Have I been ripped off by my local car garage?

tomhann187_2

Hi everyone *clueless female here*

I took my car (Citroen C4 56-plate 1.6 petrol) into the local repair garage as there was a warning light flashing intermittently on my dashboard when I turned left. This only happened about a third of the time (the rest of the time the car was fine).

They called within an hour of me dropping it off saying they had run a computerised diagnostic test and couldn't find the fault, and that a test drive did not show the fault either. They said they had checked my oil level and it was low, so suspected that's what the light was about. They told me they were going to replace the oil filter and top up the oil levels. They didn't quote a price for this.

When I went to collect the car I paid £112.59. I thought this was expensive and commented as such, but they just said "here's the itemised bill which explains the cost". I was charged approx £65 for labour and the (inconclusive) diagnostic test, £38 for oil (Protech 5w-30) and around a tenner for the oil filter.

Have I been ripped off? I called to query and they rabbited on about the fancy-pants diagnostic test that bumped the cost up, and the fact that they used "premium grade" oil (the remainder of which I do not have).

Edited to add: The light didn't come on on my drive home, but as I said it's intermittent. I'll know in a day or two if it's fixed

Norman_Castle

Not sure about more modern cars but oil lights on petrol engines tend to light when the oil level is extremely low so "topping up" may be an understatement. Lateral thinking by the garage would suggest they check the oil after your left turn light flickering description before running diagnostic checks. Is there any evidence of a diagnostic check?.

Learn how to check your oil. Its simple and would have saved you £112.
A *clueless female* friend seized her engine which resulted in her car being scrapped thanks to not checking her oil.

http://www.checkyouroil.co.uk/pages/why/

Ebe_Scrooge

Difficult to say without knowing specifics - and I don't know that car in detail.

But ... if they've changed the filter, then it would be foolish not to change ( not just top up ) the oil. The prices you've quoted for oil and filter sound reasonable - if they have indeed been changed. Labour charges - 10 minutes if that for an oil and filter change. Depends very much where you are, and if it's a main dealer. Main dealers commonly charge around £70 per hour or so, my local independent charges £20. So difficult to say. Diagnostics - who knows ! Really it's a 5 minute job if the garage has the kit, but some will use this to bump up the price.

* General Advice *

Checking oil, as Norman said, is very easy. Changing oil and filter is also very easy. You may need to buy a spanner or socket for the sump plug. A Haynes manual is £20. Buy oil and filter from a motor factor ( look in yellow pages ), not Halfrauds, much cheaper. If you do nothing else to you car, regular oil+filter changes will extend it's life enormously.

warehouse

Those diagnostic tests cost £50 a time if you were to call someone out, and the fact that they've probably just saved your engine says to me you got off cheaply.

barbiedoll

I'm a "clueless female" but my husband makes sure that I know how to check my fluid levels and I do it at least once a month, or more often if I've been driving more.

Checking your oil is easy-peasy, I use girly gloves so that I don't get all grubby and I bought a set of three plastic funnels so that I can fill up the water, screen wash and oil easily, without spilling it all over the engine.

It's not only women who are "clueless", lots of men don't have a clue about cars either. I check out Youtube for idiot-proof guides on how to do simple car stuff. I even managed to change the wiper blades on my old car! As far as I'm concerned, I'm practically a mechanic now :rotfl:

Kudos for challenging the garage though, at 38 quid, I'd want the rest of the oil too! :mad:

scheming_gypsy

Are you sure it's not your indicator


but the price seems fair for an hours labour, diagnostics oil and a filter

Westmead_Fan

Kudos for challenging the garage though, at 38 quid, I'd want the rest of the oil too!

you mentioned that the oil was 5w-30 Protech (maybe comma), you do know that is very expensive oil even comparing triple qx version (5w-30 c2 oil) you are looking at £37.98 but if its the comma stuff it is much better.

put it like this checking your oil once a month anything can happen within 4 weeks.

lesson today that was one expensive oil change

Stooby2

Changing oil and filter is also very easy

Not necessarily. Some cars are a nightmare and having just watched a video on the C4 it's an absolute pain. Given the amount of dismantling that is needed just to get to the filter and sump plug, the £112 charged by the garage for that and the diagnostic seems about right.

Learn how to check your oil. Its simple and would have saved you £112.

Well by the time the OP had bought a jack, axle stands, socket set, torx bit set, filter removal tool, torque wrench, oil catcher (and has to deal with the old oil), Haynes Manual she'd be well over £112 and then would still have to find someone to work through doing it with her, assuming she wants to do all that grubby work and crawl around on the floor. The next time it'll be £60 odd as the diagnostic won't be included.

Top tip - French cars are a b***dy pain to work on. Had one years ago. Never again.

bigjl

Doesn't seem excessive. From memory Protech is a Comma product and would cost around that if you bought it retail, they will have got it trade and are allowed to charge you retail, oil filter prices can vary with the quality of the product, a garage that uses a decent oil like Comma will likely also use a decent filter, £10 being reasonable.

As far as the labour goes I can't see any issues there either.

Just because the only thing they could find was your own lack of basic checks doesn't mean they shouldn't charge you, they are a business after all.

The garage has likely saved you an engine.

And just topping up is not best practice so the garage are right on the money. The reasoning being that the low oil level could have used up the additives in the oil and perhaps caused sludging.

You might have seen pictures of the inside of an engine with a black build up on the rocker cover or around the top end, that is caused by the oil being left in too long or due to low oil level as previously mentioned.

bigjl

Stooby2 wrote: »

Not necessarily. Some cars are a nightmare and having just watched a video on the C4 it's an absolute pain. Given the amount of dismantling that is needed just to get to the filter and sump plug, the £112 charged by the garage for that and the diagnostic seems about right.



Well by the time the OP had bought a jack, axle stands, socket set, torx bit set, filter removal tool, torque wrench, oil catcher (and has to deal with the old oil), Haynes Manual she'd be well over £112 and then would still have to find someone to work through doing it with her, assuming she wants to do all that grubby work and crawl around on the floor. The next time it'll be £60 odd as the diagnostic won't be included.

Top tip - French cars are a b***dy pain to work on. Had one years ago. Never again.

Must admit that after you have a set of ford bits I don't find French cars any worst to work on than any others.

But I no longer do in depth stuff just basics like servicing and brakes on occasion.

londonTiger

Op got ripped on everything.


Diagnostics is a right pain they should not charge a fee and just charge the labour. But unfortunately it's a done thing now. Why should a tool get specialist treatment? I don't see "used a spanner" or "use a ramp" on the invoice