Car Repair Costs

davidanddeirdre

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but is anyone concerned about the ever increasing tendency by car manufacturers to incorporate components into cars which can only be diagnosed and repaired by their own dealers? My neighbour's Fiat Punto had a power steering warning light start to come on intermittantly. Our local independant garage told her they could do nothing about it, it would have to go to a dealer for an electronic diagnostic. The result of that is going to have to a be a replacement steering wheel part at more than £600. There is no option for shopping around for this kind of problem which seems more and more common.
Isn't it time there was a campaign to make all car components repairable by any reasonably competent person, so that there can be proper competition in the repair market?

Mr_Toad

I think it depends on the independent, some are great at keeping up to date with diagnostic tools, some don't want to spend the money. That said the light is only a pointer in the right direction, any half decent mechanic will find the fault.

Once the faulty part is identified there's nothing to stop your neighbour getting it fixed at the independent, they are almost certainly going to be cheaper for labour and might even be able to get the part cheaper too.

abacab

Wifes Fabia had an intermittent power steering light come on at start up.
Turns out it was a failing battery.

s_b

davidanddeirdre wrote: »

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but is anyone concerned about the ever increasing tendency by car manufacturers to incorporate components into cars which can only be diagnosed and repaired by their own dealers? My neighbour's Fiat Punto had a power steering warning light start to come on intermittantly. Our local independant garage told her they could do nothing about it, it would have to go to a dealer for an electronic diagnostic. The result of that is going to have to a be a replacement steering wheel part at more than £600. There is no option for shopping around for this kind of problem which seems more and more common.
Isn't it time there was a campaign to make all car components repairable by any reasonably competent person, so that there can be proper competition in the repair market?

you dont give a year
i can fix early ones for a £10 to £50
later ones look at bba reman for guidance
http://www.bba-reman.com/uk/index.aspx

thegirlintheattic

Some independents do have the diagnostic tools. Otherwise buy your own cheap code reader off e-bay.

davidanddeirdre

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

Some independents do have the diagnostic tools. Otherwise buy your own cheap code reader off e-bay.

Thanks very much for the positive comment, but can you give a bit more info, i.e. how a "cheap code reader" is used? Trouble is, if you are not up with the modern technology, it can all be extremely baffling, and I speak as someone who used to do a lot of car repairs in the days before cars were run by computers. Thanks.

harveybobbles

BBA are good - I've used them for all sorts of stuff.

However, back to the OP - why not send your neighbour to another garage? Or look online for local auto electronic places?

If you're in the northWest I can HIGHLy recommend CAMCO88..

http://www.camcoautomotive.com/

Strider590

davidanddeirdre wrote: »

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but is anyone concerned about the ever increasing tendency by car manufacturers to incorporate components into cars which can only be diagnosed and repaired by their own dealers?

It's been going on for decades....
It's because car sales generate little income for dealerships, the main income is from aftersales.

Even back on my first car (Austin Metro) there were parts which required special dealer only tools.
Most cars now come with Torx security screws everywhere (to deter the home mechanic), even on sump plugs and air filter housings.
Single use hose clamps instead of good quality Jubilee clips.
Tyre sizes that are make/model unique (like the old Fiat Cinquecento).

Obviously as time passes, the specialist tools (or copies of) gradually find their way onto the market..... But I remember getting tyres for my old 306 many years ago and being told that they couldn't be balanced because the wheels had no centre and wouldn't fit on their machines. It wasn't until a couple of years later, the conversion tool became available.

The only reason they have accessible OBDII diagnostic ports is because all cars sold in the USA must have an OBDII socket by law since 1996 and all cars in the EU from 2004.
If the manufacturers could stop us accessing this, they would.

At the extreme end you have Mercedes, who make their cars so that you can't even check your own oil level, water level and no filler caps to top these up. They've even bought out all the Merc specialists to force people into dealership repairs/servicing.

thegirlintheattic

davidanddeirdre wrote: »

Thanks very much for the positive comment, but can you give a bit more info, i.e. how a "cheap code reader" is used? Trouble is, if you are not up with the modern technology, it can all be extremely baffling, and I speak as someone who used to do a lot of car repairs in the days before cars were run by computers. Thanks.

I'm not completely up on it myself but OH when on ebay typed code reader and his car model in and got this little machine for £20. You plug it in to the OBDII port under the dashboard or near the fusebox depending on your car. It's really simple. Then a code appears on the screen which you can look up in a book which tells you what is wrong. You can then take it to the local garage and tell them and they can fix it.

OH got his after Skoda wanted to charge him £80 just to clear a fault code!!

Here is one for a punto http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-Punto-Fault-Code-Reader-Reset-Tool-OBDII-EOBD-/160798052355?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item25704f9003#ht_1821wt_1037

Strider590

Check this out, very good app for Android phones...... I use this (along with a Bluetooth OBD adaptor) to log every trip on GPS mapping, read fault codes, clear fault codes, check MPG, speed, RPM and 1000 other sensor inputs.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay-ZvTn3fLo

Notmyrealname

davidanddeirdre wrote: »

Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but is anyone concerned about the ever increasing tendency by car manufacturers to incorporate components into cars which can only be diagnosed and repaired by their own dealers? My neighbour's Fiat Punto had a power steering warning light start to come on intermittantly. Our local independant garage told her they could do nothing about it, it would have to go to a dealer for an electronic diagnostic. The result of that is going to have to a be a replacement steering wheel part at more than £600. There is no option for shopping around for this kind of problem which seems more and more common.
Isn't it time there was a campaign to make all car components repairable by any reasonably competent person, so that there can be proper competition in the repair market?

Sorry but you're complaining about the wrong people. There is very little that cannot be diagnosed by an independent garage if they have the proper diagnostic equipment. The fact the garage said they had to go to the dealer for a diagnostic suggests they don't. And even if you did, it doesn't stop you taking the car back to the independent to have the part fitted.