The Great 'How much should you pay for common car repairs' Hunt

OddballJamie

adjust wrote: »

This is my first time on here, but I would like someone to give me some advice, I took my car to the garage because it wasn't running properly, the chap gave it a diagnostic check but couldn't fine the fault so suggested I went to another garage, which I did and on arrival asked the chap if he could look at my car and let me know if he could fix it, he said take a seat and he would have a look, after waiting for half an hour I asked when he was going to look at it , he then put his diagnostic on it and 10 mins later came and told me I needed a new throttle pedal which would cost £100, I said I couldn't afford this at the moment but would get back to him when I could, so he then said that will cost £36, I said what will you haven't fixed it, he said I had to pay for his time [ 10mins ] and no-one worked for free, I said I wasn't told on arrival that he would charge me so much for 10 minutes work and that if I had been informed up front I would have taken my car elsewhere. he has now sent me a bill as I had to give my name and address whilst I was there. What do your members think, Is he at fault for not informing me before looking at the car that it would cost me so much for so little time, and am I within my rights not to pay.

Whether it's a fair price or not, you asked them for a diagnostic test, garages have overheads, rent, wages and purchasing the equipment in the first place. The only places that tend to offer work for free, rob you on the repair price, such as a 'free brake check' at certain large fitters.

If you had taken your car elsewhere to try and get it for free, you would've had a good drive as garages are businesses and charge customers.

Pay the garage and count yourself lucky it wasn't a main dealer, I had to pay Peugeot £80 for testing few years back and they misdiagnosed it.

alastairq

OddballJamie wrote: »

Just bought four winter tyres for £200. What do I win?

A car to put them on?

John_Pierpoint

OddballJamie wrote: »

Whether it's a fair price or not, you asked them for a diagnostic test, garages have overheads, rent, wages and purchasing the equipment in the first place. The only places that tend to offer work for free, rob you on the repair price, such as a 'free brake check' at certain large fitters.

If you had taken your car elsewhere to try and get it for free, you would've had a good drive as garages are businesses and charge customers.

Pay the garage and count yourself lucky it wasn't a main dealer, I had to pay Peugeot £80 for testing few years back and they misdiagnosed it.

Ditto Ford main agent but only £76 and I paid for the "repair" that lasted a fortnight.
Eventually took the car to a back street operator who keeps the local taxis on the road.
If you cannot afford a £100 throttle repair, can you really afford to own a car at all?

scotsbob

2007 Mazda MX5 1.8

New discs and pads all round £380, parts, labour and VAT.

How come so many people are missing the point of this board? The idea is that it should work like this one.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=94

arcon5

smala01 wrote: »

You have paid £100 labour for a 30 minute job...

Of course, we all value our time differently, and it varies vastly across the country, but to me thats double the price you should pay.

What car do you drive that you can get 4 pads & 2 discs for £25?

jase1

arcon5 wrote: »

What car do you drive that you can get 4 pads & 2 discs for £25?

Just what I was thinking. The pads alone for some (most?) cars are more than £25.

Maybe if you buy dodgy parts from eBay it may be possible to get a set of discs and pads for £20-25, but I wouldn't have them on my car.

jase1

Billy_Bonkers wrote: »

Wonder how many of you knew that some Audi Main [STRIKE]Stealers[/STRIKE] Dealers charge a higher hourly workshop rate for work on "high end" cars than they do on the more moderate cost range?
This on the basis that the customer who buys and runs a high end car can afford the higher rate.

Could that not have more to do with the fact that the higher-end vehicles are usually much more technically complex than your basic A1 (which is just a posh Polo -- one of the most common cars on the road -- and as such any mechanic worth his salt would be completely at home with)?

zipman23

£320 for a rear brake caliper, rear brake pads and 1 new tyre for an '07 Renault Scenic at a local independent garage. Parts, labour and VAT inclusive. Is this a good price?

scotsbob

zipman23 wrote: »

£320 for a rear brake caliper, rear brake pads and 1 new tyre for an '07 Renault Scenic at a local independent garage. Parts, labour and VAT inclusive. Is this a good price?

I would say so. Take off the VAT which goes to the government and it's £266. £80 for a decent tyre, maybe £40 for pads, leaves £146 for a caliper and labour, sounds reasonable to me.

nczm

Fords have quoted £120 to replace spark plugs, I know this is a rip off because spark plugs are about £10 plus half hour labour (so under £50)