Car Servicing

A story about good customer service. I have a 2010 Renault Koleos, bought new with a three-year warranty. A few months ago, I had brain fade and hit the "factory reset" button on my satnav. The whole thing crashed including Bluetooth. The first attempt by Renault to rectify it was only partially OK with the maps working, the second attempt also did not resolve the problem. On the third attempt they held on to the vehicle for a few days, giving me a courtesy car. In the end they installed a new satnav, which continues to function satisfactorily.

My 2011 Toyota Camry hybrid is a little damaged on the driver side in the front of the car. It will no longer start and shows "check hybrid system" on the dashboard. What could have possibly happened, as the damaged affected only the tyres?

Every few weeks my 2009 Astra sounds like a diesel, but it never does it when I take it to my mechanic and I look a fool. What could be wrong?

I am about to take my car for its 15,000km service and the Holden dealer is going to charge me $900. Is that the going price for that service? They are saying the transmission needs servicing — that will make a difference of $300 from the previous service.

I have read your comments re topping up the automatic transmission fluid on a Mercedes-Benz C-Class and your point re the fill for life. Thought you might be interested to know that the dealer says my E350 requires a transmission filter and oil every four years or 50,000km. This conflicts with their service booklet, which suggests once at 40,000km or 3 years and then at 125,000km or a further 5 years. I agree that manufacturers are extending to lifetime fill but Mercedes doesn't, at least for my model, and it seems all.

My 2012 Toyota Aurion AT-X has had to be wheel aligned four times because of obvious abnormal tyre wear even though it's only done 30,000km. The dealer did it twice and it was done twice by a tyre service. I know our roads are a long way less than perfect, but I am a careful driver and avoid bad potholes as much as possible. My previous car was a Toyota Avalon which comfortably travelled 95,000km on one set of tyres and would have done 100,000km easily on that set of tyres had I kept the vehicle. The dealer claims there are no abnormalities or inherent problems with the vehicle so can't explain why the wheel alignment needs frequent attention. Have you heard of any similar complaints with this vehicle?

My Ford Focus Trend I bought in March 2013 has just had its 30,000km or three-year service, even though it's only done 13,000km. The service mechanic rang to ask if I wanted the brake fluid changed at $85 and the aircon sanitised at $185. I agreed to the brake fluid change but not the sanitising, as I have never heard of this before in all the years of owning and caring for cars.

Are spare parts readily available for a 2005 Holden Vectra? I’m asking because I believe it's been discontinued and I am getting one from a friend for $7000.

If a person inadvertently ran a new diesel-powered car out of fuel, or if a fuel line fractured, is it necessary to bleed the fuel system as in the past? What action would be required if this happened and would the engine suffer any damage?

My 1998 Volkswagen Passat has a problem with the ABS and oil lights coming on, usually when I start the car, and then it beeps three times. This continues to happen as I drive, and it will often beep three times when I hit around 80 km/h. I've taken it to so many mechanics and auto electricians, but no one has been able to figure out what the problem is. I don't want to take it to Volkswagen again, they charged me $650 and didn't fix it. I read that Passats sometimes have trouble with the ABS control module, could this be the problem?