Any advice for garage charging more than car is worth for repairs please?

diamondwhiter

Hi, I was hoping some of you more mechanically minded peeps might be able to give me some advice please?

I own a Peugeot 206 in which I was driving some friends to the airport a week and a half ago when I noticed it was overheating. They are OAPs so I didn't want to worry them so just kept driving even though the temperature went up to just over 100 degrees. At the airport roundabout the car gave out (within walking distance of the terminal thankfully for my friends!)

When it had stopped steaming I took the cap off the water tank to find oil on the inside of it. A passing airport warden said that meant the head gasket was gone. I got towed by the AA (after a hasty join-up!) to my local garage who I have used before. They said it was the head gasket and the engine had to be 'sent to the shop' and would take a week.

I then found out yesterday that they hadn't realised initially that the piston rings at the bottom of the engine would also need replacing which would cost an extra £145 for the part and £525 for the 15 hours of labour. This takes the total cost of repair if I go ahead with it to over £1000, I only bought the car for £900 over 2 years ago!!! Either way they will want the £300-£400 charge for the head gasket repair and new engine mount that they also fitted.

I'm not an expert on car mechanics and so can anybody tell me if this is all plausible and any advice would be much appreciated.

spiro

By continuing to drive (you dont say how long you drove like that) after the temp rose rapdily you could have caused lots of secondary damage. As to the costs, cant help you with that.

Strider590

Well the repair costs sound about normal.....

Taking an alloy engine to those extremes of overheating will blow the head gasket for sure. Not so definite on a steel engine block, but Peugeot use alloy (it's lighter). You should have stopped and called for a taxi.

Out of interest, when was the last time you check the coolant/oil levels?


Ordinarily I would say that it's "better the devil you know", if the car is in otherwise good condition (mechanically) then it's cheaper to keep it rather than buy into more possible problems.
But from your original post, I suspect the car doesn't really have a very easy life.

Alter_ego

Pay what you are committed to, then if car is usable-use it. If not usable scrap it.

fivetide

Given the price you've probably had £900 from it.

I'd tell the garage to keep it instead of billing you and go get something else.

5t.

BM-AK

Agree with the others, pay what you are committed to.

You're probably better of getting another car for that kind of price to be honest.

leosayer

A good garage would have warned you about the risk of forseeable additional costs before starting work.

Hammyman

diamondwhiter wrote: »

I then found out yesterday that they hadn't realised initially that the piston rings at the bottom of the engine would also need replacing which would cost an extra £145 for the part and £525 for the 15 hours of labour. This takes the total cost of repair if I go ahead with it to over £1000, I only bought the car for £900 over 2 years ago!!! Either way they will want the £300-£400 charge for the head gasket repair and new engine mount that they also fitted.

I'm not an expert on car mechanics and so can anybody tell me if this is all plausible and any advice would be much appreciated.

Yes, perfectly plausible. 15hrs of labour is taking the mick though and I think I'd be looking at finding a guaranteed second hand engine and getting them to fit that.

£400 for a headgasket repair and engine mount is quite reasonable. £525 for 15hrs labour? Well thats cheaper than every garage in my small East Yorkshire town.

And yes, it is perfectly possible for cost of repairs to be more than a car is worth. A cars value has little impact on the bill other than whether to bother doing it or not.

myhooose

See what you can buy for the cost of the repairs or less. If its better than your car (fixed) then scrap the car and buy the better car. If not then repair the car.

diamondwhiter

Thank you all so much for all the advice. I was only 10 minutes away from the airport and on the motorway, when I noticed the overheating but don't know how long before that it started. Checked the oil and coolant in January. But when I got home from the garage I noticed a sizeable oil stain on my driveway where my car had been parked which was fresh.

Brilliant idea Hammyman, I have asked the garage about the option of fitting a new engine and they said that will only take 7 hours of labour so a big difference in cost.

So next thing is finding a good second-hand engine now! They are going to phone around for me and see if they can find anything so fingers crossed.

The difference between the amount I owe for the work already done and the final amount is not enough to get me another second hand car if I scrapped mine, so I'm hoping that continuing with fixing the car but with a new engine, will be the most economic path to take.

Gordon_Hose

Have a look on Ebay for an engine, get it delivered straight to the garage.