Freelander failed MOT but now costing almost 100% more than quoted, where do I stand?

patman99

It's worth noting that there is a big legal differance between a quote and an estimate.
I the garage tells you it is a 'quote', then they are obliged to do the work at the price quoted. If they give you an 'estimate', then they can charge whatever they like, as an estimate in law, is purely a guess at the cost of the work required, which may then vary according to circumstance.

goldspanners

CluelessJock wrote: »

I guess your negotiation skills need brushing up if this is your experience?:eek:



interesting, started off as a mechanic myself, didn't take long to work out it wouldn't make me rich

well if you've been there, you will know this is the attitude of some garages. and no matter how hard you try to negotiate your left with the take it or leave offer.

Inactive

patman99 wrote: »

It's worth noting that there is a big legal differance between a quote and an estimate.
I the garage tells you it is a 'quote', then they are obliged to do the work at the price quoted. If they give you an 'estimate', then they can charge whatever they like, as an estimate in law, is purely a guess at the cost of the work required, which may then vary according to circumstance.

Spot on, I made that point at post # 2.;)

CluelessJock

goldspanners wrote: »

well if you've been there, you will know this is the attitude of some garages. and no matter how hard you try to negotiate your left with the take it or leave offer.

Honestly never had the problem of being told take it or leave it, few years ago I was putting a car in for a service before selling it, 2 1/2 yrs old, 70K miles called to book it in given a price and they pointed out it would need a timing belt. Thought well I don't really want to sell it privately and have some poor guy have the valves smashed for the sake of a timing belt. Anyway went to collect it and they asked for hundred and something more than the estimate, took the service manager and about 15mins to get the price down. It was interesting how they did it, main dealer, they told me they would reduce the labour rate to the one charged for cars 5yrs and over and then tweaked the parts prices for the rest. I couldn't believe people buying new cars, that are easier to work on, were being charged a higher hourly rate. They told me it was to encourge people with older cars to go to the main dealer. That left a bad taste, felt I was be penalised for buying new cars.

Car I replaced it with, same manufacturer, was a brand new model and gave me some grief, got messed around with blatant lies from one dealer over 6 months or so and took it to another who eventually got the manufacturer involved, I negotiated a very reasonable payment of 6.5% car price to change my, by now, 18 month old car with 35K miles, for a new factory built. I had 5 consecutive cars from this manufacturer.

1998 bought a new Honda VFR, had it 2 months and it was showing signs of corrosion all over the bike, took it to the dealer and had a sensible conversation, got Honda involved, rep came out and said we will change the brake discs, shockers, chain & sprockets. I said great thanks for that, I appreciate it, what will you change next week, as I pointed out corrosion all over the bike, alloy the lot. He looked at me, thought for a minute and said maybe we should just change the bike. I thanked him again, we did the paperwork and a new bike was ordered from the factory. Still have it in fact.

Been on the other side a bit too and yes I have told people to take it or leave it, but it really depended on how they approached it. On one occasion I could hear a customer (not garage) shouting and cursing at one of my staff so I went to see what was going on and this guy was having an absolute fit about the price (which actually was reasonable) I tried to talk to him calmly only for the abuse to get worse. I lifted the work we had done for him and threw it in the bin, told him it didn't matter how much he wanted to pay me now, it wasn't for sale and then I threw him out. So yes, it can backfire, but it does depend on how you approach it.

Anyway, back to the OP, the price asked really is too far from the estimate to pay without challenging it. If it was £50 more fair enough, but not 142% more.

Banter has been fun though!:D:beer:

eschaton

CluelessJock wrote: »

Honestly never had the problem of being told take it or leave it, few years ago I was putting a car in for a service before selling it, 2 1/2 yrs old, 70K miles called to book it in given a price and they pointed out it would need a timing belt. Thought well I don't really want to sell it privately and have some poor guy have the valves smashed for the sake of a timing belt. Anyway went to collect it and they asked for hundred and something more than the estimate, took the service manager and about 15mins to get the price down. It was interesting how they did it, main dealer, they told me they would reduce the labour rate to the one charged for cars 5yrs and over and then tweaked the parts prices for the rest. I couldn't believe people buying new cars, that are easier to work on, were being charged a higher hourly rate. They told me it was to encourge people with older cars to go to the main dealer. That left a bad taste, felt I was be penalised for buying new cars.

Car I replaced it with, same manufacturer, was a brand new model and gave me some grief, got messed around with blatant lies from one dealer over 6 months or so and took it to another who eventually got the manufacturer involved, I negotiated a very reasonable payment of 6.5% car price to change my, by now, 18 month old car with 35K miles, for a new factory built. I had 5 consecutive cars from this manufacturer.

1998 bought a new Honda VFR, had it 2 months and it was showing signs of corrosion all over the bike, took it to the dealer and had a sensible conversation, got Honda involved, rep came out and said we will change the brake discs, shockers, chain & sprockets. I said great thanks for that, I appreciate it, what will you change next week, as I pointed out corrosion all over the bike, alloy the lot. He looked at me, thought for a minute and said maybe we should just change the bike. I thanked him again, we did the paperwork and a new bike was ordered from the factory. Still have it in fact.

Been on the other side a bit too and yes I have told people to take it or leave it, but it really depended on how they approached it. On one occasion I could hear a customer (not garage) shouting and cursing at one of my staff so I went to see what was going on and this guy was having an absolute fit about the price (which actually was reasonable) I tried to talk to him calmly only for the abuse to get worse. I lifted the work we had done for him and threw it in the bin, told him it didn't matter how much he wanted to pay me now, it wasn't for sale and then I threw him out. So yes, it can backfire, but it does depend on how you approach it.

Anyway, back to the OP, the price asked really is too far from the estimate to pay without challenging it. If it was £50 more fair enough, but not 142% more.

Banter has been fun though!:D:beer:

!!!! sake - what's this? A story by Enid Blyton? :rotfl:

Inactive

eschaton wrote: »

!!!! sake - what's this? A story by Enid Blyton? :rotfl:

Looks more like a pathetic attempt at a Sermon to me.. :rotfl::D

Takoda

Those of us who have been reading Hopeless Jock's posts with some interest might like to take a look here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=16601585&highlight=#post16601585

It amused me for 5 minutes anyway. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

The story is alledgedly about his "friend" but everyone saw through that in the first couple of posts!

All this talk of swapping lives with various posters sounds like that old TV show "Quantum Leap".

CluelessJock

Takoda, you do really need to get out more if that is the most imaginitive pass time you can come up with, spending your time trawling old posts. Oh well I guess it keeps you off the streets, and the children safe!

CluelessJock

eschaton wrote: »

!!!! sake - what's this? A story by Enid Blyton? :rotfl:

Did you understand it eschaton? Any words too big? Anything I need to explain in simpler terms?

andygb

OK, here goes.
Land Rovers are expensive cars to maintain, but a driveshaft for a Freelander is about £100. It should take a couple of hours to fit (guessing £80 an hour labour), so we are looking at £260 - £300 for this job, then it needs tracking.
Before I get into any arguments with anyone, I would want to know exactly what the total cost breakdown was, because £570 seems a bit steep to me.
I would definitely contest it, and not simply accept it and walk away.