Even when buying a CPO you should get a car fax report so you know whether the car was part of a rental fleet, leased by a corporation or private party owned. All CPO says is the dealer does a full inspection adds an extended warranty. For many dealers they are lease returns and if the car had kept up the dealer provided maintenance, that would also be reported on car fax (private shops don't always report). As to the comments about Volvo quality going down hill because you need shocks and brakes... keep in mind Volvo doesn't make those parts - they buy them from OEM vendors who sell to all manufacturers. Brands like Boge Sachs, ATE, Brembo etc. Also understand what you are getting from dealer service: factory parts (guaranteed fit, guaranteed more expensive), inspections for any related issues, factory support for repairs (tools/documentation/escalations) which adds to the cost of the job. What you don't get is a guarantee that you will have a tech with 20+ years of expertise and experience for common repairs. Brakes and struts are things I'd trust to an indy, including routine maintenance like coolant or brake fluid flushes. Its the odd things like complex CELs where the dealer or a volvo specialist with VIDA has the leg up.

 

I have a lot of trepidation these days regarding the purchase of any brand new or used modern car. IMO, particularly when comparing cars of a different age, there are so many factors that work against us. They include, but are not limited to, reduced life expectancy of many of the car's delicate components, unethical dealer practices, and the tremendous complexity of design and construction. From my personal experience, older cars more quickly suffered from fading paint, rusting body panels and interior failings (e.g., headliner dropping, seats coming apart, rubber gaskets decaying, etc.). However, again from my experience, my older cars started, ran, steered and stopped as they were supposed to. When a issue came up, the repairs normally didn't cost as much as a trip to Europe.

I guess, for many, they opt to lease, as opposed to purchase, and then just move onto the next vehicle 3 years down the road. I'm not in that camp, since I have always purchased factory-ordered new cars (including my current 2020 V90 Inscription T6 AWD), and tend to keep them for 12-to-15 years, or more. I'm on year 2 of owning my V90, with almost 17K, mostly highway, miles on the odometer. So far I've had BLIS malfunction 3 times, but the last fix (8 months ago) (hopefully) has resolved this issue. Time will tell if I made the right decision on (a) buying vs leasing and (b) buying my V90. Why does buying a new car tend to be like playing Russian Roulette with our wallets?

 

I got a Carfax but that doesn't mean the car wasn't in an accident. If you don't report to the insurance company, get it fixed at a local indie body shop, there is nothing registered to Carfax.

Just got my car back. Another issue has been coolant use. Normally when I service at the dealer they have to replace some coolant and mark it on the sheet. The service department has said this is normal. So I've monitored and they (service department) know I'm watching.
I called today and asked, do you all still replace coolant if needed during a service. Answer -- yes.

I went to pick up the car and nothing was noted on the sheet. I asked the woman in service, did they check the coolant. She said I told him to do it. So the other guy next to her in service grabbed a jug and said, I'll check it. Lo and behold it was totally full. I know for a fact that it needed some. So what probably happened is the tech added some but didn't put it down on the sheet so now I have no record that it needed coolant.

Why is this important? Because Volvo America was made aware last fall that ever since owning the car it has needed coolant at times. Volvo America said to keep them updated of the situation. Now I have nothing to back up what I know and that is --- it needed coolant.

 

Your car should not be consuming coolant. At one point I was maintaining 5 cars (mine and the kids) and don't recall ever adding coolant when there wasn't an underlying problem to be fixed. If you say you need to add coolant from time to time, then logic says it has to be going somewhere. The shop can do pressure tests, dye tests, contamination tests to pinpoint the problem. Were any of these done or did you simply say check the level? Also keep in mind, coolant expands with temperature. If you check the level with a cold engine (say 50F) and the shop checks the level on a car that has been run that day where the coolant temp may be 100F or more, they will see a different level. That's why they will say its fine if the level is middle of the reservoir's two marks. Again there's nothing special here about a Volvo vs say a Toyota. Hoses, radiators, heater cores etc wear and fail on all cars. Head gaskets are the big ticket item in this list. From what I can tell, Volvos are middle of the pack. Subarus may be the worst, Toyota/Lexus on the top side. I've seen quite a few posts where the overflow reservoir needed to be replaced but again that should be an easy fail to test.

