KIA service costs

On the 20th April I sent an email to KIA SA asking the following:

Good day to you. At the outset let me say that I am very, very happy with my decision to buy a Kia Picanto Start. A wonderful car for many reasons except one.

The salesman who sold me the car was very good and knowledgeable. Knew all about the car but he failed to mention one aspect of owning Kia.

The very high cost of service.

In accordance with the guarantee I am obligated to have the car serviced at required intervals. The nearest service provider is the Multifranchise in Tokai.

In my opinion their rates are exorbitant and border on ******ion.

Here are some examples.

Labour.

Labour rate R850.00 per hour Ex VAT. R977.50 inc VAT. I can get a plumber for R470.00 per hour an electrician for R550.00 per hour and a mechanic at another dealer for R575.00 per hour. After Mercedes and BMW, KIA comes in third highest in labour rate per hour.

Sorry but to charge nearly a thousand Rand an hour is ******** and surely begs to be questioned.

Parts.

The three filters replaced during my last service (19th April 2021) had a total invoice cost of R880.30. A set of GUD filters, and GUD is a reputable brand (Air, Oil and Cabin) can be purchased at a spares dealer for R396.00 for the lot and that is retail.

Oil. Invoiced for 2.9litres engine oil R550.27 Inc VAT. This equates to R189.75 per litre. I can purchase 5litres of a similar oil for R287.00 retail. This equates to R57.40 per litre.

Sundries.

Invoiced R207.00 for this item. The mechanics must have very messy habits or be undertrained to use this amount of “sundry” items that requires the customer to be invoiced R207.00.

Sadly whilst I am very happy with my car and am very happy to tell anyone who asks that I am, I do however warn very strongly about the after cost of running the car in compliance with the guarantee.

Would someone please respond to this email and explain to me how these charges can be justified as realistic and fair which I strongly believe they are not.

To be frank I think they are, in a nutshell, iniquitous.

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you Dennis Lihou.

I resent it on 18th May but to date have received no response. Can you assist in getting a reply from them???