Servicing Costs

[moon_monkie]

Hi All, I have a 53 Plate 2.0 Hdi Desire which I am extremely happy with and has never needed to visit our local dealer apart from routine servicing and a couple of recalls. However now it's time for the two year 25K service and they want to relieve me of £214 for it!

I've phoned around other dealers in the area (Oxfordshire) and the cheapest one about 25 miles away wants £170.08. I've decided that I'm going to use an independent garage and get them to do the service to Citroen specs as I will save a fair bit of cash in the process.

Does anyone else have any experience of servicing outside the main dealer network? And if so any recommendations of garages in the Oxford/Banbury area??

Ta

[pork_pie]

I cannot answer your question about other dealers in your area but the price you have quoted is the going rate.

Prepare yourself for a shock when your car wil need its 37.5k service as you are likely to pay around £350.

If I were you I'd stick to the franchised dealer during the whole duration of the warranty period. Tell your nearest dealer that a nearby dealership is undercutting by a shade under £50. Take it from me spending a bit extra will save you a lot of hassle especially if the car goes wrong after a fix at the independent garage.
Citroen UK will use every excuse in the book to avoid honouring a future warranty claim.

[Terry1100]

I have been with an "Approved Repairer" for some time now with the Berlingo and C2 and am delighted with the prices and even more delighted with the quality of service.

They're a bit far from you (Harish Autos, London NW9) but they have done the suspension "cup" recall on the C2 - and there were no problems when it turned out that the part supplied by Citroen was bent and caused a noise over speed bumps as it hit the compressing spring.

They also do more than the CItroen schedule rather than just working their way down the list and ignoring anything else.

To all intents and purposes, you ARE dealing with a Citroen dealer.

[moon_monkie]

Thanks for the responses. I went back to my nearest dealer (Reg Vardy, Banbury) where I go the car from. They had originally quoted £214 for the job. When I aked them if they could match my best price from another Citroen dealer they immediately came down to £170, all in a tidy saving.

Just shows the merit of getting a few prices in!

[Guest CE05LDB]

I had my sisters Saxo serviced at a local Garage for £75 on 25,000 miles and when it needed 2 new seat slides the seats were rolling forward all the time. They didn't even mention about a service. I know when I had a new bumper skirt put under my bumper on the C3 they wanted to know my mileage. And they will most prob ask again when my bottom half of my drivers seat is replaced under warranty as it has all gone flat on the one side.