Hi all
Just taking my MY00 Scooby in for it's 15k service and I've had a flyer from the dealers saying that it's 1st year bodywork inspection is due.
I checked with the guys at Cheam and this costs about £140! What the heck do they do to the car to justify £140? The service is only £170!!!
I would have thought that this type of thing should have been FOC unless there is something else that they are doing (like repairing all the nasty little chips that you get!

If anyone has any views on this, or experience of this thing I would love to hear about it.

Cheers

Chris

 

£140 - DAYLIGHT ROBBERY !!!

I paid under £50 @ K T Greens in Leeds.

Cheers

Edward.

 

They check the underseal and squirt some more waxoyl into all the body cavities (doors, boot bonnet, wings etc).

Is it worth £140?? Well a friend of a friend used to be a Subaru mechanic and he said it's basically a nice extra little bonus for the dealer.

Is it worth doing?? Well it is obviously essential to keep the anti corrosion warranty and if I was looking at buying a second hand car and this hadn't been done I would think the owner hadn't looked after the car very well and look elsewhere!

The car will smell a bit for a week or so afterwards too!

 

They are supposed to reapply the underseal and you need to get it done if you want to preserve your bodywork warranty. However, the quality of the work at some dealers has been questioned. Try a seach.

 

Hi,
If you are referring to the bodywork service then this involves copious spraying of all underbody cavities etc. (including removal of interior trim bits). I had this done on my Forester and I must admit it did leave the car a bit messy (underbonnet areas etc.) and the car smelled of wax for a couple of months.
This was a 3(ish) hour job plus wax etc. so wasn't overlly expensive BUT the real question is wether its worth it for your car.
Unless you plan on keeping it for a long time it probably isn't.
Cheers,
Dieter

 

Was quoted £75 for the 3 year body service (which I think is the same as the first year), but traded in before it was due.

Had the first year one done, and JoeyD is right, the car stinks for a while after! I had problems though with the underseal pealing off from the wheel arches - and had them re-treated on the first body service and on the 37.5K service. I was amazed to be told that even though I had honoured my part of the warrenty in having the first body service carried out, they re-treated the second time because I was a ‘valued customer’ and I should have infact paid for it ??... though they waved the cost . I was told the underseal was not included under the warrenty. So why pay to have the services if the stuff which prevents the car from rotting underneath isn’t covered???

 

IIRC Tileys in Bristol wanted about £70 + VAT, which included about £45 worth of materials - so no dismantling of anything there then

I turned down the offer, and (so?) they helpfully wrote "Body service declined by customer" on the service invoice

 

Hi all and thanks for the posts and advice / info. I had it done - Cheam were pretty good about it esp with the SIDC discount :-) and managed to do it at the same time as the service. Guess there is quite a bit of difference on the price, depending on where you get it done, although I doubt I'd save money after doing 2 tanks of petrol taking it to Leeds & back!
I think it came to about £130 with the VAT etc.

Dead right about the smell - I guess you get used to it after driving it for a while (with the windows open!) but it hits you as soon as you get back in it!

Did notice that the resin (or whatever) they put into the cavities has seeped out from the bottom of 2 of the doors and onto the black sills - tried to rub it away but it was so thick and sticky that it smeared - tried to clean it off with some car wash but only some of it has come off!

Anyway, all done now for another 2 years!

 

My dealer (Adams, Aylesbury) charged 140 for this, which was higher than I was expecting. Their story is:

"To do it properly you have to take all the door trims off and apply resin inside the doors too, as well as the underside. Some garages don't do this, and some contract it out [implying they don't do it as well]".

I'm inclined to believe them - they wouldn't do the job when it was raining as they said that after it's just been put on too much water can wash it straight off again until it's dry.

Mind you - it still smells after 2 months!

Nick