​It is often seen that service rates from car manufacturers are very fluctuating and sometimes surprising even after you get a regular service done. Car brands try their best to keep things under check and transparent, yet some authorized service centers try to fleece extra money from their customers who trust their authorized service centers blindly.

In my video, I have talked about, how you can save some money by avoiding some services which are not mandatory at all but still service team does it to make some extra money.

Here are some of the Popular known Scams/Unnecessary jobs that can bloat up a bill during servicing.

​So pointing out to major 4 scams where these service guys will push you hard to get things done are:

Service Interval: AVOID AVOID AVOID with a pressure of going within one year or twice in a year. If your service interval is 7500 kms (check manual) then there is no need to visit service center when your car has done much lesser than it. These days engine oils, coolants, filters etc are abuse worthy/durable and don't fall prey to service center's advice. Get your car serviced only once 80-90% of your interval is done. For example, I get my car serviced after 13000 kms as my interval is 15000kms for VW Polo, I don't care if it completes an year or lesser or more. However, it is advisable to get wheel alignment & balancing done after 6 months or 5000 kms


​AC Disinfection/Cleaning: Biggest scam of the decade by service centers. They will charge something around Rs 800 and simply spray some foam inside your AC vents which doesn't even clean your AC Coils properly. Moreover you can buy this foam yourself on websites like Amazon/Flipkart from a brand like 3M which eventually will save your money & you can use the product multiple times too


​Brake Cleaning/Caliper Greasing: Charging for brake cleaning is a scam which is used to inflate the bill during service. Front Brake Cleaning is part of paid service. Reason: They remove the front wheels for inspection. The so called brake cleaning is nothing but taking out the brake pads and rubbing them with sand paper. Some mechanics will just rub the disc and it is done. Brake Cleaning is chargeable only if you opt to get the rear drums cleaned. This is a laborious job as it involves opening the rear drums and cleaning the brake shoes. So if you opt for this then and only then pay for brake cleaning.

Again these charges are less than 500 bucks. Rear drums don't require cleaning that often. So the scam is they will just rub your front discs or brake pads with sand paper (which is completely worn out) and they will charge you for cleaning both the front and rear brakes. Another linked scam with this is charging for caliper pin greasing. It is a 2 min job and nothing extra is done, as removing the front wheels for brake inspection is a part of paid service. All that is done is remove one bolt, take out caliper pin, grease it, put it back and tighten the bolt. The service center will slap 300 rs + taxes for this job. So if you are aware you can prevent 1000 rupees + taxes from being added to your bill.


Other few things, they may ask you for some coatings or engine bay cleaning, completely refuse them and simply ask them to change Engine Oil, Air Filter, Oil Filter, Pollen Filter, Brake inspection, battery inspection, coolant check, electric lights check etc (Please check your manual for this).