First 600 miles service costs!

[Guest silverbullet]

Mine is booked in Chiswick Tomorrow-let you know how much for DCT service,,, Also, Having the tyres changed due horrible noise from front of bike-service desk thinks its the tyres- I have Bridgestone BT23s currently

[Guest silverbullet]

£100 bang on ;-)

[Guest The Soviet]

600 mile service due on Tuesday cost £60 from Perth were bike came from.   

[Derek_Mac 1,404]

 Going in tomorrow to Phoenix Honda in Grangemouth, £105 for a 700 X DCT. Bike wasn't bought from them.

 

@The Soviet: Ardersier to Perth is a fair distance to go.

 Edit: OTOH it's not a lot further than Aberdeen I suppose.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Derek_Mac

[Guest The Soviet]

well their doing the pickup in tranie van for first service and ill work round staying in travel lodge on a Friday night and get future services done on a Saturday not much difference in miles but a9 is a lot better than a96

[glencoeman 129]

Paid £85 for the first 600 mile service at CG Chell's ,Stafford.

[Guest fresh air]

I bought my NC700X DCT last Friday from Lings Honda Centre, have done an enjoyable 350 miles, anticipate it will be ready for its 600 mile service this Friday and have just booked it up from the dealer for this date.
Having read all the previous comments, I asked her if she could clarify if the first service is free or if there is a charge "due to conflicting reports on the internet" ! She told me it used to be free but Honda have stopped doing this (really) ? So she told me it would be £145 - to which I replied "You are not mixing my bike up with the NT 700 are you" ? She replied they (NT) have a Honda time of 2.5 hours for the service, the NC700 X DCT is quoted at 45 mins, but then she brought the figure down to £100 - 105. She also made mention of tappet/valve clearances needing to be checked, but thanks very much to this forum I was able to tell her they shouldn't need checking for the first service.

I have to admit that yesterday whilst making my first visit to Walton on the Naze and Frinton in Essex, I managed to drive off 2 metres with the HAND BRAKE STILL ON. No damage seems to have been done but I'm reluctant to tell the dealer in case they use that as an excuse to up the charges a fraction.
Will get back to y'all when the service is done.

Neil.

PS. Just out of curiosity and not knowing where else to mention this, when I brought the bike home from the dealer I checked the bike over to familiarise myself with all the bits and bobs and when I looked at the petrol cap I spotted a tiny 'pin' rolling loose in the 'well' (with the fuel cap in the middle) Initially, I thought it was a needle bearing pin that had come loose from somewhere but placing it under a proper dissecting microscope, I could see it appears to be made of glass with a minitature copper wire coil inside it. Uh oh ! This was free to roll about in the filler cap well and shows no sign of having been 'secreted away' somewhere to keep tabs on the bike and where I go to, but measuring only 10mm X 1mm it does look awfully suspicious like something which sends a signal up to a satellite or some hand held receiver. I never threw eggs at Thatchers coffin ... ... honest !

Edited April 22, 2013 by fresh air

[Rocker66 34,466]

With regards to the charge for the first service I checked with my dealer who told me that Honda now leave it to the dealers discretion. Some like mine will give it free but only on bikes bought from them which seems fair enough

[Guest The Soviet]

Six Hundred mile oil change with filter and inspection cost $118 at Mesa Verde Motorsports in Cortez, Colorado. Face it, you have to support the royal Family! Should have rebelled like we did 250 years ago.

some of us tried in Scotland but it didn't work out to well

[Rev Ken 6,343]

It is true that Honda used to pay dealers for the first 'free' service, but withdrew this payment some time ago. Therefore if dealers do a 'free' first service they have to pay for it.

[Guest fresh air]

... ...

PS. Just out of curiosity and not knowing where else to mention this, when I brought the bike home from the dealer I checked the bike over to familiarise myself with all the bits and bobs and when I looked at the petrol cap I spotted a tiny 'pin' rolling loose in the 'well' (with the fuel cap in the middle) Initially, I thought it was a needle bearing pin that had come loose from somewhere but placing it under a proper dissecting microscope, I could see it appears to be made of glass with a minitature copper wire coil inside it. Uh oh ! This was free to roll about in the filler cap well and shows no sign of having been 'secreted away' somewhere to keep tabs on the bike and where I go to, but measuring only 10mm X 1mm it does look awfully suspicious like something which sends a signal up to a satellite or some hand held receiver. I never threw eggs at Thatchers coffin ... ... honest !

Quick update on this - I took this 'pin' into the Lowestoft branch of Lings and they identified it as a DataTag.   My bike came with the Data Tag system fitted and this includes having 'stealth UV etching' on the false tank, 'datadots' placed secretly on the bike, a 'tamper evident visible ID number', 'tamper evident re-reg label', and ... 'GLASS TAGS'   This is what I found rolling about loose in my filler cap rubber overfill well which is designed to safety allow any excess fuel to drain onto the ground without harming the paintwork.   Why my tag didn't fall down the overflow onto the road I'll never know, but luckily I spotted it and will now ask for an explanation from Lings when I take my bike in for its first service tomorrow.

Being made of glass and with a minute copper coil inside containing information about the first registered owner (?) it is difficult to imagine how they could securely place these devices (2 or 3 ?) on my bike with them breaking or coming loose.   All will be explained tomorrow I hope (trouble is, the darn thing is so small, I've now been and lost it ... grrrrr)

[Guest fresh air]

Well,  I've had my first service done (620 miles in one week) and guess what ... ... yup, they were were going to charge me £192 !   And this is after I received my first quote from the shop of £145 and later knocked down to £100 - £105 upon questioning, 4 days ago when I booked it in.   I said "What" !! in amazement, and then told the chap what I had been quoted 4 days ago.

