[speedmiester]

Got my Swift serviced yesterday at Surakshaa Car Care at Koramangala.
The car has done around 90K kms.

Just a routine 10K service. The total bill came to 4135/- including tax.
This included an oil change and one drive shaft oil seal replacement.
I got the cabin air filter installed as well.
Asked to check the brake pads, they are good for another 5000kms, will have it replaced from an FNG than taking it to MASS.

I was very clear on informing the service adviser on no extra stuff including wheel alignment and balancing.

I feel this is quite reasonable for an yearly/10K kms service.

Always be firm with the service adviser. Tell them you want a routine service and no additional add on.

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

5000kms is like free service area. How old is the car ?

In any case, all those treatments are scam. Raise it with MSIL asap.

The car is just over 2 years. Its barely used.

Originally Posted by a4anurag

1) When the car was handed over for service, was your uncle present there?

2) Was he at the place during job card preparation?

3) Was he asked to sign the job card hereby accepting the works mentioned on it?


All that one can do is be vigilant during job card preparation and object to treatments like such and get it deleted from the job card before signing the dotted line and handing over the keys. If not then God bless the customer!

I am afraid they arranged for a pick up of the car from the residence.
Not really it only had service and also an estimate. What exactly they were doing wasn't mentioned clearly.

I will be getting the bill and will post here soon.

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Got my Swift serviced yesterday at Surakshaa Car Care at Koramangala.
The car has done around 90K kms.

Just a routine 10K service. The total bill came to 4135/- including tax.

Always be firm with the service adviser. Tell them you want a routine service and no additional add on.

90,000KM service ? at Rs 4135! Sir you are very lucky. Most people come out with a service bill no lesser than Rs10,000!
Were you charged additional for the brake inspection or caliper greasing?

[rajakumar]

I own a swift, 6 year old and have been servicing yearly either at bangalore (mandovi) or at my native town (ambal). My experiences has gone from good to bad on mandovi in regard pushing additional services during the yearly service.

During the initial free services, there was very little push for those extra services (like teflon coat, engine coat, underbody coat, etc). For the past three years I see that if you are not alert, they push something or the other into the regular servicing. The SA seems be hung upon pushing those services.

For instance, once they tried selling me that maruti has stopped mineral oil for swift and only semi synthetic oil is available and gave an estimate of 7K for the yearly service. Recently, last year they pushed for air con cleaning and engine piston overhead cleaning/lubrication on me.

One more stuff they seem to be pushing is brake pad cleaning and inspection. They try to sell it saying that one has to do the check whether the brake pad has worn out or not and this they do every other year irrespective of how much the car has done.

However compare this with tier II service center. They never seem to push any of these services on me till now. Only mandatory checks/services are done. And the overall service bill always remains less than city based service centers. This has been my perception based on the experiences I had.

Others can comment, if they do see the same behavior.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

90,000KM service ? at Rs 4135! Sir you are very lucky. Msot people come out with a service bill no lesser than Rs10,000!
Were you charged additional for the brake inspection or caliper greasing?

Yes, only labour charge of 250/- for caliper greasing.
Got the brake inspection charges waived off.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

I am afraid they arranged for a pick up of the car from the residence.
Not really it only had service and also an estimate. What exactly they were doing wasn't mentioned clearly.

I will be getting the bill and will post here soon.

Once you do get the bill, post it here and shoot an email to Any-Time Maruti (ATM) with the details. See how they react to this complaint!

Was your uncle consulted before these works were carried out or they did it on their own without any information prior hand?!

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by rajakumar

For instance, once they tried selling me that maruti has stopped mineral oil for swift and only semi synthetic oil is available and gave an estimate of 7K for the yearly service. Recently, last year they pushed for air con cleaning and engine piston overhead cleaning/lubrication on me.

One more stuff they seem to be pushing is brake pad cleaning and inspection. They try to sell it saying that one has to do the check whether the brake pad has worn out or not and this they do every other year irrespective of how much the car has done.

.

Very common for the SA to push a semi or Fully synthetic oil as the margins are much higher in these oils.

