25 replies to this topic

[MaxAndPaddy]

I backed my Defender into a lampost (it was wearing an invisibility cloak) yesterday and cracked the tail and indicator lamp covers. Not a major issue but Mrs M&P was so ****ed a me that instead of hitting ebay for replacement parts, I popped into my local Landrover franchise.

 

I asked if they had an replacement covers in stock and they had a look in the back and apologised because they only complete housings rather than covers, so gave me a discount for the bits, £20 for the pair.

 

While I was there, the service guy was on the phone to a customer with a Range Rover in for an MoT. 

 

"I'm sorry but your front driver side light, the wiring has corroded, its an MoT fail, its needs replacing...no sorry, its the whole cluster I'm afraid, sealed unit....are you siting down. its £1500 + vat, fitted"

 

It's no wonder insurance companies just write cars off for cat C&D's these days.

[cal844]

Wow!

[lsto]

Range rover being the issue. If you want a luxury car then you need to pay the price tag...

Main dealers are a rip off anyway. When I bought my fiesta ST a few years back they try to slap your arse for everything. I had a service pack with the car, whenever I took it in they always come out with something like your front pads need replacing, that'll be £220. Yeah righto.

I'm a mechanic thanks, £22 for the genuine pads, 10 mins work and job done...

Never buying a new car again...

Edited by lsto, 09 October 2014 - 09:37 PM.

[Ben_O]

I have only once owned a new car and will never do so again. In the year i owned it, it lost around 50% of its value.

 

Main dealers are a racket. Gone are the days where your mechanic would actually use his hands and tools to diagnose a problem and guide you as to what needs doing..

All they do now is plug the diagnostic lead in, read the fault codes and work from that. Thing is, some faults don't produce a code so if that is the case, the mechanic will usually just tell the customer they can't find anything wrong with it and send you away.

 

I like old cars for the simple fact, you can just do any repairs yourself cheap, no ridiculously complicated wiring and electronics to worry about and everything is just simple.

[willava182]

http://www.ebay.co.u...ff14=108&ff19=0

 

£1000 to fit it then? ;)

Not saying that thats the correct one or anything, still bloody expensive!

[MaxAndPaddy]

I think that's the problem now, they don't actually "fix anything", they just swap one thing out with another. Maybe its because labour costs more than parts, but its depressing never the less.

 

Its that become the same in computers, when I first started then the shop I worked in had guys with soldering irons, chip replacements and diagnostics kits, now you just buy a new one, its not worth the labour costs of a repair

[MaxAndPaddy]

http://www.ebay.co.u...ff14=108&ff19=0

 

£1000 to fit it then? ;)

Not saying that thats the correct one or anything, still bloody expensive!

 

ahhhh.. but thats not an OEM price

[Ben_O]

I think that's the problem now, they don't actually "fix anything", they just swap one thing out with another. Maybe its because labour costs more than parts, but its depressing never the less.

 

 

Usually, they don't have a clue what to replace so just keep charging and charging for one wrong part after another.

 

I was doing a lot of research recently to try and find a fault with my Renault Scenic. There were people on loads of internet forums complaining about renault customer service.

One chap had a Renault Traffic van with a revving problem (it wouldn't rev) It was in and out of his Renault dealership for 2 months while they tried to fix it.He ended up with a £1200 bill and still an un-fixed van so he decided to do his own research and ended up fixing it himself. Turned out it was a blocked vacuum hose which cost him nothing to fix

 

They are criminals if you ask me 

[Cooperman]

I had a rear brake warning on my BMW 730d. I thought it was rear pads, so I bought a set from my local motor factors for c.£50. However, the pads were fine and in very good condition. I then suspected a damaged signal wire, so I bought one for £15 from my local factors. Fitted it and the light stayed on. Then I went onto a BMW independent web site which told me how to reset everything using the on-board diagnostics to get deeper into the computer. I reset it and it's fine. I wonder what a BMW dealer would have charged - new pads, new wire and fitting costs - I guess about £250.

