Car Servicing

What is capped price servicing, how does it work and what benefit is it to me as a motorist? I just had a 15,000km service on my Kia Proceed GT. Having parted with a few hundred of my hard-earned dollars, I asked the service adviser the same question. He could not give me an answer and told me to look it up on the net. Can you believe it? Hey, they even charged me to rotate the wheels on my car, which was done on their recommendation. Absurd. I love the car — what you pay for and what you get is hard to beat — but I think capped price servicing is a con. I end up getting charged just as much as anyone else that walks through the door.

In April my local Ford dealer ordered a new diff for my 2013 XR6 ute to fix a constant 'diff knock'. After contacting Ford three weeks later to get a date when the diff would be coming in, to their credit they replied quickly, but couldn't give me a clear date. After sending another email asking where it was they were sourcing their differentials from, they couldn't give me an answer. It's coming up to five weeks now – can you please help to shed some light on the matter?

My daughter has a 2014 VW Golf, which at times fails to proceed. The engine remains running, but the accelerator pedal has no response until it's pushed hard to the floor when all at once it accelerates at great speed. This is a very dangerous situation in any car. I have returned it to the dealer, who could find no fault. Are you aware of this problem?

I have a much-loved 2007 Citroen C4 Grand Picasso Exclusive diesel with all options, including leather seats, mood lighting etc. and it is generally in excellent condition. It's mostly been driven on the highway and the engine is running very quietly and smoothly, having travelled just over 200,000 km. I am the only owner and have the full service history. The only issue is that the automatic transmission has just failed. Where can I sell the car without having the transmission fixed?

My partner owns a 2003 Mazda 323 SP20 that has always been serviced by Mazda. It still looks and feels great for its age, but I have a massive problem with it. The accelerator pedal is really sticky when you first start the engine and take off. So much so that I once thought the accelerator wasn't working, until I applied quite some force with my foot and it 'clicked' out of its sticky position and began accelerating. My partner has learned to live with the problem, but I don't think I can. Is this a known problem? And if so, do you suggest taking it back to Mazda or to a specialized mechanic?

My 2015 Nissan X-Trail Ti was bought new and is under warranty. The in-built GPS is missing roads such as the Geelong bypass and numerous times has led me to convoluted dead-ends. Nissan Australia says this will be fixed in the next release and will cost $330. The dealer's advice was the GPS is only accurate for metro areas, not regional areas. When I bought the car, the dealer said the GPS was up-to-date and good for travel around Australia. It is not. It is defective so I believe it should be covered under warranty.

Could you please advise me on the servicing of constantly variable transmissions? I have a 2013 Nissan Pulsar and every mechanic has a different opinion on what to do. It has done 45,000km with no problems and the Nissan dealer says nothing is needed until 100,000km, but you have recently commented about a fluid change in automatics at 50,000km. The warranty has just run out and if anything goes wrong it could be $7000 to repair the transmission.

I wonder whether any readers who own a Toyota Prado have problems with the radio failing. I have a 2013 turbo diesel, as does one of my work colleagues, and both need the radio replaced under warranty. The radio goes blank and tries unsuccessfully to reboot itself. I am still waiting for my replacement radio. My concern is this: after the warranty ends in December and if the radio fails again, I will have to foot the bill for the replacement. Who knows how much that will be? Could you please get some feedback from Toyota?

I have had a Mercedes-Benz C200 since new in 2011. It has done 92,000km, is regularly serviced and it's starting to have electrical problems. As it is out of warranty and five years old, I am seriously looking to downgrade to a Hyundai Accent with five-year warranty and 10 years' roadside assist. I am 69 and don't do as many kilometres as I did. Do you think this would be a good move?

Two years ago I bought a 2008 Volkswagen from my local Volkswagen dealer. I have had no issues with the car until recently when I went to start it and all the lights for the gears, PRNDS, were flashing and the car wouldn't start. It turned over, but would not start. I called the RACV, but they couldn't start it, or find what was wrong. After locking the car and unlocking it, the car started. I took it to my local Volkswagen dealer who tested it with their computer and couldn't find any faults and was starting ok for them.

A few days later the fault happened again when I left work, so I couldn't start the car. It started after locking and unlocking it. It faulted again a few days later and this time my trick of locking the car didn't work. I called RACV again and they couldn't find the fault or start the car. Battery tested fine. It was towed the next working day back to the dealer who kept it for a week testing it and couldn't get the car to fault. I took the car home and the same day it wouldn't start again. I tried starting the car several times without it starting, but when it did start I drove it to my local mechanic. He spent the next two weeks checking and testing it and found faults showing through his computer system. He tried several attempts to fix it without luck so I took it back to the dealer for the third time. They eventually found fault codes and believed that I needed a new genuine Volkswagen battery. They would not test the car further until I had a genuine Volkswagen battery installed. Their initial tests the week before confirmed that my battery was in good condition and did not need replacing, now they said my battery was dead and needed to be replaced. I reluctantly agreed to do it. Now, six weeks later my car is still at the dealer undergoing testing and they advise me that they have diagnosed the problem to be the ECU and it needs a new ECU costing $2740.

They advised that over the six weeks they have had my car they have spent eight hours working on it but will only charge me for four of that. In total they are asking payment of $3577 including fitting and testing. If they go ahead and order the unit it has to come from overseas and will take approx. three weeks to get here. They are now asking for their loan car back, even though I do not have my own car working and have not offered any option to provide alternative transport for the next three weeks should I proceed with purchasing this new ECU. I am a working single mum with a 4-year-old and living in a country town, so I cannot get around without a car to take my son to kinder or get myself to work. I certainly cannot afford to spend $3500 on my car and knowing that I will not be able to recover that money when I come to sell it. I just don't know what to do.