Service Cost - Rosso Corse

Had a chat yesterday with Stuart and Rob at the Hilltop (great meeting you guys), about a recent rather COSTLY experience with RC. We thought it might be a good idea to share this with everyone, so we can compare prices from different suppliers. I would welcome any thoughts/comments you might have.

FYI - This was a 2 years (or 15,000 miles) scheduled maintenance, albeit mine was a particularly low mileage (4,700 miles), because of an accident sometime ago (luckily on a different bike). I wanted to attach a scanned copy of the invoice, but forum filesize constraints will not allow, so here goes:

DIDZDVM 520 Chain - £127.80
14t Front Sprocket - £20.05
14t front sprocket lock plate - £5.70
Pads, Front x2 - £56.00
Belts, Cam x2 - £84.72
DCPR8E Plugs x2 - £12.12
Filter, air - £34.10
Filter, fuel x1 - £19.87
Filter, fuel o'ring assem - £12.48
5.1 brake fluid - £6.85
Consumables - £8.00
Filter, oil - £13.26
Sump gaskets x 2 - £1.80
3.4lts synthetic oil - £32.13
Labour (Full service & remove and replace final drive / fit 14t) - £225.00

Total without VAT - £659.88 (£791.85 with VAT)

I should say from the outset, I was initially told by Ray to expect fees of between £400 and £500, including the chain. It is also worth pointing out that Metropolis (authorised dealer) quoted around £600 inclusive of VAT for the same service, not including the chain change, meaning it would probably end up being more or less the same if not cheaper. Needless to say, this is not what you would expect from a smaller operation.

I would have thought that would be more of a 4v service price. Pretty expensive I have to say

[simon_g]

Sounds like a fair bit of work there. As a comparison, my last service there was about £400, but didn't have the chain/sprocket, brake pads or belt change (just the parts for those are nearly £300+VAT). Not cheap, but I don't bemoan skilled people who are good at what they do making a living. They may be a "small operation" but still have the costs of premises and other operating costs (insurance, etc) in London, and no sales/accessories side to prop it up.

Parts prices seem a little expensive compared to a quick search online but I doubt they spend their time sourcing bits from random shops on the web and getting them posted - it'll be whoever can deliver promptly so they can get the job done. From what I've heard they're happy for you to supply you own bits if you want.

[steeevvvooo]

that's 4/5 hours labour looking from the labout cost (bear in mind Rosso charge less than £50 an hour which is reasonable, if not cheap, for a specialist... ask metropolis their rate). In my experience, you actually get charged for time spent on the bike at Rosso, not quoted from a manual, so things are done at the pace needed, not rattled through and ticked off a list. The result is a well cared for bike.

I don't know the new bike well, but would valve clearances be due at 2 years? Belts and valves usually account for a couple of hours labour on my bike.

As for the rest, parts are parts. Rosso have never objected to be supplying my own parts where I think I can get them cheaper.

VAT is the killer on that bill for me

I have no affiliation to Ray/Marcus except I have always taken my Ducs there, and have been more than happy. Italian bikes need TLC, and they have always given mine loads

[J.P]

Metropolis are £90 an hour for labour on Ducati & Aprilla

Sorry to hear that but.
Firstly always get a price inc VAT as it makes a huge difference.
Also if you only have so much money in the pot tell the person doing your work I can't go above X and be firm as I just have not got it then they know the score before anything is done.

Then they can say to you well you need x doing as well ..... and you can decide if you can stretch to it or wait til next month.

I have been in that boat I have x much and couldn't stretch to even £50 more .. always do that before you get work done .. if money is no object then it doesn't matter.

I just had alot of work done on one of my bikes up by me and I said to the mechanic I have a budget of... and we worked on that , its really vital to sort out stuff like that then no shocks.

I think you will find about right for London on this and maybe if you went to a dealer in London more money and not so good a job. In fairness your pay a bit more for the joy of living in London .. Im born and bred South London.

Knowing whats said on here and people that have used them they are probably the best in London.
The other dealer you have quoted hmmm not heard good at all.
RC take care of a few friends bikes and really look after them and wouldn't rip anyone off..

Given a choice between the named dealer you said and RC if I was back home I know who would get my pennies between those two and who I would trust my bike with.

The same with me up here.. I have a couple places I could go but I only trust my mechanic with my bike as his reputation is impecable.
If someone said to me look il do it cheaper... no thanks .. il stick with the guy with the reputation anyday! They have a good rep.

