Vauxhall Exhast - no aftermarket parts

motorguy

eve26 wrote: »

Blame Martin for the compo culture!

So you think £850 for an exhaust from Germany is ok do you? Glad you have that much disposable cash. I don’t unfortunately.

Its not "ok", but you have options. You just havent explored them fully yet.

Manufacturer parts are always going to be more expensive and may need to be shipped from the foreign supplier

eve26

The problem is timing unfortunately. I don’t have the time to go investigating as the car is out of MOT and has been sat in the garage since Friday. If I can source other parts I assume I can return the exhaust to Vauxhall? It threw me for a loop Friday so just told garage to order it after not being able to source one locally. I’ve tried 2 specialist exhaust places just now and both said the GTC exhaust is ‘weird’ and isn’t stocked.

buglawton

The exhaust retention bracket on sons old unusual Citroen failed. That's when I discovered a new back box would cost £450. A bit more research on the owners forum and I saw that independents can make a new custom one for £250. Finally the MOT garage opted to weld it for £80.

Vauxhall - I once had a bumper hanging loose on one side for 4 months when the dealer network couldn't get a new clip.

motorguy

eve26 wrote: »

The problem is timing unfortunately. I don’t have the time to go investigating as the car is out of MOT and has been sat in the garage since Friday. If I can source other parts I assume I can return the exhaust to Vauxhall? It threw me for a loop Friday so just told garage to order it after not being able to source one locally. I’ve tried 2 specialist exhaust places just now and both said the GTC exhaust is ‘weird’ and isn’t stocked.

I would doubt the Vauxhall dealer would take the parts back if they have specifically ordered them.

Joe_Horner

Pretty well wherever you are in the country there'll be someone making custom stainless exhausts fairly locally. They'll probably be cheaper than the import. Google.

Car_54

motorguy wrote: »

I would doubt the Vauxhall dealer would take the parts back if they have specifically ordered them.

And if they did, there would almost certainly be a "handling charge". 25%?

motorguy

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Pretty well wherever you are in the country there'll be someone making custom stainless exhausts fairly locally. They'll probably be cheaper than the import. Google.

Wouldnt even need to be stainless steel. Lots of exhaust makers about. My local exhaust fit centre makes exhausts too.

Although its now a moot point, as it has transpired the O/P has ordered the exhaust from Vauxhall...

The_Rainmaker

I had a similar problem (not an exhaust) and the part was over £500 in the UK. I hunted around and imported it from Germany for £135 in the end I had to take a leap of faith that I had found the correct part number.

You need to start thinking outside the box. Also look at Opel exhausts.

AdrianC

Yes, there's a lead time. As has been said, the coupe Astra did not sell well, and was not marketed here for long. You could have taken the car in for an MOT up to a month before the expiry of the old test, and still been legal in the event of a fail. Except, obviously, if the car was unroadworthy - and it's no less roadworthy after a fail has pointed out to that the exhaust is so knackered as to be blowing than it was before.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/6-body-structure-and-attachments#section-6-1-2

I'm assuming the fail was on condition - that it had a major leak, was insecure, or fumes were entering the cabin? So it would have been very noticeable even before taking it in for the test.

You cannot blame the manufacturer for no third party supplier choosing to supply pattern parts.
A week lead time for the parts is hardly unreasonable.
They aren't refusing to let you access third-party suppliers - any exhaust supplier will list their systems by the model they fit, without needing part numbers. Have you checked third-party parts catalogues to see if you can identify what's common with five-door Astras? At most, I'd suspect the back box is different. Even then, the difference may be cosmetic rather than functional.
https://vauxhall.7zap.com/en/car/p10/

And that's before we consider aftermarket exhausts sold as "performance" parts.

ratrace

eve26 wrote: »

Ok. So completely taken away from consumer rights by denying my aces to the part numbers?

Very helpful:money:

Get your garage to read the parts numbers of you old exhaust and then match them up with the ones you are trying to buy, we do this all the time before placing an order for parts as the last thing we wont is parts to show up and they are wrong which means more time the car is stuck on the ramp