30AE 4th service

My car is just 5 years old & the local Stoneacre Mazda dealer is literally a 10 minute walk away so it seemed sensible to use them. When I booked it several weeks ago I was quoted £240 all in which I thought was reasonable. When I picked the car up today the bill had gone up to £368!
I obviously refused to pay this stating what I had been quoted earlier. There was no argument & they honoured the quoted £240.
The car had an oil & brake fluid change plus all the other checks.
So did I get a bargain service or were they trying to rip me off.
I do have to say the service team were excellent & I got an e-mail with full video from the technician doing the work.

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I paid £372 two years ago.

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Whatever my 2018 is due next year was quoted £500+. With all the work I’ve had done this year it will need oil, filter, brake fluid and I want gearbox and diff oil refreshed. I have no doubt this will be substantially cheaper at an independent so I don’t think mine will be back to a main dealer.

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Mazda Is absolute Rip off on servicing And out sourcing its Mots…For me I would not touch them with a barge pole …but that’s my opinion due to the Mazda garages we have around here…! I use my independent garage less than five mins walk and its an MOT centre the staff are very impressive/the mechs know there stuff and if you get your car serviced & MOT you get U.K Breakdown cover for 12 months Free plus you can take your own service parts ,oil, filters… etc , in they charge a very decent labour Rate :wink:

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If it is 5 years old it should have the 5 year service. The brake fluid is every 2 years but the 5 year service should include a manual transmission oil change.
For a main dealer for what you have had done it would appear to be a reasonable charge. If it included an MOT then it would then be very good value.
So the only question is, ‘have you had the right service?’
:heart:

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They don’t all outsource their MOTs. I’ve had ones done in Cardiff and watched my car there through the viewing window.

The price you actually paid seems right for a 4 year service, see here for a breakdown of costs etc.:


Prices may be marginally out of date and more info is available on this thread:

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With Madge being 22 years old I am happy to go to my local dealer Millcars 5 miles away for NBFL parts and take them 120 miles up the road to an independent, I absolutely trust, for fitting. That said Millcars did kindly take my locking wheel nuts off one Saturday morning when I turned up unannounced.

Says nowt about spark plug changes at 6 years in the manual, if mileage not at 75K miles.

Europe’s schedule:

Nothing time related

(the 10 yr Coolant one is correct though)

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I appear to be looking at a different manual that has more interval details…

^ that says the same thing. 75K miles, not time related.

I guess it depends if you line up the distance related items with the equivalent service or not. On a Service Plan issued by Mazda they included the Spark Plugs in the 6th Service, that is why I included them in the calculations as it was to get an estimate to compare the Service Plan quote to. Granted I am probably one of the few who is north of 75k in an ND :see_no_evil:

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They Did at Leamington spa and Coventry (Coventry Mazda now moved over the road and do there own MOT now ) but thats why I stopped getting mine done plus they scratched the car twice and f up my bespoke gear knob which Had to rethread … so sorry mazda After service is not for me…plus there is no viewing window I caught the so called service mech doing a few other things I was not happy with he tried to say that Never happened, how ever I have car CCTV and played the incident back to his service manager on my phone …I not saying all Mazda service centre 's are the same but l will stick with local…independent thanks …!

You’re probably right, if you were north of 75K miles.
I had my 6th year one done earlier in the year (Newport) and no change. Car was on about 15,700 then.

If they replace the sparks at 6 years, on car with less than 75K miles, then they’re having a laugh (as in maybe banking on the owner not knowing) if the schedule don’t ‘prescribe’ it. Of course if the owner wants them done anyway, then of course a dealership isn’t going to turn down money. I mean, yolu could have them done every year and they’d do it if you’re paying for it lol Like when I had the diff oil done in '22, with the car on about 14K miles, but the service schedule don’t say to change it AT ALL, unless submerged in water. They didn’t say ‘no mate, we don’t want money’ etc

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Looks like I got a good deal at £240. The car has only 12800 on the clock so shouldn’t have needed any more work.
I got the MOT done a week earlier at my local Halfords as I had a voucher to use. They did have a problem meeting the emissions (BBR220) they had to get the car really warm & it took three attempts! I don’t know if Mazda would have been quite so persistent!

But did you have the correct service? The gearbox oil change is important. It would be wise to get the diff done as well.
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That sounds a nightmare.
It might be due to availability of MOT testers, or whether they ‘renewed’ their MOT status (if that’s a thing) during covid. If not, they might have been caught out and would have to meet new equipment? criteria which might cost them ££££thousands. Just guessing.
Funnily enough, in Newport they certainly didn’t do them in-house at least of last year. I went in late June to get my MOT done and said there on the day that I’m aware my rears are on 3mm (as I thought if I was ‘aware’, I might not have an advisory). Anyway, he said someone comes and gets it and some place local does it. I said no thanks, as I’m not having anyone driving my car, especially as it’s speed bump city in the area. So I bailed and drove home. The dealership themselves though have been great in general, so credit given where due.

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I am sure Mazda did the correct service, I don’t think as far as they are concerned a 5 year old car with less than 13k miles “needs” the gearbox & diff oil changing. I have had many MX5s & this car by far has the best gear change of them all so I am wary of changing the oil willy nilly but I understand where your coming from.
Next year I may take it to Roddisons & have everything done, I have been wary of using Paul as it’s a BBR220 & I know how much he dislikes their work.

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The gear box oil is on the official list of service items for the 5th year but the brake fluid change is not. Is the car 4 years old or 5? If it is 4 then it is the correct service but if it is 5 then it is not.

I bet that Rodders will recommend that the gear box and diff oil is changed.
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