Hi folks, I’ve just booked my 2016 s max into ford for its 36000 mile 2nd service. I was quoted £345 for this , which is fine . Then an hour later they called back to say as it’s an automatic transmission they have to change the oil in that , which puts the price up to over £700. Am I about to get ripped off or does this sound about right ? Is this something a local independent garage would do or is it really a requirement that ford must deal with. Any info or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Yes the auto transmissions need to be serviced, although it's optional I highly recommend doing it when they are due. If the services don't get done then you start developing issues with the transmission and then it just gets ridiculously expensive after that (£3k for a new box not including fitting). As for the price the oil for the transmission is over £250 alone so with a filter and labour added on it does seem about right. An independent dealer could probably do it but I wouldn't recommend using non genuine oil in that transmission. Hope this helps. 

Ok thanks for the advice 

I’ve got 130,000 on my 2010 never had a gearbox service done and never had it recommended, apparently the ford dealer I use for servicing said only time to get it serviced is when it starts juddering otherwise just top up the fluid. So at 36,000 and on 2016 yes they are trying to rip you off 

You can buy the oil and filter on eBay for about £60-£70 and if you have access to ramps or a decent pair of jacks you can do the job yourself in about 30-45 minutes if confident if not take your time and it will take about 1 - 1.5 hours