 

On the coolant loss......
My S80 had "lost" small amounts of coolant for 2 or 3 years prior to the Covid Unpleasantness. Every 3 or 4 months my Low coolant light would come on but it's sensitive to small amounts and I was on my first gallon of premixed coolant. About 6 months prior to the lockdown my air dam or whatever they call call that big black plastic panel that covers the front half of the bottom of the engine compartment come off of the highway (that will wake you up!!). I didn't immediately replace it because I drove my S70 about 200,000 miles without one. On several occasions I noticed a small amount of liquid in front of the car(only a few ounces) but wrote it off as something from some shelves in front of the car. I was dutifully starting the car every few weeks and letting it idle for 15 minutes or so until I finally realized that the liquid on the ground only appeared after one of these procedures. Eventually I did find a leak, only when the system is pressurized,. The thing is, once that panel was in place the coolant would be trapped there to eventually evaporate or more likely, be vaporized and blown off at highway speeds. There may have even been residue on the top of it but, of course, I left it in the middle of the Dallas North Tollway at rush hour rather than die trying to retrieve and inspect it.

Anyway, drop yours and look at it, bet you find that missing coolant.

 

I'll check that out.

 

My point exactly! It is a closed system and should not need coolant. The service manager looked me in the eye and said, "yes these cars use a little coolant." I didn't believe the service manager and that's when I opened a Volvo America ID complaint. The dealer is 5 minutes from my house and they should be checking the coolant after they do repair work (it would cool a bit).

"I picked up the car and while standing in the service office I asked, did you add coolant because it isn't noted on the service sheet. The other service person said, "why does it need it?" I told him your shop always has to add some. He said I'll go grab a jug and put some in. The woman I talked to over the phone was sitting there and said she told the tech to check.

We went to the car and the reservoir had been topped off, it was filled and I know for a fact that it needed some. So the tech put some in and didn't note it on the service sheet. Not noting it on the service sheet means I have no written proof that they added coolant.

On top of this ongoing issue. I'm starting to wonder if Volvo is the Volvo that I once knew. The service tech said that "both" front shocks are leaking and need to be replaced, a cost of over $1,000. I consider 41,000 miles on a car to be rather low miles and my mechanic neighbor said --- that's absurd for it to need shocks at this mileage.

This list below comes to $6,500 for a car we've owned two years and only put 20,000 miles on it. I am not impressed, not one bit. We paid a premium because it was a CPO car and we expected to get worry free driving from the purchase.

1. Steering wheel is peeling
2. Drivers window switch doesn't illuminate
3. The clear coating on the shifter has a bunch of cracks
4. The shifter boot has a crack / tear (only noticed by accident)
4. Front shocks
5. Previous repairs

Previously the service manager said it is normal for these cars to use coolant. I don't know what to do, sadly I've had issues in the past with this dealer (see attachment). I've worked on many cars, changed my own engines, etc., I know how to work on cars. I really don't or can't believe that a closed coolant system should use coolant."

Why don't I trust the dealer? This is from a TSB for the PCV on my old V50. It was an extended warranty coverage and the dealer was to be paid for a full job. They didn't do the full job and had I not known where or what to look at, they would have gotten away with it. Not replacing the hose, the hard hose meant future work that I would have had to pay for (not a warranty item).

<<John,,

Happy to replace the hose for you. The intake gaskets can be reused several times, they are rubber o rings and we routinely reuse them with no consequences. I'll look forward to seeing you in the near future. Have a nice weekend.

********

From:
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2016 5:05 PM
To:
Subject: RE: Service of your 2007 Volvo V50
From: J
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2016 3:17 PM
To:
Subject: Fw: Service of your 2007 Volvo V50



Hello ******,



Thank you for responding to my e-mail.

I feel that because the extended warranty covered the hose and labor, the work should have been done. The extended warranty parts list includes the ventilation hose.

Yes I will accept your offer to replace the hose. I am sorry that I am causing you extra work but I feel that it should have been replaced as part of the warranty repair.

Now I am starting to worry about the intake gasket. If the intake needs to be removed again, will another removal cause stress to the intake gasket and lead to early failure. I'll stop by to schedule a time to have the repair completed.

Sincerely,
**********
CRIS, International Risk Management Institute Construction Risk Insurance Specialist




----- Forwarded Message -----
From: J**********
To: ***********
Sent: Friday, June 3, 2016 10:27 AM
Subject: Re: Service of your 2007 Volvo V50



John,



Thank you for you interest in the repair performed on your Volvo. The hose for the PCV system would be replaced as needed as part of this repair and a cable tie is what the repair calls for to secure the hose to the breather box. By the looks of your picture the hose was not replaced. If you would like the hose replaced we would be happy to do so at no charge to you. Please let me know if this is something you would like us to perform. Any repair of non wear components replaced through our service department would be covered by a lifetime parts and labor warranty. If you have any further question or need further assistance please let me know.



