Cost to repair coil springs?

kittennose

Just had my car back from an MOT and it's killed me financially costing £800....

I had to have 2 new tyres (which were cheapo tyres at £50 each) and 2 new coil springs plus a ball joint and mounting kit - it's cost me £800 from an indi garage - £300 of that labour.

Just wondering if this is good value or bad? The garage seems nice and I'd like to keep using them so really just want to check if it's fair price not. Of course Google says it's a 10 min job, but I know to not always trust Google...I know the garage had a lot of trouble getting them off due to rust and corrosion but I am gutted it's set me back so much. The car isn't worth a great deal more!

marlot

Give us a clue.

Make. model. year?

kittennose

Sorry 2007 Audi A3 Sport

ratrace

just to give you an idea i have just had a toyota yaris mot'd and it failed on the following

2x Rear shocks (only one needed but i got both done)
2x front coil springs (only one side broke but i got them changed in pairs)
side light bulb
plus a service s total cost below

£35 Mot fee
£80 2x rear shockers (mid range brand)
£50 coil springs
£5 bulbs
£7 oil filter
£10 air filter
£35 castrol oil

Total £222

Labour was
2 x rear shocks (£40)
2x Coil springs (£65)
Bulbs (free)
Service (£35)

total labour was £140

Total cost £362

please note i supplied all the parts as i have a trade account so got the parts a little cheaper than retail, but the above just give you an idea of labour

facade

kittennose wrote: »

I had to have 2 new tyres (which were cheapo tyres at £50 each) and 2 new coil springs plus a ball joint and mounting kit - it's cost me £800 from an indi garage - £300 of that labour.

Labour £300 (reasonable if they have to remove a suspension arm and drill off the old joint to fit the new one, otherwise a bit high to swap a pair of springs)
Tyres £100
Springs around £100 for the pair

Leaves £300 for this ball joint kit.

Seems expensive to me.....

AdrianC

Front springs or rear? 2wd or quattro?

You shouldn't be disappointed the MOT man pointed to your illegal tyres - you should be thanking him. If they'd been noticed by a policeman instead, they'd have cost you a big chunk more in fines, as well as the points. But, really, you should have KNOWN they were getting towards illegality a while back, from your regular checks and basic maintenance...

And, yes, I do mean "illegal" - because the MOT standard is exactly the same as the legal minimum.

kittennose

Where did I say I was disappointed with them pointing out my illegal tyres?

If you care to know, I asked them to replace both tyres before the MOT - I was fully aware of the issues they had (bulge and slow puncture).

AdrianC

kittennose wrote: »

Where did I say I was disappointed with them pointing out my illegal tyres?

If you care to know, I asked them to replace both tyres before the MOT - I was fully aware of the issues they had (bulge and slow puncture).

Fair enough. Seems strange to include them in the MOT bill that you're "gutted" about, then.

Ebe_Scrooge

If ever you need to check the price of things such as this, it's worth taking a look on http://www.eurocarparts.com/


You enter your registration number, then you can see what the parts cost. Not all garages/mechanics use this supplier, of course, and they may well get the parts slightly cheaper, being in the trade. But it gives you a reasonable figure to be going on with.


Obviously labour is a big variable. A job that *should* take half an hour might take 2 hours if everthing is seized up and rusted - but at least you can get a good idea of whether the price you're being charged for parts is reasonable.


As a slight aside, if you're buying parts for yourself, and you don't need them immediately, there is a "sister" site called http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/. I believe it's internet-only, and you have to wait a few days for delivery - which is why a lot of mechanics will use EuroCarParts, they'll deliver within an hour or something like that. But the prices are slightly cheaper, and I've never had any problem with them.

AdrianC

So anyway... front or rear springs, 2wd or quattro?

droopsnoot

And if it's a front ball joint, I'd think it would probably also have needed an alignment check after it was fitted.