Does this sound reasonable?

Scorpio33

Hi,


The speedometer on my polo (O2 plate) had stopped working.


The garage looked at it and stated that the speedometer dashboard had broken (The actual speedo itself is fine), and so the dashboard needs to be repaired.


They stated this would cost 120-170 + VAT + labour (2 hours).


Does this cost seem ok? Sounds a bit expensive to me.

colino

You need the full details of what the garage did and said. No point changing the clocks if they haven't ruled out a wiring/connector or speed sensor fault.

BeenThroughItAll

A 'between this and this' value seems a bit odd. They should be able to quote an exact price for a part (as they'll know how much it will cost them + margin). A dash cluster for a car could easily be £120 or a lot more (mine would cost ~£400). Also, is the cluster actually the fault or is it electronics/speed sensor as Colino suggests?


The new cluster *may*, depending on the car, need coding for the immobiliser etc, the odometer programming and more. May not be as simple as unscrew old one, unplug, plug in new and screw into place (that would only take 30-40 minutes or so on a Polo).

You could get the cluster repaired (somewhere like BBA Reman or clusterrepairs) which would mean no coding required, and it'd be just a simple remove/refit process.

DoaM

I'm struggling to envisage how a broken dash would stop a speedo working.

colino

Lots of modern cars have dash problems, but their electronic maladies can normally be overcome by isolating where the fault is and the likes of BBA-Reman coming up with a fix.

forgotmyname

Get a cheap OBD reader and see if your speed is registered on that. If not then its not the dash.

If the speed is registered properly then the dash is likely the cause.

loskie

My 1999 Octavia speedo failed something to do with a "dry solder". Two options: either remove fuse number 2 (it then worked but trip meter reset on stopping) or get dash repaired.
At the time I thought it wasn't worth spending that much on my old car.
Cost doesn't sound unreasonable but you could just use a sat nav to indicate your speed and live with it.
IIRC it is NOT an MOT failure unless that changed under the new rules.

Geodark

loskie wrote: »

My 1999 Octavia speedo failed something to do with a "dry solder". Two options: either remove fuse number 2 (it then worked but trip meter reset on stopping) or get dash repaired.
At the time I thought it wasn't worth spending that much on my old car.
Cost doesn't sound unreasonable but you could just use a sat nav to indicate your speed and live with it.
IIRC it is NOT an MOT failure unless that changed under the new rules.

A sat nav will only give a true reading of speed on a perfectly level road, they will read wrong if you are going up or down a hill.

AdrianC

DoaM wrote: »

I'm struggling to envisage how a broken dash would stop a speedo working.

You do know that speedos have been electronic, not cable driven, for the last couple of decades?

loskie

Geodark wrote: »

A sat nav will only give a true reading of speed on a perfectly level road, they will read wrong if you are going up or down a hill.

But speedos are generally out by a few mph anyway, the inaccuracies you are talking about will be minimal. Just like how a speedo will vary depending on tyre tread. In theory yes but in practice negligible.

Car_54

Geodark wrote: »

A sat nav will only give a true reading of speed on a perfectly level road, they will read wrong if you are going up or down a hill.

And only true going in a straight line, and with clear sight of the satellites. However, in most real-world situations it will be no more inaccurate than the speedo.

Whether it would satisfy an MOT tester is an interesting question.

The other concern for the OP is presumably that he has no working odometer.