Someone will be along to tick me off and I hope I don't come across rude I don't mean to.
But RC are good and I think you picked the best people in London.
Talk to them ... its best to speak to them if you feel that your not happy.
Im sure they don't want people going away feeling unhappy and it gives them a chance to say well actually ....

The joys of owning Ducati .. Don't I know it.. Im now a pauper .. but wouldn't have it any other way!
Always keep a good communication open with people working on a bike.

Lots of people money is no object .. not the case for me.
The cost of a service is the cost of a service... but sometimes add on bits if your poor like me have to be done at a later date unless dangerous.
£400- £500.... £100 for DID chain is right .. so that along bumps your bill up.

[gary tompkins]

As stated on your earlier thread shopping around or going DIY (assuming bike is out of warrenty) could have saved a bundle of cash. I'm amazed the chain and sprockets needed replacing at just 4700 miles unless neglected. Same goes for spark plugs (cleaning and re-gapping should be adequate), air filter and the front pads. My previous set of pads lasted over 15,000 miles on the trike.

Subtracting that lot would have shaved £306.92 off the bill including VAT

I too am familiar with Metropolis' not great reputation (and indeed that of others here in the London area) when it comes to providing our babies with the much needed TLC (as per Steeevvvooo's words). The reason I went to RC is this very forum and all the nice words people have to say about the transformational work Ray and Marcus put into the bikes.

The only reason I mentioned Metropolis, was as a benchmark and because regardless of the quality of work they provide, they are an authorised dealer, meaning you can sleep peacefully at night, knowing that if something happens, you can take the bike back and they are obliged to look after it again and again, until they get it right. Granted, this is not the relationship one wishes to have with their mechanic, but the cost you pay for parts and labour at these places is commensurate with mother Ducati's official stamp and approval of the dealer. The question is I guess could one expect RC to assume the same responsibility?

For me, the communication part is what is most important, i.e. in this instance, I was led to believe cost would be substantially lower. When I went to pick up the bike, I was told a different figure, which unfortunately was some way from the original. At that stage, you can only do so much. It's not like you can ask RC to undo all the work and/or bring the bike back to its original state. Regardless of how much money I could afford to pay, I had to cough up. Perhaps this was a one-off.

They have padded the bill

Chains can be sourced far cheaper than that and don't need replacing at that sort of mileage

[SunEye]

Here are some prices (ex VAT) I was charged at Pro Twins for comparison:

Labour £45 per hour
Oil £32.62
Oil filter £8.98
Belts £85.20
Brake fluid £7.52

They are within a few percent of what Rosso Corse charged you.

The labour charge is always the big one, but it is about half the hourly rate of many franchised dealer car garages (UK average is £90 per hour).

Would agree with Gary that I'm surprised that the chain, sprockets, pads and spark plugs needed to be replaced after only 4,700 miles. After double that mileage Pro Twins didn't feel the need to replace mine when they serviced it.

[Twentytoo]

Keep looking at this and think I must be missing something. But no, as far as I can tell its a 2 year old M696 with 4700 miles on it. £800!!! I accept that are specialist tasks on the belts and engine but when mine goes in it will be with instructions that anything like chain/sprockets pads etc will be done by me.....thanks for the warning...

Well, there's about £300 worth of servicing that can't be considered part of the 2yr/15k mile service, so your real cost would've been ~£500, which is okay for London I guess.

My local dealer (Woods) says the 2yr/15k mile service should definitely cost ≤£500, and probably ~£400. I'd be happy with that.

Things like chains, sprockets, brake pads...I'll change these myself as/when they need changing... parts are parts, labour's free.

From a personal point of view, if any of my services were to exceed the £400-500 mark, I'd just do all the servicing myself, because I don't see my bike devaluing by more than that (come part-ex time) just for not having a FDSH, and I'd know the job was done 'right' anyway. Besides, £400-500/yr would be enough to deal with warranty issues myself.

[J.P]

I'm still on my original chain after 20,000 'thrashed' miles.

Originally Posted by Twentytoo

I accept that are specialist tasks on the belts

changing belts is not a specialist task, its as easy as changing the oil filter, in fact possibly easier given the amount of grief people have changing oil filters

[Saint aka ML]

Metropolis lies as hell so do not take their quote for granted.

In regards of your service, anything relating to chain/sprocket/pads is not part of service it is consumables like tyres and as many said I am surprised that chain needed changing so quickly.

In regards of plugs I never go over 7k barier on them, do not bother cleaning and re-gapping.