Thank You,

*********
Service Manager


From: *********

Sent: Friday, June 03, 2016 8:22 AM

To: **********

Subject: FW: Re: Service of your 2007 Volvo V50


Hello *****,
So far everything is fine but I do have two issues that come to mind.

From reading the Extended Warranty #205 Form from Volvo USA it is my belief that the upper PCV hose is to be part of a replacement kit. I can't say for sure and the technician probably can't remember but I feel that the upper hose may not have been replaced. Because I had concerns, the day of the installation I took pictures.

The first picture shows a lot of dust build-up on the hose. After only an 11 mile drive it could be considered an unusual for a new hose to have such an amount of accumulated dust. I tried to squeeze the hose, it was not at all supple but I don't have a new hose in hand for reference. Could the hose that existed have been in such good shape that it was inadvertently used instead of the hose in the kit? To be confident that a new hose was indeed installed, all that I have is the trust and reputation of ****** Volvo.

The second issue is that a zip tie was used to connect the PCV hose to the housing. I would think that I would see an Oetiker clamp or at least a worm clamp. I guess the zip-tie shouldn't cause any current problem but in the future it could suffer from heat fatigue and the end result would be a broken zip tie. Such a break would mean the hose is not fully tightened to the PCV housing. Even without a connector, since pressure doesn't exist, unless the hose walks itself off the hose bib, there should not be a problem. I would have thought a more permanent connector would / should have been used to connect the hose.

I'd appreciate your thoughts in this matter.

What seems to be an unusual amount of dust built up on hose after 11 mile drive................

Pics missing.....

Wire tie / zip tie instead of metal connector where hose connects to housing..............

pics missing .........>>

So in the end they replaced the hose because the warranty called for it, they supplied the correct hose clamp. The intake "O" rings were covered under warranty, were part of the kit but never installed. In the end when I went to pick up the car they had a $50 gift card for me to use on parts of my choosing. Hush money?

The reason for buying a CPO with only 20,000 miles on it was because I didn't want to crawl around on the ground anymore or do any repairs. I'll be 70 years old next year and wanted to give my wrenches a rest. Maybe replace air filters and easy things. If I wanted to continue working on cars I'd have bought another Jaguar. Twenty years of owning two of them created my tool cart to grow to a nice size. I never did buy a slide hammer, just borrowed one.

 

regarding the front shocks - yes shocks can leak from time to time - I'd pull off the front rims and do my own inspection just to see if its clearly visible or not. Then I'd monitor the driving feel to see if anything seems out of sorts going over bumps etc. Given you are familiar with car repair, you can do your own inspections / verifications or get a second opinion from a local indy.

My recent similar experience was on my CC which has developed a low speed turn noise which I suspected is the strut mount. I noted this when my car was in for service and the dealer confirmed the strut mount was binding a bit the noise was causing the spring to bind up during a sharp turn. They suggested new struts/mounts etc (car has 98K miles) since they'd be pulling the strut at a cost of $1600. I declined and will likely have my indy do the mount only given I only drive 5K miles a year now and there's no other symptoms other than the noise. Plus, my indy will allow me to provide parts or will install dealer parts if requested.


PS - I agree that CPO is the way to go even on a reliable brand like Toyota. For me, the biggest question I ask myself when considering a pre-owned car is why did the PO sell the car... CPOs are usually lease returns or trade ins of cars serviced by that dealer - they less likely to be an auction claim with a sketchy history.

 

This one was not a local vehicle but came from Syracuse New York (288 miles north) a State away. Carfax shows it was a lease but I'm guessing my local dealer got it at auction????

I do not notice anything in the suspension. Go over a speed bump in my sons complex and no bounce on the other side. There is nothing that would have said, you have a problem. Yes they can leak but both? What's the chance of that?
The neighbor mechanic mentioned is next house over and I'll probably go over there and check this out.
I had an issue where the car wouldn't pass inspection and was told I needed new brakes. I owned the car for a year and put about 10,000 miles on it. Went to the neighbors and pulled the wheels. Turns out that only one side and only one pad was bad. The inner pad on the right side. That meant a caliper issue or something was causing the pad to stick.