After 10 minutes of typing away on the computer he came up with a revised figure of £103 and for that, I can only thank members of this forum for giving me the confidence to challenge these ludicrous prices.

But this shouldn't be the end of the matter as many others who do not know of this background information (of pie in the sky prices) are going to continue to be ripped off and some sort of standardisation of prices is called for.   But is this achievable though ?   When I booked my bike in, the female in the office told me Honda set a time of 45 minutes for the first service, yet when I brought the bike in this morning at 8.45am I was told not to come back for "At least an hour" but I timed it on the hour exactly to come back just in case there was a fixed hourly rate.

As it was, I was told to read the paper for another half hour and then finally was told it is ready.   I have no idea if they got to work straight away on my bike so cannot say how long they spent on it, but I was given a detailed print-out of what they claimed to have done including computer  readings taken from "all the sensors" fitted to the bike which obviously showed everything is working fine at this early stage.

 

Maybe not all Honda dealers have this equipment so are able to charge less, so is it a question of you get what you pay for ?   Even then it doesn't explain the discrepancy in quoted prices from the same showroom.

 

Neil.

[JaseR 213]

To be a Honda dealer you must have a fully equipped workshop and must have the Honda computerised service system (Mystic or somesuch) in place. The system tells them exactly what is required for each service and how long each item will take - what that means is if you have your service as per Honda's recommendation the only variation in cost is what the dealer charges for his hourly rate and 'extras' he puts on top.

[Rocker66 34,466]

I don't know if it still applies but BMW dealers always used to display a list of prices for services and other common jobs. I think that it would be good if all dealers did the same

[Guest Afroboy70]

Just had the below from Chiswick Honda after querying their £120 and 2 hour quote:

 

"I have spoken to Mark in the service department and gone through your concerns with him. According to the Honda schedule the recommended time to carry out the service is one hour and 30 minutes and the standard rate for this amount of time is £99.00 and in addition to that you also have the 4 litres of engine oil, two oil filters (one in the engine and one in gearbox) and also a sump plug washer. Because you purchased the bike from ourselves we have already reduced the service as the original price is £160.00. Hope this clears up any confusion regarding the price you have been quoted."

Seems fair?

[Rocker66 34,466]

I guess being Chiswick you are paying London prices

[tc3 1,095]

Just had the below from Chiswick Honda after querying their £120 and 2 hour quote:

 

"I have spoken to Mark in the service department and gone through your concerns with him. According to the Honda schedule the recommended time to carry out the service is one hour and 30 minutes and the standard rate for this amount of time is £99.00 and in addition to that you also have the 4 litres of engine oil, two oil filters (one in the engine and one in gearbox) and also a sump plug washer. Because you purchased the bike from ourselves we have already reduced the service as the original price is £160.00. Hope this clears up any confusion regarding the price you have been quoted."

Seems fair?

Does not seem right, I paid 100 myself and was also quoted 105 at a North London dealer 1stline motorcycles.

[Guest GBH]

First service in Aberdeen at Honda dealer was £213.67 which did include a new coded key so if I was you I would stop complaining if you paid just over £100, our labour alone was just over the £100 mark.

 

NC700S DCT

[Rocker66 34,466]

 

Just had the below from Chiswick Honda after querying their £120 and 2 hour quote:

 

"I have spoken to Mark in the service department and gone through your concerns with him. According to the Honda schedule the recommended time to carry out the service is one hour and 30 minutes and the standard rate for this amount of time is £99.00 and in addition to that you also have the 4 litres of engine oil, two oil filters (one in the engine and one in gearbox) and also a sump plug washer. Because you purchased the bike from ourselves we have already reduced the service as the original price is £160.00. Hope this clears up any confusion regarding the price you have been quoted."

Seems fair?

Does not seem right, I paid 100 myself and was also quoted 105 at a North London dealer 1stline motorcycles.

 

Well you  can expect most things from N. London to be good. Well the Blue/white part anyway sorry couldn't resist

Edited May 2, 2013 by Rocker66

[Guest Afroboy70]

First service in Aberdeen at Honda dealer was £213.67 which did include a new coded key so if I was you I would stop complaining if you paid just over £100, our labour alone was just over the £100 mark.

 

NC700S DCT

 

Ouch..... so it is grim up north then!

 

Thanks for the info.

[Rocker66 34,466]

I wonder if it's because in Scotland Honda dealers tend to be further apart making it more difficult to vote with your wallet

[Guest Mokel]

Quoted £120 at Chiswick, where I bought the SD. The loan bike will also be an NC700.

 

Happy to pay the extra £20 so the onus/responsibilty for work done historically to the bike is always on the team there.

[Guest snowball]

Just had the first service done on my new 700X at Kent M/Cs, cost me £41, happy with that,seems some dealers are ripping owners off looking at the threads.

[Guest dentonlad]

First service bill from Rochdale Honda as follows:

Oil filter £9.58, drain plug washer £0.87, Oil £32.20, lubricants £2.48, environmental disposal charge £3.61, labour 1 hr @ £40.00 = £88.74 plus VAT of £17.75. TOTAL £106.49

[DaveS 2]

Integra first 600 mile basic first service with quick spray rinse. Honda Chichester £127-06