Repairs and padding

Pound

I took my car in for some repairs which I thought would be quite simple, thought it needed a pipe replacing. They kept it to have a look at it and called me to say I needed a lot more than a pipe replacing and would cost me £180! I've no idea about cars so I just had to accept it.

When I got to the garage the guy gave me a list of things that I apparently also had wrong with my car and suggested I should sort them out. One of them was apparently that I had an oil leak, he told me the dip stick was showing that I was very low on oil.

This was funny because I'd actually by chance checked the oil the day before I took it in and it showed the levels were fine. Of course he's put some more oil in free of charge so if I check it now it will show I have enough oil. He seemed hesitant to write me a list of these recommended repairs I get done.

I can't help think that garages want to fleece motorists out of as much cash as they can by taking advantage of their lack of knowledge of cars. Anyone else think this?

hewhoisnotintheknow

well wait and see if any more oil goes over the next day, if it doest he is lieing if not hes telling the truth

sturll

Next time you go to a garage take Vaseline.

Conor_3

Was it brake pipe? They could be right. It's the kind of job that has a nasty habit of snowballing.

Pound

Basically the engine coolant was leaking and they said I needed to have the entire thermostat housing replaced.

hewhoisnotintheknow

sounds reasonable

jeannieblue

Pound wrote: »

Basically the engine coolant was leaking and they said I needed to have the entire thermostat housing replaced.

Thermostat housing is not - generally speaking, expensive. What car are we talking about here? They will need to replace the gasket as well, but still not expensive parts wise. Depends what the car is, but either way, £180 doesn't sound expensive, but then its not coming out of my purse and if you are feeling the credit crunch, any price is painful.

Brian_Bullocks

Pound wrote: »

I can't help think that garages want to fleece motorists out of as much cash as they can by taking advantage of their lack of knowledge of cars. Anyone else think this?

Why do you feel persecuted? Are you female?

jeannieblue

Brian_Bullocks wrote: »

Why do you feel persecuted? Are you female?

You some kinda tit or what?

Pound

jeannieblue wrote: »

Thermostat housing is not - generally speaking, expensive. What car are we talking about here? They will need to replace the gasket as well, but still not expensive parts wise. Depends what the car is, but either way, £180 doesn't sound expensive, but then its not coming out of my purse and if you are feeling the credit crunch, any price is painful.

Ford Focus. Might not be expensive for the job. Call me paranoid but I'm wondering if they told me more work was needed than was to get a bit of extra cash. Could be wrong of course though, I don't know.

My main gripe is that I was told my car was very low on oil so needed more repairs even though I did my own checks before I took it in which showed the oil levels were fine.

TiTheRev

Then challenge them about it. Say you checked the level before sending it in and it was fine. Where did they find the leak, and how much oil did they put in? A VW thermostat housing is £7-10 even at dealer money (including sealing washer), so unless it's got all the water hoses linked into it, or build in thermostat etc you've been over charged...