Something in my gut tells me its not good, put my mind at ease?

aled247

Hello everyone.

I own a 6 year old Peugeot 207 (60 plate) and have owned it from new and serviced every year with no major issues and 38,000 miles on the clock.
I have recently moved to London and took it to a Peugeot dealership for its full service + MOT and I thought cost was reasonable (£220 all in)

I told them to call me if they find any problems and I originally expected them to call me as I have a full beam light bulb out on the driver side and for last 3 MOT's I have had an advisory saying 'Anti-roll bar linkage has slight play in a ball joint nearside front'. I have never had this work done as always told its not essential at that time.

They called me stating that it required a few bits of work which I then told them to complete (Offside wheel cylinder leak £170, Alternator belt cracked £115 and welding on exhaust bracket £80) so first question, are those prices reasonable? The reason I ask is that on my service sheet which is all typed out the typed prices have been crossed out and amended with the figures above, I can take a picture of it if someone tells me how to show on here.

The light bulb and MOT advisory's of old were never mentioned?

Today I have collected my vehicle and have the service sheet and MOT certificate and it has passed with no advisories, no mention of the light out or the anti-roll bar joint?

Something odd, I expected both of those to flag up, have they done a proper job here?

missile

Get the bulb and anti-roll bar repaired and don't take chances with safety

thescouselander

Those prices are extortionate IMO.

konark

Something in my gut sank when I read 'Peugeot Dealership'. You should not take 6 year-old cars to dealerships unless you have money to burn.

They have given it a full service and failed to spot a non-working headlight! Then charged you £115 for an aux belt...sure that shouldn't be £15? or £5, that's what they'd have bought it for.

Strider590

Not spotting the light out, they can't miss that..... I would say they never even got it up on ramps, it's not unusual as the technicians in some dealerships have unrealistic work targets set for them by people who've never so much as lifted a spanner.

I'd be inclined to get someone to have a look at it before you drive it much to see if they've done the work they charged for.

jobdone1

£115 for an alternator belt they see you coming that's day light robbery. £170 for a wheel cylinder hahahahaha do yourself a favour look at euro car parts at the price for parts and I'm sure you will see this is hugely expensive

AdrianC

Is the headlight still out? It's entirely possible they've just replaced the bulb.
Advisories are the tester's opinion of something that passes but they feel you should be aware of - perhaps this tester didn't feel the play was bad enough to worry about?

And how long have you been driving around with a non-functional headlight that you can't be bothered to fix?

angrycrow

Assuming the exhaust bracket was the rear band bracket around the silencer which rot very quickly, replacements are £10. Although given how quickly they rust the modified option is to cut the bracket off the band and weld it directly to the silencer which may be what they have done but £80 for 30 minutes work seems a little steep.

Is the light still out or have they replaced the bulb and forgotten to charge for it.

Joe_Horner

To be fair to the dealership, people saying "look what the parts cost online" don't seem to appreciate how business works.

First, as a dealer, they won't be fitting aftermarket parts, so comparing parts prices with Europart is meaningless. Whether or not OEM pars are worth the extra is another matter, but OEM is what you're going to get (and pay for) if you use a dealer for repairs.

In the case of the belt they've also very likely (as per the book) replaced any idlers and tensioners at the same time. So the parts aren't just the cost of a chinese rubber band.

For the wheel cylinder they will also have replaced the shoes / pads - and possibly the opposite cylinder as well seeing as good practice says to do so.

They also have to fit the bits. It's easy to say "look at the parts price" if you're (genuinely) capable of doing it yourself, but lots of people aren't for any number of reasons ranging from no mechanical knowledge to simply nowhere to do the job. You're therefore paying for their knowledge, skill and facilities. That costs.

Finally, before paying for any of the above, someone (the customer) has to cover a share of the overheads of simply being there. All that land, building and equipment maintenance, electricity, heating and "free" coffee doesn't appear out of nowhere.

Yes, you could probably have got those jobs done cheaper elsewhere (or a lot cheaper if you could do them yourself) but, no, as a main dealer job I wouldn't say they're OTT.

Norman_Castle

jobdone1 wrote: »

£115 for an alternator belt they see you coming that's day light robbery. £170 for a wheel cylinder hahahahaha do yourself a favour look at euro car parts at the price for parts and I'm sure you will see this is hugely expensive

Do euro car parts prices include fitting?

AVFC

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Do euro car parts prices include fitting?

No they dont. You go in, tell them your vehicle reg and they find the recommended parts for your vehicle. You have to get them fitted yourself