MK3 MX5 Servicing - dealer or indy?

[paddyhasneeds]

My Mum's MK3 MX5 is due its second annual service. It's done 5000 miles total and 3000 since the last one, so it's more a case of getting a stamp in the book.

The main dealers want £160.

I haven't made any calls yet, but I wondered if anyone knows a) if there's any diagnostic wizardry or anything that would mean the dealer can do something an indy couldn't? and b) if there's likely to be much in it price wise?

She's no plans of getting rid of the car, and if there's only £20 in it it's a no-brainer, and it isn't mega-bucks anyway, but with the mileage she does it's probably costing more per mile in servicing than it does fuel

[Munter]

£160 for a service sounds pretty good to me....

[MX-5 Lazza]

She may have no plans to sell it at the moment buut I know I wouldn't buy a car younger than about 5 years old that didn't have full dealer service history. If the owners skimped on the servicing, what else did they skimp on?
Over about 5 years a specialist is fine but a younger car, especially the first 3 years while it's in warranty, it should be main dealer serviced.

[DennisTheMenace]

You can take it to an independant to get it serviced providing they use genuine parts and the waranty will remain intact but .... have they got the diagnostic tools to check for fault codes can they update the software on the ECU should there be a newer version available ?

I would continue with main dealer untill the 3 year warranty is up.