Got online and found a TSB and a kit to fix the exact problem. Hm? Ya would think the dealer would have known but nope, no mention of it until I brought it to their attention. Initially they bulked but again a call to Volvo America did the trick. The TSB called for replacing the dust shield and a brake pad kit. Memory serves me it was this one https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...48807-9999.pdf

Dealer bought the car in October 2018 with 19,016 miles on it. At that time the dealer preformed the CPO inspection and then one of the sales people drove the car for 6 months at which time the car went for sale on the lot. It had 20,444 miles on it. I should have required another CPO inspection before purchasing the car. It took a while before I started considering a half year of driving from their employee from the time of inspection plus another 1,000 miles was put on the odo from time of initial purchase.

 

UNDRWHO "Got online and found a TSB and a kit to fix the exact problem. Hm? Ya would think the dealer would have known but nope, no mention of it until I brought it to their attention. Initially they bulked but again a call to Volvo America did the trick."

Sounds to me like, if at all possible, you may need to find a new Volvo dealer. IMO, they're playing games. From what I understand, to a certain extent, TSBs are issued by OEMs to curtail recalls and/or address minor/non-safety issues. They know there's a problem and know what's needed to fix it. When a car arrives for services, and the car's maladies correspond to a given TSB, the protocol is for the dealer to contact Volvo and receive authorization to complete the repair. Of course, since the dealer will be reimbursed by Volvo, they won't get much payment for the job. However, if the dealer notices the problem and doesn't relate it to the TSB, they can and do perform the work and ask the customer to pay for it (at a higher rate). Doing your TSB homework, prior to bringing your car to the dealer, keeps them honest. With this said, why should you have to keep the dealer honest? If at all possible, I wouldn't bring my car to the dealer you use since they are either unethical or incompetent (or both).

MT6127 " I agree that CPO is the way to go even on a reliable brand like Toyota. For me, the biggest question I ask myself when considering a pre-owned car is why did the PO sell the car... CPOs are usually lease returns or trade ins of cars serviced by that dealer - they less likely to be an auction claim with a sketchy history."

I would agree with you that the dealer's love to resell a trade-in that they serviced since new. However, from what I understand, dealer's don't have first-dibs on reselling a returned leased car. Technically, the car is owned by the leasing company and it's their choice where they wish to sell it. With the low inventory buyer frenzy we have today, the leasing company will opt to auction their cars to maximize their profits.

PS: I should add that my CPO buying experience was in late 2019 and early 2020, and thus before the crazy pricing currently in the marketplace. When I visited several dealers concerning their CPO cars, right off the bat, I informed them that I would only consider a CPO car that had been (a) sold by their dealership and (b) maintained by their dealership. Even back in late 2019 and early 2020, I wasn't able to find one dealer with one car that met this criteria. All of the CPO cars I looked at were purchased by the dealer primarily at auction, with a few trade-ins noted.. Even regarding the trade-ins, I found that the dealers (a) were not involved in the original new-car sale and (b) did not maintain the traded-in vehicle. Considering the expense, and not willing to fully reply on the "CPO" promises, I passed on any car without a verifiable lineage. Thus, I opted to factory order my car. Yes, it cost more money to buy, and I have had to withstand the initial years depreciation hit, but I tend to keep my new car purchases for 12-to-15 years, so I am less concerned with upfront costs and depreciation in hope of owning a reliable car that wasn't abused by the prior owner or poorly maintained.

 

This was my second CPO purchase. First was a Subaru which was a good experience. They fixed everything even if it was close to minimum where they could have passed the cost on to the owner. I found that the CVT was not to my liking and that brought me back to the Volvo arena. Oddly the Volvo dealer I use has been around for a long time and was originally another name. In 1968 I was a young kid and bought a 1964 P544 from the dealer. For a young teenager it was IMO a cool fun car. But I was really taken to the cleaners. The engine was in terrible shape, burning smoking oil after a short time after purchase. Did they put extra think oil in to keep it from smoking until after purchase? STP?????

Because it wouldn't start well, I would run the battery down. Me and my friends pushed that car many, many times to pop the clutch.
It was my first engine removal and replace. I bought an engine at a local yard and they promised to stand behind the engine, promised it was low mileage, etc. Yep ---- they saw a young kid. Installed the engine and it would not crank. Pulled the head and wow ---- it must have sat in a lake because the pistons were rusted to the walls. Sat around as a project in waiting until my parents said --- sell that car. Same yard that sold the bad engine charged me to pickup and get the car. Boy was that a learning experience about cars and those that deal in them. Sharks have nothing on the business. From then on I became the car guy and really never got clipped that bad again. I am the best friend to good mechanics but a nightmare to bad mechanics. When they try to pull the wool over my eyes my BP goes up and I turn into the bad customer.

