Every Holden ever built will now be covered by a new lifetime capped-price service program,

[Olbucko]

Originally Posted by johnydep

Half an hour?

It takes half an hour just to road test, check all the levels, lube the doors & set it up on the hoist. Another half hour to take the wheels and drums off to inspect the brake shoes, then grease all the nipples which are most likely blocked or missing.

A proper service & safety will take 1 - 1.5 hours, plus material and waste disposal.

Back in the 'good old days' workshops only required one type of engine oil for each season, a dozen filters, a few points and spark plugs, a pit and a hole in the back for rubbish.

Today is a different era in automotive industry; workshops have to meet environmental & safety standards and pay for inspections and licences. large stock rooms are required with large amounts of stock. The average technician requires years of on going study and gets paid accordingly.

If you like to look after your own car, good for you. But don't make it sound like everyone that takes their car in for a qualified service and/or repair is being ripped off.

I did not say that every body is being ripped off, in an earlier post I said the opposite,
"$495 to service a Ranger is not so bad considering it is a very complicated piece of machinery requiring specialist knowledge and tools, expensive diagnostic equipment, and can be easily damaged if anything is connected incorrectly, and few owners would be able to service it at home. On the other hand an old Holden could be serviced by anyone with basic knowledge and some simple tools."

I think you would be rather lucky to find a dealer that would bother to lube door locks and remove, adjust, and replace brake drums, especially in an older car that required dismantling and readjusting the wheel bearings at the front to remove the drums. I'm sure you would pay a lot extra for that. (Just went through the process of completely rebuilding the back brakes of my XM Falcon, many hours of work)