Hard earned money and service by agent

[vitz]

Hi all,

By closely inspecting the bill of of the service at 40000 km (without engine oil change, as I do it at home), I wondered whether I wasted my hard earned money at the agent, being a vehicle enthusiast having basic  knowledge to do key maintenance work by my self. Moreover, pay your attention on the charge they have made for  Differential Gear Oil. Once I back home, I realized that they have over-charged for differential oil change. They have costed for 3.6 L of differential to change the oil in CHR which is having a capacity of just 1 L. I got refunded Rs. 6000 odd for this over-charge done by the agent. However, they never apologized. You can imagine what happened to  someone who doesnot know anything about the capacity of differentials (front and rear). 

Just see the staggering amounts the TL has charged for even for very minor things. I believe it would be better to avoid such minor things done by the agent......

 

 

 

 

[sathyajithj99]

19 minutes ago, vitz said:

Hi all,

By closely inspecting the bill of of the service at 40000 km (without engine oil change, as I do it at home), I wondered whether I wasted my hard earned money at the agent, being a vehicle enthusiast having basic  knowledge to do key maintenance work by my self. Moreover, pay your attention on the charge they have made for  Differential Gear Oil. Once I back home, I realized that they have over-charged for differential oil change. They have costed for 3.6 L of differential to change the oil in CHR which is having a capacity of just 1 L. I got refunded Rs. 6000 odd for this over-charge done by the agent. However, they never apologized. You can imagine what happened to  someone who doesnot know anything about the capacity of differentials (front and rear). 

Just see the staggering amounts the TL has charged for even for very minor things. I believe it would be better to avoid such minor things done by the agent......

 

 

 

 

Should be the differential oil changed at 40k? 

[vitz]

Just now, sathyajithj99 said:

Should be the differential oil changed at 40k? 

That's the TL recommendation. May not be necessary,  I opted for it since usually it involves a minor cost....

The Eclipse Cross service manual recommends an interval of 45000 km under severe use and 85000 km under normal use. I could not found information for CHR

[gayanath]

4 hours ago, vitz said:

 being a vehicle enthusiast having basic  knowledge to do key maintenance work by my self.

Why did you choose TL instead of going to a normal place and doing things under your supervision?

Does going to TL add any value to you or your car?

[iRage]

Well...with the issue with any of the agents is they have set times for each and every task...so labor becomes ridiculous (in countries like Japan they just wave it off as a complimentary service). At the agents...changing 4 shocks is 6 hour job....but any decent mechanic (and the agents themselves) would do this in just a few hours but charge you for 6 (again some agents waive off extra hours and call it a discount). Going to the agent does not add value..in any country actually...it is just that it adds convenience in most countries as the agent will take care of everything and give the car to you (See note below). In SL the issue is finding good garages that are reputable and lasts for more than a few years is difficult. Those have lasted are only marginally cheaper than the agent and the only benefit is that you can just stay next to your car.

Toyota Lanka is notorious for making errors on their bills. Especially the Maharagama branch (but then I have only used them and Wattala). Complain...be an ass...say you want to talk to the people at the main office....then be a bigger ass and ask how you can file a complaint to HQ (well their rep who is based there). They will deny it and say all kinds of excuses. Stop being an ass and become a raging bull in the china shop

@vitz / @sathyajithj99....yes...diff oil change is recommended between 40-50K and almost all service schedules have it. In the past cars like the CRV, RAV4 recommended 80-100K diff oil changes (inspections only before that); but they all started getting diff problems. In old school diffs..yes..they will last for 80-100K..but the newer ones don't. Even when the manufacturers recommend 80-100K change intervals in the user manuals and such they eventually do change it in their pre-emptive maintenance routines. For example...CVT oil is non serviceable for 100,000. But then they started changing it before that...a few weeks ago over here I saw a pamphlet asking owners to change their CVT fluid 20-30K (labor was covered but had to purchase the oil or something).

NOTE: 

1. In Vietnam : Fortuner got a weird electrical fault. All of a sudden ABS light comes on....power shutters stopped working. Went to the agent. The mechanic took 30 minutes...said he fixed it and sent me on my way. FOC. Did not make it more than 2 km it came back. Drove right back to the agent....two master mechanics spent the entire morning trying to figure it out and then testing it (the culprit was a relay that had gotten rusted connectors). They did not charge for it. When I wanted to order the replacement part...they said not to. If it breaks again they will replace it. I was insistant on getting the new part but they were more insistant on not selling it to me.

