Help in understanding recommended repairs for car

mouche

Our 11 year old car (36,500 miles) was serviced yesterday and we have been given a list of critical repairs costing £2,500. We are trying to decide whether we should get it repaired or buy a new one. We don't really have the money for either option so would appreciate feedback on the repairs list from people who understand cars. Which of them are really critical? Which of them must be fixed or it will be dangerous to drive? We travel with our toddler so safety is always top of the list.

Here is a list of repairs and costs. Would really appreciate your opinions:

1. Front and rear wipers smeary - £38.28
2. Transmission n/s driveshaft oil seal weeping - £181.08
3. Transmission clutch bite high may possibly be slipping when hot and under load; advise new clutch and slave; this could be customer complaint of sluggish car - £679.20
4. A/c service - £68.40
5. Belts & levels - cambelt overdue no record of change in svc book; must replace - £445.94
6. Engine - advise change aux belt with cam belt - £52.48
7. Engine - reqs id code read for eml on intermittently - £57
8. Engine - core plugs in cylinder head rusty may start leaking soon - £276.30
9. Engine - fuel filter advise replace - £48.62
10. Brake fluid - Sp Dot 4 - 198C>Less than 2% green - £75.12
11. Coolant - Advise water pump change with cambelt - £187.61
12. Brakes visual - Front pad 4mm remaining - £130.63
13. Brakes visual - Front discs at 20mm min req 20mm - £196.20
14. Brakes visual - rear clean and adjust as high handbrake travel - £63.30

Moto2

Fix the brakes - not at that place though - and run it until something fails

That's just a speculative wish list from the garage

gilbert_and_sullivan

From that list of prices you must be driving a high spec Mercedes, BM Honda or Volvo.

As it is you've given us not a clue what car it is so we can't offer sepcific pricing advice.

For a kick off the car wasn't serviced as stripping cleaning adjusting the brakes up is part of a service anyway, your car presumably had an inspection and oil change, other wise know as a minor or lubrication service.

ok here we go.
1. if they are smearing clean them and the windows properly
2. make sure the gearbox/axle has enough oil and don't worry about a little leak
3. either the clutch is slipping or it isn't, bullcarp explanation
4. is the aircon working?, if so leave it, either way get it done elsewhere for about £40 tops
5. whats the case here, does it need changing or not...depending on condition and car type, if the car is a keeper and it really needs changing then possibly.
6. check condition of belt, easily inspected from under bonnet
7. debatable...see item 15.
8. not leaking don't worry, paint some grease on them
9. possible, but again seems expensive, sluggish Diesel worth sticking a new filter in.
10. possibly, if keeping the car and it looks dirty the worth changing see note 15
11. leaking? if not leave it unless having the cambelt changed...note water pump chnage shoudl involve almost no labour as its easily accessed when cambelt changed.
12. were brakes removed and examined fully, doubt it, unless damaged then 4mm will last you another couple fo years at your mileage.
13. leave discs until pads need changing
14. part of standard service. see note 15.

15. Find a proper workshops by recommendation, preferably one who specialises in your make and have a chat with them.

I wouldn't go near this rip off merchant again doubly so if they can't tell the difference between a slipping clutch and a sluggish engine, and i'd be quite happy driving your car around with my grandaughter in the back.

tedted

what make of car is it ,engine size ,mileage and year please

mouche

Thank you so much for your feedback - as you can tell I know nothing about cars.

It is a Ford Fiesta, 2002 (52 registration), mileage is 36,500 and engine size is 1.4.

The garage is an authorised Ford workshop and dealer. We took the 'silver' level service - their terminology is 'Major value service and FOC visual health check'.

Checking the bill, I see that they have done:

FILTER ASSY - OIL - 1
SPARK PLUG - 4
ELEMENT ASSY - 1

They also appear to have done an oil flush. I don't know what any of these mean.

scheming_gypsy

The first problem you made was taking an 11 year old Ford to an authorised Ford dealer.
Take it to a normal garage and your bill will probably drop to under £500.

OddballJamie

Sounds to me like the dealer is trying to 'encourage' you into a new Fiesta.

I wouldn't have even thought the car was worth close to £2.5k even with all that work done.

Actually reminds me of a Fusion we viewed, guy wanted about £1250 ono for it. Had a bunch of main dealer receipts and the last one was dated a couple of months before at a staggering £1080!

forgotmyname

Its not worth that much. How long have you owned it?

When was it serviced last? No record of a cambelt change? eek....

All you got for your Major Value service was some oil and a filter and the sparkplugs and an air filter. £50 - £60 worth.

They spent more time checking for faults, As mentioned an 11 year old car at a main dealer was bound to find some expensive ones.

As mentioned some of those would have been part of a standard service, But you didnt pay for a standard service, Oil, plugs and air filter change and little else.

Has it got the original fuel filter i wonder?

gilbert_and_sullivan

1.4 Fiesta???

Jeez, ask around your friends and people whos judgement you trust for a good independent workshops, anyone can work on a Fiesta, estimate they are marking the parts up by 200% at least and not stinting on the labour either,

That garage should be shut down, blatant rip off.

mouche

Thank you all. Looks like we've been ripped off with the 'service' (cost £179.99) and have narrowly escaped being ripped off for the repairs. I really, really appreciate your taking the time to reply.

I will ask my driving instructor for a workshop recommendation as we don't really know too many car owners locally - could ask the neighbours I guess.

In response to forgetmyname - we've owned it for 4 years; previous owner bought it new and used it sparingly (was a second car driven by the lady of the house). It has been serviced every year by it's previous owner and by us. But this year we decided to try a new garage as it is closer and saves us the taxi fare home from the one we used to use. Penny wise and pound foolish as it turns out.

scheming_gypsy

It also looks like they've quoted for each individual job rather than doing it as one job and splitting the prices.
If you had it all done together it should cost a bucket load cheaper. For example:
Cam belt, water pump and aux belt can all be done together. they've priced you £686.03. The parts alone should be under £200 and a couple of hours labour tops.
Brakes - £402.92 but you can't replace the disks without removing the pads so there shouldn't be any labour for the pads if doing all together. They need to bleed the brakes when doing the disks and pads so there shouldn't be any labour to drain the fluid and add some more...

Put it this way; I had Apec disks and pads fitted to my Volvo C70 T5 for £117 and it cost me around £220 for cambelt, water pump and aux belt.

not forgetting the £600+ for a new clutch because they THINK it might be why the car is running sluggish.