41 replies to this topic

[Carlsmini]

Broke down on Thursday at a roundabout and couldn't restart engine. The fault was found to be water in distributor. Recovery told me should be an one hour job at garage so shouldn't cost too much. Basic engine service needed.

Anyways took it down to a local garage and they have reached a price of £750!! !

They've given me a long list of mot failures and problems..

water in distributor,
worn wheel bearings,
ball joints gone,
new rotor arm,
new alternator,
part on steering column snapped,
oil seal to gearbox serious leak,
oil filter and oil change
exhaust leak near joint to manifold from engine
welding new plates in boot and rear wheel arches
rust through passenger door pockets that has bubbled through to outside door panel corner :S
steering column bushes
etc..


Labor cost is the main cause of the price apparently.... When I get more money, I'm going to buy myself a nice equipped workshop and learn how to do these jobs myself! lol

[Ethel]

You can do 3/4 of that list yourself, on the roadside in an hour or two, with relatively basic tools.

[lapider]

Personally i would dispute this. if you said fix the engine give it a service then the bill should come to about 100 for parts and whatever they charge for labour. did they take it upon themselves to do the rest or did you say get it through its MOT.

[Mini_Alex]

I've had a similar experience but not as bad...

I needed my clutch replaced and didn't have the time to do it myself, so I got quotes and took it to my chosen garage where they ended up having my car for three days instead of one because they couldn't separate the clutch plate from the flywheel.

So three days later, one garage worker with a hammer smacked hand sent home, one broken clutch puller and a £330 bill

Alex

[Algordo1100]

I'm in the wrong business!

[Mini_Magic]

Why are they looking at all these other things when water in the distributor cap was the reason it broke down? What does an oil and oil filter change have to do with the breakdown or even an MOT?! Sound like a bunch of cowboys to me.

[Carlsmini]

I've got my mot coming up soon and they were like your car is going to fail so this all needs sorting so I was like fair enough ok just keep me informed with what you doing. they complete the jobs and then they were like that's 750 please!!!???? They originally quoted me £200. Never going to this garage again!!!

[Mini_Magic]

To be fair though, the welding and panels alone could have cost more then that. There's no way a garage would only charge £200 for all those jobs and parts. The alternator alone could have been £100 with a typical garage mark up.

[steven]

surely they should have asked before they started doing all that work ?

[Carlsmini]

They did ask but they didn't inform me on how quickly the price was rising from their original quote till they had done the work.

[olds_kool_lews]

The phrase "pulling the wool over your eyes" comes to mind...

[blacktulip]

thats not a bad price IMO for the work thats involved. would you get out of bed for peanuts? i would still have a go myself though, most is not too difficult.

[Thelooneytuner]

Agreed, it is around about the price a garage would charge. However to not let you know the prices beforehand is wrong. We keep customers informed every step of the way. Otherwise you get situations like this

[deanymini]

The biggie is the engine to gearbox leak. I would seriously suggest having a crack at these jobs yourself. Once you get stuck in, with a bit of logical thinking and determination, you realise how easy these jobs really are.

[Algordo1100]

Is it an engine to gearbox leak? That's quite a job to sort. Talking engine out and block split from box casing are we not?
I'll bet it's just the usual leak from the rod and that can be sorted pretty easily. Minispares do a gaiter kit for around a fiver.

Al