2. In Japan. A few weeks ago I felt the rear end of the Corolla wagon a bit lose. Scheduled a time to take in to the dealership. He went on a test drive with me (I had to drive)...then put it up on the hoist and we discovered that the control arms had a bit of a play (yes...I was allowed in to the repair area). So they ordered the part....but they cannot replace it at a time that is convenient for me. What was their solution ? I give them the car and they give me a replacement car whilst mine is in the garage. 

In both of these countries....going for an oil change/service at an independent garage would cost me more than going to the agent. In Japan they have an oil keep program. I buy a 10L barrel of oil (i.r. I buy 10L of oil) for 14,000yen (which comes with labor)  which I get to use for my services. So I essentially pay like 900yen for a filter. and that is it. I can go to AUTOBACHS....an oil change with oil, filter and labor with the same oil and filter would cost me about 6000yen. Same in Vietnam. Oil change at the agent was about 50USD..outside about 70USD. Even repairs...changing the control arms in the rear....21,000yen for parts and 20,000yen for labor (2 hours estimated). Outside parts price remians the same but labor is about 5000yen cheaper....but then I lose the convenience of getting the replacement car, etc...besides...going to the agents in both countries was nice. You get free snakcs and kids play area and such

What the agents have become in SL is a result of unregulated inflow of crappy parts and garages in Sri Lanka. Crappy substandard parts and service are cheap. Thus people go for them and the agents do not have a large market share. Thus they don't make enough money, thus they have to cover up their operational costs  from a small amount of parts they sell (thus larger markup). No matter what is said and done..regulation is important in this field. In most other countries...original parts for the market (to customers and parts shops) are supplied by the manufacturer's agent in that country. That way the quality of the parts are controlled. But in SL any monkey can bring them down. 

 

[kush]

I go to the agent only if the car is under warranty

Other wise get the car serviced at the service close to my place with parts and consumables bought by me from trusted places under y watchful eyes and supervision.

But sometimes i go to the agent to get specific items done for instance a tuneup.

 

[vitz]

16 hours ago, gayanath said:

Why did you choose TL instead of going to a normal place and doing things under your supervision?

Does going to TL add any value to you or your car?

I went there because had to change the gear box oil. I could not find a trustworthy place in kandy to it trustworthy. 

[vitz]

12 hours ago, kush said:

I go to the agent only if the car is under warranty

Other wise get the car serviced at the service close to my place with parts and consumables bought by me from trusted places under y watchful eyes and supervision.

But sometimes i go to the agent to get specific items done for instance a tuneup.

 

This is the best way. However, these new vehicles need the scanner to even release rear break pads and clean it. I was not sure such facilities available in regular places.

[john cooper]

On 9/6/2020 at 2:02 PM, vitz said:

Hi all,

By closely inspecting the bill of of the service at 40000 km (without engine oil change, as I do it at home), I wondered whether I wasted my hard earned money at the agent, being a vehicle enthusiast having basic  knowledge to do key maintenance work by my self. Moreover, pay your attention on the charge they have made for  Differential Gear Oil. Once I back home, I realized that they have over-charged for differential oil change. They have costed for 3.6 L of differential to change the oil in CHR which is having a capacity of just 1 L. I got refunded Rs. 6000 odd for this over-charge done by the agent. However, they never apologized. You can imagine what happened to  someone who doesnot know anything about the capacity of differentials (front and rear). 

Just see the staggering amounts the TL has charged for even for very minor things. I believe it would be better to avoid such minor things done by the agent......

 

 

 

 

Honestly speaking, i can't see any issues with this bill (Except for the 3.6L diff oil)

Something i found dealer network prices won't have much of a different from country to country, when we service our Camry here in NZ it's about $350 and we got the same car at home in SL and service about 40k from TL

$10 body and undercarriage wash seems like a bargain to me :-)

[freetmile]

That's really interesting for me!

[mincabenj]

It's awesome that you have some basic knowledge of maintenance work and can do it yourself. It's great that you got a refund, but it's a shame they didn't apologize. It must have been quite confusing for someone who doesn't know much about differentials. But, if I were you, I'd replace that job, TBH. Seems like it's too stressful and will never know how to make 10000 a month working there.

Edited November 5, 2023 by mincabenj