Garage Rip Off?

Liz555

I just had my MOT and my Suzuki Alto failed because "both front constant velocity joint gaiters insecurely mounted to housing".

The charge for the repair was £133 at my local Halfords garage.

I got suspicious when the guy got really difficult and started yelling just becuse I asked him for a breakdown for parts and labour.

After a dispute he said parts were just a few pounds and the charge was mostly for 2 hours labour.

He added the job took 4 hours but I was only billed for 2!

I am suspicious and think I might have been ripped off. Does anyone with mechanical knowledge know?

Thank you.

Woody._2

£133 for supplying and fitting 4 cable ties I would bet.

s_b

insecurely mounted means clips broke off so on a ramp it could be a 10 minute fix
look to see if they have replaced the rubber gators,if not get on the case

mikey72

Are you with the AA or RAC?
Speak to them about it if you are.

What they should have done is clean everything out, repack the gaiters with grease, and use metal clips to hold the gaiters back on.
What they may have done in put on a couple of cable ties.

Either way it's too dear.

asbokid

The only way of knowing for sure is to *quickly* examine the condition of the constant velocity gaiters before they dirty up. You should be able to wriggle under the front and check for yourself:

If the gaiters (aka boots) have been changed in the last few days then they will be clean to touch and free from the filthy black road grease that collects over the years on the rubber.

red_eye

5min max on the floor!

I would pay £5max as said before cv boot insecure just needs a few zip ties and a pack of grease so I would not be paying them for new boots
And I would be having word with his manager

fivetide

He's meant to keep the old parts and produce them for inspection if necessary. Have a look then in to the manager if they haven't been swapped.

5t.

Liz555

Thanks for your help everyone, especially Mikey72 - the RAC were so helpful. They told me to get quotes and go back to Halfords to complain if their bill was too high.

Also great advice Asbokid, I am going to check those gaiters right now!

If they haven't been replaced and only stuck back on - I'm definitely going to complain.

This is a great site - thanks everyone.

meggsy

I had a bill of £468 in July (05 corsa with 22,000 miles on the clock)

It had to go to the main dealer for a vauxhall recall so I also booked the MOT and service. They phoned later in the morning to say that both cv boots had to be replaced as they were split and leaking grease and would take more than 2 hours labour, and the car would fail the MOT unless the work was done.

Local garage will be used from now on !

Biketrials08

meggsy wrote: »

I had a bill of £468 in July (05 corsa with 22,000 miles on the clock)

It had to go to the main dealer for a vauxhall recall so I also booked the MOT and service. They phoned later in the morning to say that both cv boots had to be replaced as they were split and leaking grease and would take more than 2 hours labour, and the car would fail the MOT unless the work was done.

Local garage will be used from now on !

There is quite a difference in replacing a boot and re-securing a boot, the former can be quite a long winded job.