Fixed price servicing cost... ouch!

[CurranShelter]

I do like the idea of official Toyota fixed price dealer servicing, as it should take the postcode gamble out of the equation, you have a fair idea what the bill will be and it gives reassurance that you're paying what Toyota thinks is reasonable - and presumably they wouldn't want to hike prices too much for fear of putting people off buying the cars.

However... at the end of 2015 when I was weighing up which car to buy, I made a note of the fixed price service cost at the time, which according to my notes was £219 for an Auris hybrid full service (and £169 for interim, £279 for Full Plus). I'm now due a full service, and was taken aback to see the price is now listed as £335... a whacking great increase of £116 or about +53%!! What on earth has changed in the past year and a half to justify that? And should I assume there's no scope for haggling seeing as it's "fixed" Toyota-endorsed pricing?

Full Plus is nearly as bad (£279 to £395), interim service price hasn't changed so much (£169 to £185).

I always used to be willing to pay a modest premium for a proper Toyota service, but this is vastly more than independents charge from what I've seen - in fact the old price vs new price differential alone would pay for a service at some places! Not only that, but take another manufacturer offering fixed-price servicing - e.g. Skoda... £269 for a major service (regardless of model). Quite a difference. Not what I was banking on when I decided to buy the car.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Baxk in 2016 when Toyota increased the costs of the Fixed Price Servicing and revised the service schedules, the changes were quite well covered on the forums:

The revised service schedules are available to download from the following:

https://www.toyota.co.uk/owners/service-mot-maintenance/servicing.json

The changes include include some of what were service options under the old schedules, within the revised schedules.

[CurranShelter]

Thanks, I had missed those. Good to see Toyota being reasonably open and making an effort to provide some information - thank you for going to the trouble of getting that out of them. The revised schedule does provide some explanation of the cost increase, but it doesn't look like that radical a change and I still find a 53% rise quite breathtaking.

I agree with the points about some of the consumables too - you can argue the toss about whether people expect add-ons to their bill vs all-inclusive, but some of us would rather opt out of paying inflated prices for a highly-trained mechanic to exchange a cabin filter or change a button cell Battery or top up screenwash when we can do all of these things ourselves in a matter of minutes.

Much as I'm reluctant, I feel it might be time to remind myself of where I would stand with the warranty if I were to get the car serviced independently and just cough up for the hybrid health check at the dealership.

[estate]

7 hours ago, CurranShelter said:

And should I assume there's no scope for haggling seeing as it's "fixed" Toyota-endorsed pricing?

As far as I know the fixed price is the maximum price, Toyota GB expect the dealership to charge. I pay less than this by getting my car serviced at an approved Toyota service centre. They are not a dealership and they are cheaper than the Toyota dealerships around my area. I would try and haggle them down, you can't loose anything.

[Heidfirst]

4 hours ago, CurranShelter said:

Thanks, I had missed those. Good to see Toyota being reasonably open and making an effort to provide some information - thank you for going to the trouble of getting that out of them. The revised schedule does provide some explanation of the cost increase, but it doesn't look like that radical a change and I still find a 53% rise quite breathtaking.

Iirc the Hybrids were hit hardest by the price changes- they possibly had previously been subsidised by everybody else but as they became a larger % of sales that could no longer go on.

Toyota UK used to say that these were maximum prices & dealers were free to charge less ... don't know if that is still the case. My car is on a service plan - it worked out notably cheaper for me.

Much as I'm reluctant, I feel it might be time to remind myself of where I would stand with the warranty if I were to get the car serviced independently and just cough up for the hybrid health check at the dealership.

As long as the car is maintained to Toyota's schedule with consumables/parts of equal or better quality your warranty should remain intact. You may lose goodwill for things out  of warranty though.

 

[Anthony Poli]

7 hours ago, CurranShelter said:

I do like the idea of official Toyota fixed price dealer servicing, as it should take the postcode gamble out of the equation, you have a fair idea what the bill will be and it gives reassurance that you're paying what Toyota thinks is reasonable - and presumably they wouldn't want to hike prices too much for fear of putting people off buying the cars.

However... at the end of 2015 when I was weighing up which car to buy, I made a note of the fixed price service cost at the time, which according to my notes was £219 for an Auris hybrid full service (and £169 for interim, £279 for Full Plus). I'm now due a full service, and was taken aback to see the price is now listed as £335... a whacking great increase of £116 or about +53%!! What on earth has changed in the past year and a half to justify that? And should I assume there's no scope for haggling seeing as it's "fixed" Toyota-endorsed pricing?

Full Plus is nearly as bad (£279 to £395), interim service price hasn't changed so much (£169 to £185).

I always used to be willing to pay a modest premium for a proper Toyota service, but this is vastly more than independents charge from what I've seen - in fact the old price vs new price differential alone would pay for a service at some places! Not only that, but take another manufacturer offering fixed-price servicing - e.g. Skoda... £269 for a major service (regardless of model). Quite a difference. Not what I was banking on when I decided to buy the car.

I have gone down the service plan route, as the combined services and Mot price for 2 years works for me.

Which included a air con service, so with the plus and minus points, it was a good deal for me and the hybrid was cheaper than the last car.

[CurranShelter]

Thanks everyone for the comments and tips. I'm definitely minded to argue the toss with my dealership rather than just walk in and pay up, so we'll see how it goes. If they don't budge, then I just think I'd be daft not to look at other options.

31 minutes ago, Anthony Poli said:

I have gone down the service plan route, as the combined services and Mot price for 2 years works for me.

Which included a air con service, so with the plus and minus points, it was a good deal for me and the hybrid was cheaper than the last car.