The CPO ordeal is a new to me learning experience.

 

You all might know how to work on your own car but you definitely don't know how a dealer works. First thing I'm doing when someone needs a favor at the dealer is to see if they spend money with us. There will be that day your car is a day out of warranty and you have an issue, or a day we're short on loaner cars but you need one and I just happen to have an extra key in my pocket. Be a person your dealer likes to see. Not just because you spend money, but because you're loyal to them. They'll return the favor. And to be honest the labor on services is greatly discounted. Our techs get about 3 and a half hours for the 40k service. At our labor rate alone it would be over $700 before even 1 qt of oil was billed. These are very nice cars and they're not cheap. They are in the category of cars that if you have to question service prices they are not for you. Maybe that sounds harsh to some but it's true. Factory brake pads run about $150. You don't put $20 pads on these cars. If you do you deserve what's coming to you.. Sure you can keep receipts of when you bought the air or oil filter, but good luck proving you did the work yourself. And if you ever find yourself in that situation know that you already on the wrong side of the battle. Truth

 

Say what you will, I am happy I saved myself $700+ on 40k service by doing my own filters and flushing my own brake fluid. My dad is a certified mechanic and I am more than capable of writing up a bill to "prove work was done". There's also nothing special about Volvo brake pads or most Volvo parts other than the fact that they say Volvo on them. I also don't think anyone here puts cheap brakes on their car, but if they do, shame on them.

You should never just accept most services & prices. Every dealer operates in their own way. With how easy it is to access information, you would be a fool not to question anything. I wouldn't really say Volvos are in the class where you just drop your car off and pay the bill for whatever it is. Maybe for some people that don't know a flat head from a box cutter? I have no good (honest with half-decent customer service) Volvo dealerships in my area so I am happy to do any work myself. Example: my local dealer (service dept) tried telling me there was a core charge on a brand new rim, and when I called him out on it, he backpedaled and tried to push the blame on me somehow.

Of course the dealers are going to butter up the customers that just swipe their card and say sounds good, do the repair my good sir. Who wouldn't?

 

First, I must state that I typically have my new car purchases maintained by the dealer I purchased it from, for the life of the car. However, I should add that I carefully research new car dealers for the brand/model I'm interested in, and automatically discount any that have a bad reputation, which is more common than not. Armed with this short-list of dealerships, I'll balance price with down-the-road service to select the dealership I'll do business with. My focus is buying the car I want from a dealership I'd like to do business with, no only for the initial purchase, but also for servicing my car. I suspect that most consumers focus primarily on the vehicle price, and give less thought to who will provide after-purchase service.

IMO, many dealerships treat customers as ATMs, while many consumers feel their car is an excessively expensive commodity, and try to minimize cost, when possible. Typically, NEITHER side's actions breed loyalty or trust with the other. While the approach you've stated may work well for your "loyal" customers, it likely doesn't do much to grow new customers, which is the lifeblood to any thriving business. Treating a new customer with indifference will do nothing towards improving the sustainability of the dealership. Ultimately, that indifference (or arrogance) is bound to be reflected on the "loyal" customers, as well. Good customer service isn't something that can be turned on and off, like a light switch. It's something that is ingrained in the core values of a business.

PS: Perhaps it might be worthwhile for you to share your post with the owner of your dealership to determine if it is in alignment with the business's long term business goals.

 

Well you have in your debate I've heard before, especially during my 20 years of driving Jaguars, several incorrectness of reasoning and beliefs ;

1. if you have to question service prices they are not for you. Maybe if you can't turn a wrench, yes that is correct but there are millions of us that can and will turn that wrench. I can remove two screws to change an air filter just as quick and easy as a dealer. And yes I can question why I would or should pay $120 in labor for something that took me 15 minutes. And yes I CAN PAY!

2. I do know how servicing works. Coffee everyday with a group and one guy ran service for dealers, did it most of his life. He passed away when he was 75 years old and the service department is the money stream for dealers.

3. You assume that transmission oil that comes from Volvo, with maybe the Volvo badge is made by Volvo. That's like my HVAC guy telling me I can give you a new unit with the badge you see on TV or the same unit made in the same plant with a different name for $2000 less. My parts guy out of Utah used to show me (I didn't believe at first) that I could pay this much for the green Jaguar box but showing me the part manufacturer in a vanilla box was the same. He used to do the same with my Cadillac.

