Car Servicing - It Pays To Shop Around

Author: NRMA MediaDate: 07 June 2010

An NRMA Motoring & Services study of 210 car servicing centres across Sydney has revealed significant discrepancies in car servicing quotes.

NRMA Motoring & Services President Wendy Machin advised car owners to request a written quote from car servicing centres and shop around.

"Based on average prices for all service centres studied, North-West Sydney was the most expensive region - over $50 more than the cheapest region - Sydney South," Ms Machin said.

"The news is a further blow for North-West Sydney motorists who are heavily car-dependent as they have very few public transport options."

The study also revealed that across all regions, dealerships charged on average $110 more for a service than independent mechanics and $90 more than retail chains.

Ms Machin said in one particular case quotes to service the same car in the same region of Sydney varied by $238.

The study looked at the servicing cost of six popular models at their first manufacturer-recommended service and compared the price from dealerships, independent mechanics and retail chains. Data was collected from service centres in five regions of Sydney.

NRMA data shows car owners are becoming more savvy when it comes to regular log book servicing and are looking at all their servicing options.

A survey of 770 NRMA Members found nearly 85 per cent are aware that they don't have to get their car serviced at the dealership their car was purchased from to preserve the warranty – up from 69 per cent two years ago.

Ms Machin said it was encouraging to see more car owners were understanding their rights and exercising their choice of mechanic.

"Car servicing costs could be as volatile as fuel prices and shopping around for a car service from an authorised mechanic could save money," Ms Machin said.

One stumbling block mechanics may come across is access to electronic vehicle codes that turn off indicators such as car-servicing lights.

Ms Machin said it was essential that electronic vehicle data is made available to independent repairers, if necessary at a reasonable cost, to enable them to repair and service the full range of vehicles in the market.

"For reasons of cost, location or other preference, car owners may prefer to deal with an independent repairer rather than a franchised dealership and should not be prevented from doing so by the inability of their repairer to obtain vehicle service information," Ms Machin said.

Background

In May 2010 NRMA carried out a study into car servicing costs that looked at the servicing cost of six popular models at their manufacturer-recommended 12-month service.

Over-the-phone and email quotes were obtained from dealerships, independent mechanics and retail chains in five regions across Sydney: North-West, South, South-West, Inner-West and North Shore during May 2010.

Quotes were obtained for the five highest selling cars and the highest selling SUV for 2009: 2009 Holden Commodore VE3.6l auto, 2008 Toyota Corolla 1.8L auto hatch, 2008 Mazda 3 2 L auto hatch, 2009 Ford Falcon FG 4L auto, 2007 Toyota Hilux GGN15R 4L auto and the 2008 Subaru Forester X auto.

The quote obtained was for each vehicle's manufacturer-recommended first service. For each vehicle, seven quotes were obtained: one dealership, three independent mechanics and three retail chains including an NRMA-owned car servicing chain.

NRMA Motoring & Services, June 2010.