Maruti Servicing Costs

Preamble
Although the country’s largest car maker has well laid down servicing norms, by way of approved service stations’ layouts, stocking of genuine spares and hourly labour rates, that vary from Metro’s to sub-metro’s to other smaller towns for justifiable reasons, yet some car owners feel that they’re getting fleeced. The following real life QnA attempts to clarify the picture…

Question
My Wagon-R is due for its 4th Service. Although it’s only 15-months old, I have crossed the 20-kkm mark. Regrettably, I have not been able to get a justifiable estimate on the costs of 4th Service and have been further confused by quotes from some of the Maruti authorised service stations in Delhi. ‘Marketing Times’ estimates labour to be Rs: 675/-, whereas ‘Maruti Service Masters’ puts it at a fixed Rs: 1400/-, which is funny because when I’d called them earlier on, I was told that it’d be @ Rs: 190/- an hour.

I’ll appreciate your inputs on this, as don’t mind spending the money but I don’t want to get fleeced at the same time. Further, I was wondering whether a Service is required at all as it’s been only 15 months - as opposed to 24-months at which Maruti recommends the 4th Service be done at.

Lastly, I have been trying to figure out how I can clean the air filter…since that is something I can do. I am yet to go through the service manual but I was not able to find anything on the ‘net either.

My response
I’m not clear as to what your problem really is. The servicing schedules are clearly laid down by Maruti in one’s ‘Owners Handbook’, on time as well as distance basis, whichever is ‘earlier’. Next come the labour charges. All Maruti Dealers, Service Masters & Authorised Service Stations are supposed to strictly follow norm’s in this respect laid down by Maruti and the variation is usually not more than 15~20%, depending on their geo-location and ‘star ranking’, as assessed by Maruti from time to time.

Further, for ‘paid’ Services for a vehicle like the W-R, there’s a fixed labour cost like Rs: 650/- covering most items mentioned in the ‘periodic maintenance schedule’, such as routine washing/valeting, oils/filters’ changes, engine tune etc. But on top of this if the ‘nth’ service schedule from Maruti also prescribes some additional works like brake fluid change, coolant change, all 4-brakes’ service, wheel alignment/balancing, besides material, these are charged extra for labour, based on hourly rates fixed by Maruti in a detailed labour schedule manual available for scrutiny in the front office of all Maruti authorised workshops. For example, one MASS may charge say 1-hr for the brakes service and the other 2-hrs for the same job, depending on how difficult it was to open the assemblies of a particular vehicle.

Over and above all these, the consumable materials costs like oils, filters, and other spares reqd such as spark plugs are billed for extra - as per Maruti’s official spares price list. Most authorised workshops use Maruti approved engine oils at Maruti fixed prices, but next higher grade oils are also available at some workshops, naturally at a higher cost, should a customer so desire.

If you’re still in doubt, I’d suggest you speak with one Mr. Jayesh Desai on his phone +91 9810708000. He runs a chain of 4-premium and oldest MSM Workshops in the NCR/Noida. You can give him my reference and if convenient, even get your vehicle serviced there and see the total transparency in their operations your self. As a special case, they may even offer a free pick up and drop off, depending on how many hours away you’re from their facility nearest to you.

As regards cleaning the Air Filter your self, it’s easy and yet not so, for a good job one requires ample compressed air. I’d suggest you first ask to be allowed to watch the process during your next service and thereafter, say every 2.5 kkm, attempt to do it your self if you have a suitable vacuum cleaner at home, ensuring that you operate it on the dirty/ingress side only and not the other/clean engine side.