TOP THIS IF YOU CAN

pingu

hi
if you own the car (not giving back to the dealer after 3years)
go to other independant garages who offer ful service for around£95-£120.just check local papers or directory.

i am buying almera tino and when i asked the nissan dealer about the service chareges for future he said about £120.
just hope he wasn't telling porkies ???

pioneer31

I know this is already on another thread but.......


£35.72 for a cigarette lighter socket

£27.00 for a small fibreglass car radio aerial

All courtesy of my local Nissan Dealer.

BTW you can often find decent parts from a scrapyard. Shame I only thought of this after the event  :-[


I will never go near a franchised dealer again.

bridiej

I bought my Vauxhall Tigra from a large Folkestone-based dealership and they have me a voucher for a free MOT.

Of course, there was always something wrong with it that I had to pay for but last year was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

My seatbelt had a yellow warning card just starting to poke out of the clip - my hubby had already fixed it once but I forgot to remind him before I took the car for MOT.  When I rang the garage they said it had failed (surprise, surprise!) becuase of the seatbelt.

When I collected the car I took hubby with me.  The guy in the garage had wrenched the whole seatbelt clip out and told me it was illegal because the wire had chafed.

Of course, when hubby asked him where it had chafed he said "well, it hasnt yet but it could do" and stated that even if we fixed it he would fail it again.

So, hubby fixed it, took to a reputable garage (where I always go now!) and lo and behold, passed first time!!!

I'm afraid that in this day and age garages are still mainly run by sexists who just love to take money from us girlies!!!!!

ps bought a car from the same garage previously, took for test drive and the smug salesman asked me if I knew what a clutch was for!!!  "Of course", I replied, "It's for hanging my handbag on.  By the way, the brake is the pedal on the far right isnt it??"  Soon wiped the smugness off his face...!   ;D

luci

hi
if you own the car (not giving back to the dealer after 3years)
go to other independant garages who offer ful service for around£95-£120.just check local papers or directory.

i am buying almera tino and when i asked the nissan dealer about the service chareges for future he said about £120.
just hope he wasn't telling porkies ???

I would double check this and maybe ask for it in writing.  I was quoted £223 by Reg Vardy to have my Nissan Primera serviced under warranty.  A guy at work told me I could get it serviced elsewhere as long as they used genuine Nissan parts.  Phone my usual local garage and he advised me to check with Nissan customer services first, which I did.  They said I could get it done elsewhere, but they recommended using a dealer (obviously).  Got my service done for £88 locally.

The only benefit of going to a dealer is that they pick up any recalls that are outstanding, but you can check that yourself here http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/

Got rid of the Primera as Reg Vardy took 3 weeks to look at it after the wiper linkage broke under warranty.  Now you try driving without wipers in the rain, fog or snow.

Have bought a Ford, but they have to be serviced at a Ford garage otherwise the warranty is invalid.  However, Arnold Clark offer 2 years servicing for £199 or 3 years for £284.  You have to take it out at least 3 months before you use it for the first time.  My brother will be quids in as he has just bought an Alfa Romeo and the pre-paid servicing is based on engine size, not manufacturer.

System

I know this is already on another thread but.......


£35.72 for a cigarette lighter socket

£27.00 for a small fibreglass car radio aerial

All courtesy of my local Nissan Dealer.

BTW you can often find decent parts from a scrapyard. Shame I only thought of this after the event  :-[


I will never go near a franchised dealer again.

35.72 for cigarette lighter socket - that was cheap! 4 years ago I went to my Nissan dealer and asked them how much it would cost to fit a cigarette lighter into my Micra and they quoted for 70 pounds. My brother fitted it for nothing and it cost me 5.00 for the lighter from a car accessory shop.

Rip Off Britain

System

Some of the Halfords stores provide a fitting service for just a few quids when you buy the parts from them.

E.g.
Headlamp bulbs £5
Car batteries £5
Car bulbs (exterior) £2
Mirror glass £2
Wiper blades (excludes refills) £2.50
Number plates from £3 each
Roof box £8
Roof bars £12
Roof bars/box combo £18
Audio head unit £35
Cycle child carrier £5
Mudguards £3
Cycle tyre & tube £4 (wheel only) £6 (wheel in bike)

(Plus cost of parts of course.)

I think they are pretty good value and save you a lot of time and expense in going to get it done in a garage.

delta73

car probs? go here http://cgi.www.bba-reman.com/cgi-bin/www.bba-reman.com/yabb/YaBB.pl for advice, search old posts before posting a new topic. i've saved lot of money by reading and posting to this site.

rach

i took my L reg toyota starlet to the local main dealer when i lived in the north east - paid for, amongst other things, the offside rear wheel-bearing to be done. then, i moved down south & it failed its MOT (only a few months later) on same wheel bearing....so got on the phone, and got mad, and upshot was new local toyota dealer fitted brand new genuine part paid for by previous toyota dealer.

so far so good - decided as the southern garage had been so good i would take car there for service - the came back with list of repairs (on top of service) totalling £1500 - more than car is worth....including saying the clutch was 'going'.

took car to small local garage recommended by friends, spent total of £75 getting the necessary stuff done!!! a year later car and clutch still going strong, and the guy who now services it has it running better than it ever has!!

i seriously think they take advantage of women - particularly young ones!!

cathy_3

Ive been driving 30 years and yes they definately take the mick out of women drivers also men who go in and say stuff like
"its got a rattle" I have long said that mechanics and garages should be regulated, show a comprehensive price list and ask before they do the work.

a mechanic specialising in fixing womens cars with a guarantee not to rip us off would make a fortune!!

heres a tip, before your car goes in for servicing get your nail polish and dab things like the air filter, the plugs, the washer bottle level, the radiator cap line the dab with another dab on the engine

then if they are still there and your being charged for new parts you can stand your ground

VelvetGlove

It isn't just women they seem to rip off, although I am one a lot of my male colleagues have had trouble such as I am about to relate....

I am lucky enough to have a company car as I have to drive all over the country for my job. This car needs to be regularly serviced (every 10,000 miles which doesn't take me long!) & it is only kept for 4 years or 65,000 miles then it's given back to the leasing company who I guess sell it at auction or something.

Now having had various Ford Mondeo cars for the last 6 years I have had quite a few services, all over the England & also South Wales & only a few garages seem to make the car feel better when it comes back. In August I had the car serviced in a Leicester Ford dealership. When I took it in I mentioned that I had started to hear a really awful grinding sound which they said they would check out. When I went to collect the car they scared me stupid by saying that my brakes had been on the verge of failing due to wear so they had been replaced, (apparently this is a known fault that Modeos are 'heavy' on their brakes & nothing to do with my driving - honest ) Sine the bill goes back to the leasing company I wasn't out of pocket but a bit shaken up at the news, BUT when the car went for it's next service in February, in a Sheffield Ford dealership, I told them I was getting an intermittent squealing noise from somewhere when I was driving along... When I picked the car up that night they told me that the garage which had fitted the new brakes had not adjusted the handbrake & so it was nearly worn through & was in a very dangerous state. The garage & the leasing company will be complaining to the garage in Leicester that did the original brake work.

I have always said that the garages who service our company cars don't do a very good job & I'm sure they don't replace or check everything they should - I have had the car returned with an empty windscreen wiper bottle before now, which should be checked (& had always previously been topped up with foamy stuff too!) on the service to ensure it isn't fractured or anything!