[mab01uk]

Rear tail lamp on bootlid of our BMW 3-Series has recently failed but as it is LED with no replaceable bulbs a complete new light cluster is required at over £120....however I may be able to get some new surface mount LED's fitted to failed light unit by someone I know at work, using an online  BMW forum 'how to open sealed unit' diy guide.

Edited by mab01uk, 09 October 2014 - 11:38 PM.

[Cooperman]

Try Bridgend Breakers at Little Chart, near Ashford, Kent.

I had a broken rear light cluster on my 730 d due to reversing into a small tree in my garden. BMW price for a new one was £240. Bridgend Breakers were £90 and this included all the bulbs, so just 3 nuts to undo it and one electrical connection.

[Black.Ghost]

I had a new Alfa Romeo Giulietta on order a few years back. I was getting it tax free. It was my first brand new car, I couldn't wait. Stuff happened, could no longer get it tax free. I cancelled the order. Now, I am really glad that I did. My mate's Clio has been nothing but expense after expense. There is so much good cheap motoring to be had out there that brand new cars just aren't worth it.

Edited by Black.Ghost, 10 October 2014 - 09:16 AM.

[lordyoung1980]

We gave up on new cars,as has been said,they cost too much. I have an old Vauxhall Frontera as my daily driver,it's the most stress free car I have owned. It's been hit twice in the car park with only scratches to the bumper. I don't care what it looks like as long as it drives and is all legal. If it breaks I will just chuck it away and get another one.

[humph]

I think that's the problem now, they don't actually "fix anything", they just swap one thing out with another. Maybe its because labour costs more than parts, but its depressing never the less.

 

 

This is exactly the problem. Add to this that most manufacturers don't sell the smaller replacement components to fix larger complete units, they just sell the complete unit, Kerchiiing! 

 

They've also invented safety inspections that the car "needs" which is just an excue to get the car in so they can generate work; my daily for example has a service indicator, as most do these days, and one of the triggers is a "vehicle inspection". When I queried what this vehicle inspection was I was told "It's a quick look over things to check all is well". Obviously I have to have it done to clear the service light, and thankfully it's included in the servic pack, but the inevitable "Your pads and disks are close to the limit" is not included in said pack.  Took them 10 minutes last time so they can't have inspected much. Going back to brakes I was told by the dealer the pads and discs were worn and they wouldn't make the next service, opted to do them myself. Got them home and checked, 5mm all round, so I called the dealer to query. "Its a quality assurance and safety thing, the manufacturer tells us that when they reach that thickness we have to tell you so that you know well before they reach there limit". Two opinions on this, arse covering and money generating.  I ran those brakes, with regular inspection, for another 25k and they were still well within leagl limits when the car got traded in, they would however have taken nearl £400 off me for changing them when they first told me had I not refused to let them do it.

Edited by humph, 10 October 2014 - 09:19 AM.

[Black.Ghost]

The problem is people want a car to buy and forget about, so do very little themselves. Part of that may be that they don't know how, or they are simply too busy and they do not want to spend their free time working on the car. Additionally, many people hear brakes and panic when they are told they are low - especially if you have kids for example, people  don't want to take risks so just blindly do what is said. 

 

A few months back, I left my Focus at my mums house (I bought it locally and live 100 miles away). I asked my sister to take it in for the MOT. I phoned the garage and made the mistake of saying it would be my sister bringing it in as I would be away. Anyway, it failed on a few things. Not a problem, she took the car home and I worked through them. One of the failures was a rear spring. I couldn't find the crack they were on about anywhere. There was a small piece of rubber that had a slightly sharp edge, but it was fairly obviously not part of the actual spring. Anyway, I phoned them up and the guy claimed it was a really small crack near the bottom. A load of crap, there was nothing wrong. So next time I was back, I took it the garage in the next village and surprise surprise, it passed just fine. That garage just thought I would pay to have the repairs done because I didn't live locally and thought they could just rip me off.