Elise just been serviced - is the cost justified

douglasgdmw · Post by **douglasgdmw** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:16 pm

Just had the Elise in for it's 1st service (which I believe is an oil/filter change) by MMC and the bill has come to £385

Is this the normal price for a 111R A service? Spoken to Bill Young and he said that is the normal price.

If that is the case then I am going down to Lotus dealership at Newcastle to get the car serviced from now on (as I believe they are far cheaper). Mentioned this to Bill as well so it ooks like MMC may be losing a customer.

Where is the MMC complaints section as I cannot find it.

DMW

j2 lot · Post by **j2 lot** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:20 pm

Afraid that sounds about the going rate for A service at MMC. Keith

Post by ed » Wed May 30, 2007 4:21 pm

I would imagine F1 would be a wee bit cheaper but sadly thats about the going rate for Lotus Main Dealers. Have you looked at taking it to a specialist. They tend to charge more like £140 to £180 pounds! HTH cheers Ed

saggs · Post by **saggs** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:25 pm

Interesting - they charged me £450 for the first 9000 mile service. Included a brake fluid change. Was the £385 after VAT?

Total rip-off!!

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:26 pm

I paid £140 at Phoenix and Blink are pretty IIRC much the same down this way

Avoid main stealers...

douglasgdmw · Post by **douglasgdmw** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:30 pm

Do not know whether the £385 was after VAT, better hope so as my wife is picking up the car soon and will have a hairy fit if they add some more onto the already horrendous figure.

I always had them service the S1 111S and been a loyal customer/returning customer but feel that they are taking the biscuit too much now. I am afraid that they will be losing me as a customer.

DMW

GregR · Post by **GregR** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:33 pm

Douglas:- http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... php?t=3130

IIRC - Dan at JPS is £150 for an 'A' service. Too late for you now I fear

Remember, your warranty will not be invalidated by going to a non main dealer so long as the specialist uses genuine Lotus parts (as Dan does).

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:46 pm

You are quite correct, an A service is an oil and filter change, everything else is checking items, which on a new car should amount to virtually nothing.

Many of us now do our own servicing and repairs, the car never goes near a dealer, but that comes with a lot of experience and ownership.

As the others have said, anybody buying an Elise is almost happier to see that it has been serviced by an Elise specialist, who will get to know you and charge rates relative to the work done, probably at £34/hr or less, rather than a flat service fee, and labour rates at £85/hr for any extra work that you will pay at an official Lotus Dealer.

tut

saggs · Post by **saggs** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:47 pm

Weighed up the pros and cons of going further afield before settling for MMC for pure convenience reasons. When I saw the bill I was not happy as I was advised over the phone it would be approx £350.

Will probably be taking my business elsewhere also.

meatball · Post by **meatball** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:53 pm

My car is due a timing belt in couple of months.......
MMC want £250 for it.
Where is there that is tried and tested and can their contact details be posted.
Greg, can you post Dan's contact please?
cheers

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:02 pm

Dan the man........

Jude Performance Services

0191 4147900

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:10 pm

Looks as if Dan has changed his web site appearance, but can see no mention of him being a Honda conversion distributor.

tut

douglasgdmw · Post by **douglasgdmw** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:21 pm

Spoke to F1 Performance in Newcastle and they said that for the service they are just above the £270 mark + £45 for brake lines being bled.

Considering they are a Lotus dealership this is substantially cheaper than MMC.

Looks like it will be a Newcastle Shopping trip next year

gorrie · Post by **gorrie** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:31 pm

Slightly off topic, as I'm not talking about the Yota here... but what is the correct service schedules for an S2 K-series? My booklet shows A,A,B,A,A,C cont'd...

Mines had the B-service done before delivery as part of the deal (it was 3yrs old)... so, according to the book it would now be A,A,C. The belts are done on a C-service. However, I'm sure MMC advised me that Lotus have changed the schedule to now drop the C-service (so AAB cont'd) but you need to get the belts done every 4yrs instead of 6??

That would mean in January, I would need an A-service plus belt change. Is this correct or does the K-series run as per the book? I've had K-series in about 3 or 4 previous cars and the belts have not been every 4yrs.

Andy.

mac · Post by **mac** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:36 pm

The K servicing used to have these major differences :-

A - Oil & Filter changed
B - Oil, Filter & Sparks changed
C - Oil, Filter, Sparks & Cambelt changed.

When the service book was written it was a 6 year cambelt change - this is now down to 4 years.

So, give that platinum tipped plugs can go for circa 30k miles that gave you :- A,A,B,A,A,C,A,A,B and so on.

Now it's A,A,B,A+cambelt,A,B,A,A+belt - or something like that

Mac