is this fraud? money money money with cars :(

Lady_E

Sadly I would not bother with either companies for any servicing/Mot of my vehicle . I feel vulnerable as a woman , and I am sure they pick up it , especially when they see 2 car seats in the rear. I am sure Martin has recommended that instead of going to a garage for an MOT that you visit the local Council Highways dept , who are authorised for MOTs but DONT carry out repairs , hence they wont be inclined to "repair " things for you .


Look under the Motoring forum (inside Travel forum) and there is a sticky in there showing"Driving down the cost of MOTs". I would try and link but I dont know how -sorry

trigger_mike

Euro car parts sell a sach clutch which is oe on a peugeot for £59.16 + vat, then your looking at roughly £100+vat fitting, a dam cheaper then the £400+ you have been qouted.
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecommerce/Search_Results.asp

uberzoldat

I would never advise someone to have an MOT at anywhere that does repairs of any kind. MOT centres are the best bet, but bear in mind that cheap is not always best.

Some places will offer 1 week for free retest, some will offer 2 and others will make you pay full price for the retest regardless of time.

My car failed on the most pedantic thing at one place, and passed through first time at another. I would always recommend getting a second opinion on any work where you are suspicious of the price.

dazco

I am an ex mechanic, albeit on chieftan tanks. 250 quid is a lot for an alternator. I presume they kept the old one that can be reconditioned. But you put it in the garage and they fixed it.

The clutch is a different matter. Firstly clutches do not rattle when they are going and secondly this is a disgusting abuse of trust. Because of the national advertising and customer friendly attitude they portray, companies like this generate a lot of trust.

I do not know how much a clutch costs but it is not too much. the main cost is the labour that can vary dramatically from car to car. And I do mean dramatically.

The reason I am posting this is to let you know that a very simple test for your clutch is to put the handbrake on fully, select 2nd gear and try to drive off. If the car stalls the clutch is fine

twink

i wouldnt go near kwikfit either after my sons experience of them luckily my husband was alive then and sorted them out. now on my own i hate having to take the car to a garage always afraid i will get ripped off. car in for mot just now and will just have to pay up and hope its justified. not long ago i went to national tyres for two tyres on way out the lad said of the leaflet, thats your insurance too, stupidly i assumed thats what they did, looking at it at home i had been charged £5 for each tyre so can you trust anyone

hollie.weimeraner

Always use a Government MOT Testing Station - have a look at this article http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1126540795,61463,#find

Joe_Peddos_3

Just to give you some idea of costs my local Daewoo dealer charges just under £70 an hour and recently replaces a door lock fortuneately under an extended warrenty but I know they charged the insurance company £300 for parts and fitting.
Sometimes its not the cost of the parts that are expensive its the cost of the time involved replaceing it

Amba_Gambla

When I got my alternator done last year it cost me £250. It was a special part (Japanese part as opposed to a European part) that I needed. I got cheaper quotes, but when the actually saw the car they told me that I needed the more expensive part instead....

gutted that I had to pay out £250 - something expensive always seems to happen to my car in november - this year it was £300-worth of welding to get it thru its MOT! :doh:

marklefty

As being an ex Mechanic myself I would say that the rattling is likely to be the clutch release bearing which usually rattles with the clutch pedal up, when depressed it usually goes. I have just fitted a clutch in a Citroen which is a different badged Peugeot with a few different panels and the clutch on that started dragging as wel as rattling, which in ley mans terms means in first or reverse the gearbox will crunch going into gear, this is usually the time to change the clutch on these particular cars.

Phatmouse

I know this is an old thread but I have just had an interesting experiance with my alternator. I was told by ATS that I would need a new one at nearly £300. As I was in reception another customer said that I could get it refurbished, he gave me an address of a place, apparently there are loads of them all over the UK. I took it to them, he took one look at it and said that there was nothing wrong with it, he could tell as it wasn't purple? I said ATS defo said it needed changing, he checked it on a machine and said no, go back and get them to fit in back on and tighten up your fan belt as that is all that is wrong with the car. ATS were furious, but did it and as the man said there was nothing wrong with it. :j

It just goes to show you, god knows how much we hand over to garges without needing to!!!! :eek: