Huge car repair bill after service

The_Boss

Hi all,

I received the following bill after taking my car to Peugeot for a service this year for work that needed to be done.

Reverse light switch £63.61
Radiator leaking £295.77
Headgaskett leaking and timing belt change £901.17
Rear brake pads and discs worn £405.09
N/S/F indicator working intermittantly requires headlight £201.28

Now obviously will be charged a lot more by Peugeot than local dealers, but my car has done only 41,000 miles and is six years old. When it was under warranty and had done about 29,000 miles, four years ago, Peugeot had to fix/replace the head gasket due to a leak. It is reasonable that only 12,000 miles later it requires another fix, or does this point to a larger problem somewhere?

Also - is there any stopping me buying any parts I need separately and then asking a garage to fit them for me?

artbaron

Rear pads and disks, £405? What kind of Pug is it? A reasonable price for rear discs and pads and labour would be under £150, way under if it's not a performance model.

And no, it's not reasonable to replace the head gasket every 12000 miles! I've never had one go, ever.

Do yourself a favour, never ever go to a dealer.

The_Boss

Yup, I went to a dealer for the service (online offer) just to maintain full Peugeot service history, but will not be going back for repairs.

It is a Peugeot 307, 1.4 Petrol, 2004 model.

december

I've got a Peugeot too, took it to an independent garage last week and had the cambelt and a full service done. They quoted me £120 for the cambelt including labour and the total cost for the service and cambelt was £220. I will also be needing brake discs and pads in the future and was quoted £80-90. In your shoes there is no way I would take the car back there to be repaired, have you tried any of the garages locally?

skiddlydiddly

All those price are pretty much usual dealer ripoff ones.You can get the same jobs done at independants for a fraction of the cost.On my last car(Renault Clio) I was quoted nearly £1000 for some work to get it through the MOT.I took it to my usual local garage and it came to about £175.
Obviously dealers have much larger overheads but you are getting the same work done and unless its a specialist job only they can do I wouldn't use them myself.
BTW a lot of French cars have the bearing in the rear disc and it puts the price up even on non prformance models.Add in 1-2 hours labout at say £75 an hour and I can see where they get £400 from.

ScottishSapper

:eek: at least !!!!!! Turpin wore a mask;)
A quick search on EuroCarParts shows starting prices for most of those components. I use local garages and the ones I use get a lot of their parts from there.

If you go to EuroCarParts and enter your reg number it will give you an idea, I did quick search and come up with:

Rear Disc = 17.59 each
Rear Pads = 17.82 per axle
Headlight unit complete = 62.39
Radiator - 64.16
Timing belt 20.00

I went to a dealer for the service (online offer) just to maintain full Peugeot service history

There is no need to got to a dealer; as long as an independant services/repairs to manufacturers specs then no problem

somech

blimey nearly fell off me chair laughing

get it to another garage for a second opinion

artbaron

Just found a receipt from last year from the garage I go to - it isn't the cheapest but they do good work. Rear discs and pads for Renaultsport 182, plus cleaning and freeing front calipers, £152 including labour. So £450 for rear discs / pads only on a Pug 1.4 is mental.

mikey72

ScottishSapper wrote: »

:eek: at least !!!!!! Turpin wore a mask;)
A quick search on EuroCarParts shows starting prices for most of those components. I use local garages and the ones I use get a lot of their parts from there.

If you go to EuroCarParts and enter your reg number it will give you an idea, I did quick search and come up with:

Rear Disc = 17.59 each
Rear Pads = 17.82 per axle
Headlight unit complete = 62.39
Radiator - 64.16
Timing belt 20.00


There is no need to got to a dealer; as long as an independant services/repairs to manufacturers specs then no problem

Never just change the timing belt though, complete belt kit and water pump is better.

mollycat

artbaron wrote: »

Do yourself a favour, never ever go to a dealer.

Excellent advice.

Please tell me you've not authorised and paid for the work at these prices? :eek:

The_Boss

mollycat wrote: »

Excellent advice.

Please tell me you've not authorised and paid for the work at these prices? :eek:

No of course not. I'm an expert money saver. I'm just wondering why the head gasket needs work on it 12,000 miles after it was replaced/fixed? And whether I can buy the parts myself and ask a dealer to fit them.