Car repair - is this a rip off?

judygarland

Yesterday I was travelling home and the clutch cable went. Luckily (or peharps not) I broke down outstide a Nationwide Autocentre. They gave me a rough price for replacing the cable (I have a ford escort which is 10 years old) and then told me that I needed a new ratchet quadrant which they would have to order in.

I turned up today and they wanted to charge me £150.00! I argued about it and got the price down to £118.00.

What should I expect to pay for this? They had me by the short and curlies really.

goldspanners

judygarland wrote: »

Yesterday I was travelling home and the clutch cable went. Luckily (or peharps not) I broke down outstide a Nationwide Autocentre. They gave me a rough price for replacing the cable (I have a ford escort which is 10 years old) and then told me that I needed a new ratchet quadrant which they would have to order in.

I turned up today and they wanted to charge me £150.00! I argued about it and got the price down to £118.00.

What should I expect to pay for this? They had me by the short and curlies really.

you chose to go to them, they didnt make you breakdown outside thier garage did they?
you could get a quote from someone else then have the vehicle towed to thier garage if you prefer.
the parts shouldnt cost much more than £20 max trade, retail to you say £30 - £40 then a few hours labour at £40 per hour,seems fair enough. if the pedal end is as fiddly as the old fiesta then i think the labour is justified. i remember doing one one and it was a right !!!!!!!

you could always do it yourself in their car park?

judygarland

goldspanners wrote: »

you chose to go to them, they didnt make you breakdown outside thier garage did they??

I was going to get the OH to tow me to our local garage but asked these for a quote first. They gave me a rough figure of £60.00. They then spent 20 minutes getting to it and said that the ratchet thing was broken. I then had to leave the car with them overnight whilst they waited for delivery of the part. The bill then shot up to £150.00. It didn't take me long to get the price down to £118.00 so I think they were trying it on!

goldspanners

judygarland wrote: »

I was going to get the OH to tow me to our local garage but asked these for a quote first. They gave me a rough figure of £60.00. They then spent 20 minutes getting to it and said that the ratchet thing was broken. I then had to leave the car with them overnight whilst they waited for delivery of the part. The bill then shot up to £150.00. It didn't take me long to get the price down to £118.00 so I think they were trying it on!

i think they were just trying to make a profit.

judygarland

goldspanners wrote: »

i think they were just trying to make a profit.

A very healthy one too!

Anihilator

£150 doesnt seem vastly overpriced for that repair on a commercial basis.

goldspanners

judygarland wrote: »

A very healthy one too!

well that is buisness, they need to make ahealthy profit.

folk are happy to pay the going rate for almost every other trade out there but want thier car fixed for next to nothing.

chalkie99

judygarland wrote: »

They gave me a rough figure of £60.00. They then spent 20 minutes getting to it and said that the ratchet thing was broken........

......... The bill then shot up to £150.00.

So they said roughly £60 and after they had started work they informed you that there was extra work involved.

At this point either you should have asked how much extra that was going to add to the bill or they should have pointed out the original estimate was then not going to apply.

I imagine they have decided they didn't make the new charge as clear as it might have been and therefore given you a reduction on the proper cost.

dld2s

goldspanners wrote: »

well that is buisness, they need to make ahealthy profit.

folk are happy to pay the going rate for almost every other trade out there but want thier car fixed for next to nothing.

Not really, it's just that garages seem to invariably find something else wrong whether it's faulty or not

goldspanners

dld2s wrote: »

Not really, it's just that garages seem to invariably find something else wrong whether it's faulty or not

they dont always. but if youve ever fixed something on your car you will realise that sometimes when you start to strip something you start to find other things that either break or are broken. nobodys fault but at the end of the day someone has to pay it.

swiftnick

dld2s wrote: »

Not really, it's just that garages seem to invariably find something else wrong whether it's faulty or not

Don't tar us all with the same brush, where I work we work on a honest policy, if we break something we'll pay for it, if it's not our fault due to fair wear and tear when changing a componet we'll charge fairly but accordingly.

You've obviously taken your car to some unscrupulous garages?

Word of mouth is the best wat to find a good garage.

Nick