4. Should I tell you the terrible things that dealers have tried to get by with in the past but thankfully I am a car guy and caught them. Loyalty? IMHO when it comes to dealer service bays and loyalty, that is an oxymoron. Should a mechanic really get extra money for up-selling parts?

5. Because the service department is the money stream manufacturers are busy at work trying to tie you to the service department (thank you computer chips).

So yeah, if my wife didn't have me the dealer would see her a lot more and as I get older the dealer will see me for the things I don't feel like doing. At very close to seventy years on earth makes it harder for me to crawl around. That still doesn't mean the dealers can be (Jaguar forum words here) stealer's. I never used that word. My next door neighbor used to turn wrenches at dealers but now only works at indie shops. He isn't fond of what dealers get away with.
Out of warranty now and I'll be going back to the indie shops for a lot of servicing. I have three great Volvo related indie shops.

 

Yeah I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy with a post that seems to have the tone that you aren't supposed to question "fool not to question anything. "

 

My local 13 houses have 7 Volvo's and they are all within young aged cars. Although I would like one there aren't any from the P544 times. In the 60's I owned a P544. One guy has no idea how to do anything, he says "I just take it to the dealer, they do their thing and I pay them." His brother in law lives right next to him and will never take his Volvo to the dealer. So I guess the first guy is the loyal, ATM.

If I tell the dealer that my car is using coolant, it is still in warranty - shouldn't the dealer look into it? Instead they add coolant and say - "these cars use coolant." Did I fall asleep? Isn't the coolant system a closed system? Am I missing something?

 

Urdrwho, I agree with you about dealership service and pricing. Unfortunately, in my case, I don't have the good fortune of a nearby Volvo indi shop. As such, when it was time for me to buy a Volvo (my first), I elected to buy from the dealer with the best customer service feedback I could find. It's worked out well, to-date. While I understand how/why dealership pricing can be higher than an indi, I don't understand how some dealers can be arrogant in how they treat customers. It's certainly not a good recipe for long-term success. I'm approaching 69, so we're in the same age group. It has been a while since I worked on my cars for routine maintenance. With all of the plastics used, along with tight engine bays and having to remove a myriad of components to do the simplest of tasks, I don't find much enjoyment in this anymore. A few months ago, I offered to replace the front headlight bulbs on my neighbor's 2011 Outback Wagon, after hearing that the dealer wanted $450 to replace the light bulbs, because the "book" states that the front bumper needed to be removed to get at the light assembly. I elected to loosen the inner wheel wells and blindly shimmy my hand/arm through the inner fender to replace the bulbs. A few hours and 30+ cuts later, I replaced the bulbs. As I said, I don't find much enjoyment in performing routine maintenance on modern cars anymore.

 

Yep and at which cut would have I started to feel the need to do something nasty to car engineers? I've also owned several Subbies and the last was a 2015 Outback. There are times that I've had 5 or more cars in my possession. They were NOT junk stuff sitting around making my neighbors sad.

Had to edit that junk part. It was meant to say not junk, they were in good shape.

 

Car servicing the great manipulation of the engineering world,

If you are a spanner monkey you should never pay dealer prices for servicing once the warranty is dead,

Now I'll explain, a service normally ends up being an oil filter & 4L of oil @ close to £200 here, or you can add an air & pollen filter and round it up to £350,

If you go to a motor factor you can get 5L oil, filter, air pollen & fuel filters, sump plug ring all for about £100 and that's using the oem brand parts that the manufacturer has their logo stamped onto,

Ahhh but you say.... how about all the other checks? you pay for an annual mot test that performs all those checks and more anyway, ahhh but full service history mate! doesn't mean squat after 1095 days, it does for the dealer that's now reselling your car but your car trading in is worth no more with or without a history, they will bottom line you every time where you then have to switch to screen pricing, in normal times this is ... We'd be able to offer you £3400 for it Sir! make it £4000 and you got a deal! I'll just get my pen Sir!

Basically if you are able to diy you get to know what was done, what went in it and that you rate yourself as highly as their trained fitter who doesn't have the same care factor for your car that you do, the mot takes care of the rest leaving a brake fluid change (that's another story) and an aircon con which can be achieved with a £3 tin of Dettol anti bac spray, gas topping up exempted £60 at a tyre shop,

Still on the upside you do get a stamp mark in that service book nobody ever sees.