£96 to change clutch cable, seriously?

[JDMYOFAN]

Am I being ripped off here?

Broke down last night and needed to be towed within 10miles, of which I knew no garages..

RAC man dropped the car off at one in the local town, who've just quoted me £96 to replace the cable and fit it..

Supposedly this normally costs £90 tops (unless you go to somewhere like Peugeot). Can I ask to see their labour costs etc? If it takes them 2 hours to do something which 'should' take 40mins tops, do I have a case against this rip-off?

I'll have to chekc invoice because parts will be £20 TOPS. Is there a legal limit as to what hourly rate they can charge?

[Conor]

You can ask them for a breakdown of their costs but there's no legal limit to what they can charge for their labour nor what profit they add onto the trade cost of the part.

If you think the part is only £20 and only takes an hour, do it yourself.

[anewman]

Only limit is whether you choose to accept their quote or not. If you wanted you could get your car towed home, buy the part and a haynes manual and attempt the job yourself - but it's probably easier to pay the £96.

[JDMYOFAN]

Aye, I was aware they were taking advantage, just expected £60 TOPS!

Looks like im working a few more hours this month to compensate!

[iolanthe07]

Sorry, but I don't think £96 to supply and fit a clutch cable is that far off these days.

[vikingaero]

NJ,

Seems like you should increase your level of cover under your breakdown policy to get recovery home or to a garage of your choice.

£96 seems reasonable for a new clutch cable to be fitted.

[steveo3002]

have you actualy priced the cable...some are stupid money

[flang]

Id say thats the going rate
we had a cable replaced on a fiat scentio and tht cost £65 to supply and fit 2 years ago.
turns out the part was around £20

[jeannieblue]

Agree with the others - sounds reasonable to me.

[Ginger Nuts]

Have you ever tried to replace a clutch cable:rolleyes: The easy part is removing it from the clutch actuating arm in the engine bay, then the fun starts, you have to remove trim under the steering column and dashboard, then you have to put your head on upside down, work in the footwell backwards to try and get a cable to either hook onto something if you're lucky or remove a pin and then replace the pin all whilst being upside down and backto front in if you're not. And it's been a while from clutch cables have been that price.:rolleyes: And I dont see what type of car it is either, you seem to have missed that out. Tell ya what, tell them to take the car from the garage, tell them to drop it off at a local motor factors, you can buy the part and fit it yourself in your tea break, oops, thats right you cant do that 'cos you dont know how to. :rolleyes:

[big gay kirk]

96 quid.. I could buy a car for that.. buy the cable and do it yourself.... its fun, educational, and cheaper.. lets be honest, in the time it takes you'd miss Corrie and eastenders, but is that a hardship.....??

[jeannieblue]

96 quid.. I could buy a car for that.. buy the cable and do it yourself.... its fun, educational, and cheaper.. lets be honest, in the time it takes you'd miss Corrie and eastenders, but is that a hardship.....??
That is a huge hardship - I'd let the garage do it and put my feet up. :D

C'mon get real, that is a very reasonable price.

[JDMYOFAN]

Bought myself a haynes today anyway, going to do a basic college course because knowing about cars should prove to be a money saver

[flang]

I do all repairs to my car myself, its saved me £1000s.
Most jobs are easy with a bit of common sense.

Enjoy the repair and plan your next job! its addictive and expensive!

[anewman]

I do all repairs to my car myself, its saved me £1000s.
Most jobs are easy with a bit of common sense.

Enjoy the repair and plan your next job! its addictive and expensive!

I try and do as as many repairs as I can myself. If I didn't I doubt I'd be able to afford the car. Buying parts as cheap as you can find them then fitting them yourself is much better than going to a garage and letting them deal with it. The most expensive part I've replaced is the steering rack which cost me £115 delivered (although was gutted to see a recon one come up on ebay after I bought it with a starting price £6 and sold for the start bid). The part alone was £200 from a dealers - and I dread to think how much a garage would charge to replace the steering rack, even if it is only held with a pinch bolt on the steering column, 2 clamps with 2 bolts each and the track rod ends.

[dzug1]

'2 hours' may actually be 2 people for one hour.

[Ginger Nuts]

Or four people for half an hour each:confused:

[JDMYOFAN]

Hmm..

Well im in need of a couple of driveshafts, and found someone who can fit it for me.

found this website for 'new parts', but the prices are 'too good to be true'.

All looks genuine but wionder if anyone else has used it?

Website is www.buypatsby.co.uk (http://www.buypatsby.co.uk) (£80 delivered incl VAt for 2 driveshafts..) Just seems too cheap :s

[anewman]

Try GSF as well. Agree the parts seem cheap, I'd expect to pay that for one for my car.

It could even be your first job on the car, give the Haynes a good read over of the procedure and think whether you'd be able to do it.