Good point, I'm willing to consider a service plan if they knock a bit off, although the last quote I got had an admin charge applied, which is presumably something to do with payment in monthly instalments, as I'm not sure what other admin there is beyond booking a couple of services as normal. I'd rather just pay the lot up front and not have the fee (although I appreciate not everyone's in a position to do that). Annoyingly, had I taken out that plan (which looked pricey at the time), it would have worked out cheaper now given the price hike.

Strangely I've just gone on the Toyota GB website and completed the form to get a service plan quote, and regardless of number of services selected, the price works out at exactly the same as the ordinary individual service prices, so no saving whatsoever (other than the ability to spread payments via monthly DD).

[FROSTYBALLS]

4 minutes ago, CurranShelter said:

Strangely I've just gone on the Toyota GB website and completed the form to get a service plan quote, and regardless of number of services selected, the price works out at exactly the same as the ordinary individual service prices, so no saving whatsoever (other than the ability to spread payments via monthly DD).

The main point of having a service plan is that you're fixing the costs to those applicable at the time the plan is taken out. 

So, for example, if the service costs are increased the year after taking out the plan, that is where the saving can come in.

Not sure where people stand who took out a plan before the schedule revisions - presumably they have the service done according to the previous schedule.

[CurranShelter]

Just now, FROSTYBALLS said:

The main point of having a service plan is that you're fixing the costs to those applicable at the time the plan is taken out. 

So if the service costs are increased the year after taking out the plan, that is where the saving can come in.

Aaah, and there I was hopefully (gullibly) thinking there'd be a discount involved. Either way... I'd hope they're not thinking of increasing the prices further anytime soon, or I'll definitely be voting with my feet. A shame, as I like my local dealership, but everyone has limits on the premium they'll pay, and I can live without some of the "free" extras (coffee, WiFi, wash & vac etc).

[YarisHybrid2016]

Whether the fixed-price servicing or "pay as you go" model is best depends on your milage. For me, I was going to be hitting the annual time limit, so that means 3 services (2 intermediate and 1 full) so relative to the potential for a price increase, it was cheaper for me to skip the fixed price, keep the money, and take a risk on the prices rising.

As it is, I think I'll be seriously looking at the independent route. Even after paying for the hybrid health check separately it might work out cheaper!

[CurranShelter]

Well, I took mine in for its 2 yr, and told them quite frankly that I was shocked at the huge price increase for the fixed price service. To my relief, the response was "oh well we don't charge that much anyway", and sure enough it was about £250 rather than the stated £335. That included a brake fluid change (which for some reason was presented to me as optional but recommended). So that's more like it, and seems like another job well done by the dealership. Yes, I could still take it to Halfords Autocentre down the road and probably save a fair bit more on the face of it, but would they do all the same checks, would they use genuine parts (no), could I trust them, can they cope with HSD (aside from the official hybrid health check, obviously), and so on...?

So, anyone who is put off by the 'new' fixed price servicing costs... don't give up immediately - get a quote from the franchise and it might just be a lot more reasonable.

[estate]

Good on you.

As I thought, Toyota GB fixed price is the maximum they should charge, we all need to haggle to get the best deal and it's important to show that you can get what you want cheaper elsewhere, and that you're happy to go to an alternative garage to get the same service. Toyota dealership want to keep you as long term customer. If you don't get satisfaction from the service manager aim higher. Also if you've purchased the car from them, have a word with the salesman who sold you the car, they can also get you discount on the service, especially a service plan, as they want you to keep them in mind when it comes to replacing the car.    

 

 

[eygo]

on the 10th of june our Auris has its 4 year service

then 2 weeks later the IS needs its 4 year service

 in total £780 for servicing and in return i will receive

2 x 4 ltrs of oil

2 x oil filters and sump gaskets

maybe 2 air filters and 2 pollen filters

2 x brake fluid changes

new remote batteries

2 stamps in the service book

and loads of check that have already been completed on an mot ( just a way to bulk out the time and charge you more)

i think the fixed price servicing does work but only in toyota & lexus's favour not the end user

[Focusonskills]

I bought my used Auris Hybrid last April and the sales wanted to sell me service plan. I asked him what is the point of the service plan if it is the same price as doing the services individually. He replied that it's to allow monthly payment to spread the cost and to fixed the service cost at current price. He also mentioned that the service pricing would increase in 2 days. I thought he was bluffing said I would consider later. Later that week I checked Toyota website and found that the serviced price actually increased a lot, especially for full and full+ service. Therefore I called back the sales and took out the service plan for 4 services. 

Since I do 30K+ miles a year, I had already used up 3 of the services this April. I called to extend the service plan but they were unable to give me the old pricing or any discount. They mentioned there would be another price increase in May and urged me to sign another one asap. In the end I decided to take another 4 services to cover my car to 100K till warranty expire. However when I read the service plan document later I realised that they've repriced my 1 unused service at the new higher price. I called back to complain about it but they said they have no authority to change the price and therefore had to pass the case to service department. To my surprise, the service department came back with a revised service plan that was priced at April 2016 pricing! 

To conclude, the service department do have the authority to manipulate the pricing of the services in order to keep a customer. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, Focusonskills said:

To conclude, the service department do have the authority to manipulate the pricing of the services in order to keep a customer. 

The costs of Toyota's Fixed Price Servicing are maximum prices, so dealers can charge less .....

[eygo]

our auris had its 4yr service last saturday ,last year we where given a 20% discount off our next service

that lowered the service from £335 to £265 then on the day i was told they had tested the brake fluid

and it didnt need changing so in all it cost £181

my IS in my profile picture is due it 4yr service this saturday lexus chester quoted £485

so i'm going to lexus liverpool as they quoted £390 so there is a lot of movement if the dealer wants to move.