Do I need to commit to a Kwik-Fit repair?

Irving7

Several days ago my car started to give up on me - the power reduced significantly whilst I was driving and was forced to pull in to a car park.
I called my breakdown service provider who came out to have a look at it but nothing was coming up on his diagnostic machine, nor could he see any obvious faults under the bonnet.

Fortunately, my car was already booked in for a full service the next day (yesterday) and I was able to drive my car over there as it was nearby.
The breakdown service chap followed me over and advised me to explain that the power issue only occurs after the engine has been running for 15+ mins, and not to pay for any diagnostics to be carried out because he could not see any errors on his device.

So yesterday, I had my car serviced at Kwik-Fit and they came back with a bucket list of repairs that would cost me approximately the value of my car. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go ahead with all of the repairs but I did want an idea of what it would cost to resolve the issue I was having with the power.
They think it's the EGR valve but would need to run a diagnostic to confirm. I told them it has been done already by the breakdown service and no errors were reported. Kwik-Fit responded by saying if there are no errors that come up on their diagnostics I won't need to pay the £50 that they charge for it.

Skip forward to today (they weren't able to run the diagnostic last night) and I am told by a different person that there are 7+ errors reported on their diagnostics and it could be a number of things that's causing a loss of power, but the most likely cause would be the EGR valve.
They asked if I wanted to go ahead and have it replaced for £300 (£200 for the part and £100 for the labour), and if I did, it would take 2 days for the part to arrive. I accepted because I didn't know if the price was reasonable at the time.
However, upon further inspection I noticed from the notes I wrote down yesterday his colleague quoted me a cheaper price (£40 cheaper) for the exact same job, and that I could also buy the part and do it myself for half the price.

Therefore, my question is:

With Kwik-Fit having ordered the part but yet to do any work due to waiting for delivery, am I obliged to now proceed with the repair?

debtdebt

Have they still got your car?

chrisw

I can't see that you would have to pay for the egr as they haven't done any work yet, but you would reasonably have to pay the £50 for the diagnostic if you don't go ahead with the repair.

wgl2014

If your happy to take the egr off yourself why not try giving it a clean with a specific spray can? Could save you some more money, if it doesn't work replace the valve. Unlikely a garage would do this as their labour charges would cancel out any saving.

As for Kwik fit you are under no obligation to have any more work done on your car but will have to pay for anything they have done already.

Irving7

wgl2014 wrote: »

If your happy to take the egr off yourself why not try giving it a clean with a specific spray can? Could save you some more money, if it doesn't work replace the valve. Unlikely a garage would do this as their labour charges would cancel out any saving.

As for Kwik fit you are under no obligation to have any more work done on your car but will have to pay for anything they have done already.

That was another thing I discovered after my visit to Kwik-Fit yesterday. It could just need a clean and I'll be saving myself a small fortune.

I'll phone them up now to cancel the work.

wgl2014

Cool. I've had varying success cleaning different parts that if taken to a garage would be replaced but it's worth a shot.

Remember to replace any gaskets if there are any.

mattyprice4004

They may have already taken yours off, in which case you’ll have to have the car recovered or pay for it to be re fitted.

mattyprice4004

And of course you’ll need to pay for their diagnostics too

ariba10

"Quick Fit"

if I broke down outside one of their establishments I would push my car to a garage.

worried_jim

And please don't use Kwik Fitt again in future. Find a good local garage, good place to start is to ask where the taxi drivers have their cars serviced.

System

I doubt the capability of anyone who takes their car to Kwik Fit to remove and clean one especially if its a sod to get to like my Mondeo where you can't even see most of the bolts holding it in.

In regards to buying your own parts, one of the banes of life for garages is customers supplying their own parts which inevitably end up being wrong and the customer getting shirty because they quite rightly get billed for the labour for attempting to fit the wrong part then for fitting the right one so effectively paying twice. My MX5 for example has two different length drop links depending on the chassis number but you can bet your bottom dollar Average Joe supplying their own wouldn't even have a clue that was the case and buy the wrong ones. Similar story for lots of vehicles for various parts where there has been a change over at a certain point.