# Car servicing expenses



## TallyHo

Mildly curious, how much to people pay to service their cars on average?

My car is now out of the warranty period and I've been paying 700 AED for servicing. Seems a bit high. Or is it the norm in Dubai?


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## Gavtek

Seems alright to me. I'm paying about 2500 Dhs for a major service and 1200 Dhs for a minor service from the dealer. In fact, just yesterday, I paid 1300 Dhs just to change the oil, filter and brake fluid.

With my last car, I had one independent service after the warranty expired, it caused me no end of hassle when it came to selling the car, everyone wants full dealer service history.


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## ziokendo

TallyHo said:


> Mildly curious, how much to people pay to service their cars on average?
> 
> My car is now out of the warranty period and I've been paying 700 AED for servicing. Seems a bit high. Or is it the norm in Dubai?


Out of curiosity, how much did you pay back in the UK ?

This is the norm for a minor service on a small car (ie Yaris, Panda) in Italy, and I thought that in the UK was even more expensive than that

I paid on an average car 1200Dhs for a regular service of a bigger car, and up to 2500 when changing something major like belts, brake discs, etc...


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## TallyHo

Fair enough. Servicing costs are higher in the UK (far higher) but we serviced cars generally once a year. Out here we're asked to service cars every 5,000km, which is about four times a year. So on a year to year basis it ends up costing just about the same. 



ziokendo said:


> Out of curiosity, how much did you pay back in the UK ?
> 
> This is the norm for a minor service on a small car (ie Yaris, Panda) in Italy, and I thought that in the UK was even more expensive than that
> 
> I paid on an average car 1200Dhs for a regular service of a bigger car, and up to 2500 when changing something major like belts, brake discs, etc...


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## Mr Rossi

TallyHo, where are you paying 700 AED? PM me if you want.

As a side, I've just bought a used car, 2005 so only part service history. It passed the RTA check when handing over, so would it be a waste if I were to get it serviced now? 

To be honest the seller was full of BS and I would guess that it's not been done for a while.


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## TallyHo

Icon Garage in Al Quoz. It's apparently highly popular among the 4x4 crowd and there's a website you can check out. Run by a couple western expats with Filipino mechanics.

I know next to nothing about cars but I'd probably get it checked out if it was an used car.


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## Bulls_96

Gavtek said:


> Seems alright to me. I'm paying about 2500 Dhs for a major service and 1200 Dhs for a minor service from the dealer. In fact, just yesterday, I paid 1300 Dhs just to change the oil, filter and brake fluid.
> 
> With my last car, I had one independent service after the warranty expired, it caused me no end of hassle when it came to selling the car, everyone wants full dealer service history.



Independent service is frowned upon there? I'm used to American dealer service and I HATE going to the dealer! Do the dealers actually do a good job out there? Or do I have to double check everything? 
Did I see that they recommend service every 5000km? That's crazy! I could see every 5000 miles maybe, but 5000km is overkill. Especially if you use good synthetic oil.


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## ccr

Bulls_96 said:


> Independent service is frowned upon there?


It is ridiculous if they are. I have had bad services from dealer as well as outside shop, but more from the dealers.

The labor price difference is very high, and dealer always insist on changing the whole section instead of broken component.



> Did I see that they recommend service every 5000km?


Oil change is "service" to some people. It is better to change oil 5000 km, especially when it is hot - doesn't cost a lot and won't hurt.

The manual gives normal service intervals, depending on cars but usually 10,000 - 25,000 km intervals.


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## yoplu

depends on the type of car.

Nissan GTR - servicing between 1500 and 9000AED
Honda Civic - approx 500-1300AED

depends on the type of service it is


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## ziokendo

TallyHo said:


> Fair enough. Servicing costs are higher in the UK (far higher) but we serviced cars generally once a year. Out here we're asked to service cars every 5,000km, which is about four times a year. So on a year to year basis it ends up costing just about the same.


Service interval in Europe is indeed higher, 20.000 km or 1 year at least for the small cars and up to 40-60.000 for the long life service interval german cars like audi, but it's very different climate conditions.

Here the road is very dusty, both for the desert and because it never rains so it stays there (you can see that the amount of sand going around the engine in two weeks is more than the dirt it goes in my engine back in europe in 1 year) and the temperatures are extreme also, so I understand why you would want to change your air filter and oil every 10,000 km. The decay of the oil is faster here.

As far as I know only toyota is reccomending also "minor" services every 5,000 km here, do you know of other brands ? Ford is every 10,000 km for example, and I think also Chevrolet.
I am pretty sure this is just to optimize their cash flow anyway rather than by strict technical necessity ;-) my rental yaris (1/2008) has 120,000 km, looking at the stickers on the door has been serviced grossly every 10,000 km (not at the dealer) and does just great (mashallah, touch wood ;-) )

But if you're going to resell your car a lot of value - at least for car that you buy new and want to sell after 2-3 years - is in the full service history at the dealer, so you have to do your math carefully to see if it's better to service at your convenience, or at the dealer.


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