the mechanical warranty would expire at two years old so I decided to go for a full service assuming that this would pick up any problems before the warranty ran out. It turned out an imprtant recall was outstanding even though it was showing as done on the Fiat database, and the previous owners had swapped the spare wheel with a barely legal spare wheel which wasn't even the right size.

 

I think it was money well spent in my circumstances, if I had owned the van from new I might have been tempted to take a cheaper route and I will probably use my regular workshop in future now that the mechanical warranty has expired.

[ChrisD]

Derek

 

I did phone the Fiat Pro dealer that quoted the £492 and asked about the service schedule, to be told that it met with Fiats service requirements for warranty. No further information was going to be given unless I pushed and probed.

 

The vehicle is booked for service tomorrow at my favoured Garage and at the risk of boring forum members I will post on a new thread to show how this has progressed with materials etc and scope of work.

 

One huge lesson here for me in the future when asking for quotes from main dealers will be to request by email the service schedule and a breakdown of the overall cost.

 

I hope that this quote was not a 'try on' and if I had screamed "how much" the price might have been reduced like so much of the Insurance industry RAC AA. I could go on. How many of us have to phone to reduce a premium on receiving a renewal notice. (that's a separate thread for chatterbox)

 

I truly hope vehicle servicing has not gone in that awful direction. But suspect it has.

Chris

 

[Guest rael]

£492 for a 30000 mile service. Ok it sounds like a lot of money but at the end of the day its down to choices. Personally I'll be getting my first service done at a Fiat Professional then think about going elsewhere once the 2 year warranty has expired. If you look at in terms of what you have probably paid for your motorhome then it sort of fades. We must not forget that a motorhome is basically a big hole into which you throw lots of money! Our current vehicle has done 21000 miles in 12 months so I wont need a low milage service. I'll maybe get them to do a few checks, as we seem to have a slight acceleration problem (its automatic) thats needs sorting out and its still got 12 months warranty.