What is piston overhead cleaning/lubrication?? First time I am hearing this terminology. Is this another fancy name for another useless unnecessary job prescribed by a greedy SA?

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Yes, only labour charge of 250/- for caliper greasing.
Got the brake inspection charges waived off.

Ins't Brake Inspection/cleaning is usually covered in the General service.?They shouldn't charge you additional for this correct?

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Once you do get the bill, post it here and shoot an email to Any-Time Maruti (ATM) with the details. See how they react to this complaint!

Was your uncle consulted before these works were carried out or they did it on their own without any information prior hand?!

Will have check with him on the finer details. But will surely post the bill here.
This kind of practice or rather malpractice should stop!

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

Ins't Brake Inspection/cleaning is usually covered in the General service.?They shouldn't charge you additional for this correct?

Yes it should and that was my argument to have the brake inspection charges waived off.

I am sharing the 10K kms Free inspection service coupon for Maruti Swift.

All the services mentioned are included in the paid services bill.
Keep this handy to ensure the MASS doesn't fleece the customers.

[rajakumar]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Yes it should and that was my argument to have the brake inspection charges waived off.

I think we are charged for cleaning the brake pads and not really inspection. Though it is questionable on whether it is really cleaned or is it required to clean. Let me double check with my service bill on this.

[amitayu]

Recently my 3 year old Ritz developed a problem; the car would not start at one go and even after starting, the ECU icon was flashing (posted it in the Ritz thread earlier).
I took it down to the Service Station (I do all servicing from my dealer's service station) and they suggested a throttle body cleaning. After some deliberations, I decided to go for my yearly servicing (it was due the next month) instead.
The service manager wrote down throttle body cleaning AND paid servicing in the job card. I objected immediately, stating that if the problem persisted even after servicing, i would come down for a throttle body cleaning.
The next job card handed to me had a total bill of around Rs.8500. I was quite shocked (I go for mineral oil and the most basic of servicing as my car barely runs for 7000-8000 km a year). I noticed they had added interior cleaning (vacuum cleaning they said), body polishing and that too at extremely high rates. The service manager insisted these services as 'necessary' after 3 years!!
Moreover, I noticed change of spark plugs suggested in the list as well. On asking, he replied it could be a reason for my car's starting problems!! i don't know why spark plug issue would flash the ECU icon, but in any case there was no problem with the self start cranking at all!!
It took me around half and hour and some firm but polite refusals to finally remove all these 'excesses' from the job card. The most weird argument offered after all others failed was that it was already written in the job card and hence could not be altered!! That is an absolute nonsense of an argument and really infuriated me to no end.
Thankfully, the service manager was quite courteous even after the lengthy exchanges and there were no issues with the quality of service i received. Even the delivery of the car was timely and hassle free.

I believe the Maruti Service charges are still reasonable, but the service managers try to push down unnecessary items down the throat to hike up the bill. BTW this was the first time that i had to face this problem. All my previous experiences at the same station (I even go down for car wash as they give coupons for renewing my insurance through them) have been quite pleasant. Yes, the did offer me such extra services, but they always passed it as suggestion, and never wrote it down in the job card without consulting me.

[Sridhar K]

The coolant in my Swift was leaking and I checked with local my TVS who figured out that the coolant hose to the EGR inlet was leaking and the assembly needed to be changed. They quoted the MGP cost of the spare + labor of Rs 500-600 odd as estimate. Since the vehicle was under extended warranty, I took it to MSM.

After inspection they said the same thing as myTVS and also informed that there is a mild leak at the water pump. They said the water pump will be replaced under extended warranty but the part and labor will be charged for the EGR coolant pipe replacement.

Since the EGR had to be cleaned before replacing the coolant pipe, they will charge me the cost of EGR cleaning which was Rs 3400 + Tax as per MSIL approved rate.
I called up MyTVS to cross check and they mentioned that they charge Rs 900 odd for EGR cleaing.

I questioned them as to
a) Why I should pay Rs 3400 + tax for EGR cleaning since I paid the same amount during the 30K service (as it was mandated in the service manual) and I have done only another 12K.
b) Why they charge so much for EGR cleaning. MSM insisted that it is Maruti's approved rate and it takes 3 people working over half a day to get the job done.

