Car repair is now costing more than the car!

topcattoo

Hello, I hope you can give me some advice. The garbox on my 51 reg Toyota Yaris recently gave up and I was towed to a local gearbox and clutch specialist. They originally quoted me £600 to fix it which I painfully swallowed and said go ahead. Then they called up to say that there was a problem and it will need something doing to the drive shaft (I can't be specific as I don't understand!) that will take the price up to £900. I cried a little but figured I was stuck between a rock and a hard place and said ok.

I also checked with a mechanic friend of ours and he went over to check it out and it is all legitimate, they also use them.

I have had a call today to say that they still can't do it and they are looking at some other options. This might take the price up even higher, which I don't think is worth it.

What are my options? Can I tell them to just forget it, scrap it and get a new car? Will they charge me labour & parts even though it hasn't been fixed?

Sorry if these are silly questions but I'm really out of my depth and I really need a car that works!

Any advice welcome,

TC

pendulum

Yes, they can charge you for the work done so far and any parts used. Some garages might suggest signing the car over to them to cover their parts/labour costs and calling it evens, which is easier and tempting if you know the repair bill is higher than what the car's worth, but it will probably fetch far more on eBay as spares/repairs and then you can pay the garage out of that money.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Either find one yourself or get them to...a used box (usually guaranteed) from breaker.

They've already got yours out, so half the work is done....hopefully they can refund for some of the parts already used, maybe by doing some sort of part ex deal for your present box for spares, you can only ask.

Only you know the true condition of your car, if it's a peach and been well looked after then it might well be worth more to you than the figure of it's sale value.

If they don't want to play ball, pay them what you owe them, trailer it away taking all parts you've bought with you (ebay them later), get a used box yourself and get your mechanic to fit it...which in hindsight (we'd all like a pint of that) should have the plan all along.

jase1

Agreed -- a new box can be had for a couple of hundred quid, and a complete drive shaft is about £50 (both if you pick them up yourself from a scrappy). No need for the prices quoted.

asbokid

Several Yaris gearboxes are for sale on a famous auction website for £80-£100 and quite a few driveshafts are there for £30 or so.

This is a £100 fix on a nice little car.

chanie

As somebody who has been through something similar, I would think carefully about having your car repaired when its going to cost that much. I'm not a car expert, but I did have to make a decision and its still costing me!!!

In August, my 2001 Vauxhall Corsa went wrong. Like you, I had to make a decision as to whether or not to get the mechanic to investiage as he wouldn't have know the extend of the damage until he'd take the engine apart. Which, would have cost us in his time. I took the decision for the mechanic to proceed and it cost £850 in the end, which was very cheap for the work that needed doing. A couple of months later, it went wrong again and cost another £100 (apparently, it was this second, smaller issue which may have caused the first problem).

THe car was fine, but now the speedometer has stopped working and the raidiator was leaking. So that potentially even more money.

I'm not a car expert, but knowing what I know now, I probably would have scrapped the car and put my money towards a new car as I've had nothing but problems ever since.

Hammyman

Chanie...

Could you have bought a DECENT replacement car for the money you've spent on repairs in that year?

The thing is with those types of repair is they're major ones and once you've done them, you're not going to have that problem again in the life of the car. Also, £1000 is banger money now and whatever you buy for £1000 is going to have faults needing doing for MOT and may need similar work doing or other work yours doesn't need but costing in the £100's - all the brakes needing doing for example.