I then asked them to just replace the water pump under EW and leave the leak as it is and I will get it done at elsewhere. I also told them that this is the last time I am visiting MSM and did not mind foregoing the EW.


Then the SA said that he will check with the AGM service who then agreed to waive off the EGR cleaning cost but just pay for the parts and quoted Rs 700 odd.

I agreed and got the vehicle repaired there. At the end, the part cost was around 100 and they had charged me Rs 700 odd as labor.

My two cents to the overall debate

a) Maruti parts are cheap but the mean time between failures/frequency of periodic replacement is higher than competition. Net net the cost of maintenance works out close to competition.

b) Labor in Maruti is on par with competition. Considering the higher frequency of parts replacement/repair, you end up paying more labor costs.

c) The periodicity of consumable replacement as mandated in the service manual (coolant, transmission oil, brake fluids every 20k) coupled with the mandated repair works (e.g. EGR cleaning every 30k, brake pad cleaning), the usage of semi-synthetics over mineral oil in case the customer does not want synthetic etc. pushes the service cost to Rs 7-8K bucket.

d) The area where Maruti works out cheaper is when you have an accident. Body panels, bumper, mirrors, suspension components, fog lamps, head light assembly etc. are damn cheap compared to competition. However, again most people cover accidents through insurance and you end up paying the same as you do with vehicles from competition.

[audioholic]

Yesterday got my SX4 serviced near my house at a non MASS garage and the overall bill came to 4.5k. This included engine oil, coolant, spark plugs and oil filter replacement and also some bumper and headlight refitting cause of a small shunt the previous day. The labour for service was 1400. The overall experience is good. Coming to the cost, the dealers charge the same for a similar service. I did not see a price advantage anywhere. Even MASS charges 1250 plus tax for service. The only problem with them is the extra labour charges for everything. We have to argue with them to get that cut.

Now apart from labour charges, everything is charged at the same costs as MASS. In that way, I don't find MASS to be expensive at all. It is just that as an owner one should be knowledgeable and get what is necessary done. For everything else, it should be a firm no.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Sridhar K

Since the EGR had to be cleaned before replacing the coolant pipe, they will charge me the cost of EGR cleaning which was Rs 3400 + Tax as per MSIL approved rate.
I called up MyTVS to cross check and they mentioned that they charge Rs 900 odd for EGR cleaing.

Navneet Motors which is one of the largest MASS's in Mumbai who is also a Maruti Authorized sales and service (hence can pass warranty claims), charges 1700 rupees for Intercooler + EGR cleaning, the rates in your part of the world can't be THIS drastically high. Check if he is not including engine decarbonizing also in this equation as that will be detrimental if your car has run lot many kilometers.

[LoneWolf9]

Originally Posted by humyum

Navneet Motors which is one of the largest MASS's in Mumbai who is also a Maruti Authorized sales and service (hence can pass warranty claims), charges 1700 rupees for Intercooler + EGR cleaning, the rates in your part of the world can't be THIS drastically high. Check if he is not including engine decarbonizing also in this equation as that will be detrimental if your car has run lot many kilometers.

Are you sure about the charges for EGR cleaning? I have been quoted 4200 ( 400 for parts and 3800 as labour charges) at automotive- mumbai. I confirmed multiple times and he said this charge would be the same across all MASS with +-rupees 100. They were charging 950 additional for intercooler cleaning.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf9

Are you sure about the charges for EGR cleaning? I have been quoted 4200 ( 400 for parts and 3800 as labour charges) at automotive- mumbai. I confirmed multiple times and he said this charge would be the same across all MASS with +-rupees 100. They were charging 950 additional for intercooler cleaning.

Yes Sir, This is what I was charged around 8 to 9 months back, I am sure things can't go up by more than double in such a short time. And this 1700 was EGR + Intercooler with replacing the gasket in the EGR too.

They are lying about it being same at all MASS. Pure lies.

[Eddy]

EGR cleaning was ~1300 Rs when I got it done two years back.