Being charged £800 for diagonistics tesr

kamran1984

car diagnostic inspections normally costs between £60 to £120 max. unless its a diagnostic related to some electric faults which needs extensive investigation and labour hours. i would say next time always get your car checked or diagnosed by local independent garages or mechanics. you can even find local mobile mechanic from www.smartservicingcentre.co.uk or just google it local mobile mechanics in your area.

parking_question_chap

Two issues I can see

1) They should have given you an idea the work they did was going to cost £800. They must have had some idea of the scale of the job

2) You should ideally have asked for them to give you a price for their work or set a spending cap. Though I cannot see how they can justify £800 for that job.

Geodark

kamran1984 said:

car diagnostic inspections normally costs between £60 to £120 max. unless its a diagnostic related to some electric faults which needs extensive investigation and labour hours. i would say next time always get your car checked or diagnosed by local independent garages or mechanics. you can even find local mobile mechanic from www.smartservicingcentre.co.uk or just google it local mobile mechanics in your area.

Did you read what was done or just the title? it wasnt just a diagnostic, it was also a strip down inspection as well - but they weren't aware they would be charged for it.

CynthiaK2020

finally got a breakdown of cost via email. Can someone shed light on this please?

facade

They charge £105 + VAT per hour!!!!! (Note the address though)

They reckon that a new clutch & flywheel are needed at 4000 miles, and it is simply normal wear & tear.

If it has been slipping for ages, it will have worn the flywheel out, it is a stupidly expensive dual mass flywheel too, not just a plain cheap lump of steel.

I'd dispute that a clutch & flywheel wear out in 4000 miles, but it could have been abused mightily- have you had it from zero miles, and driven every single mile yourself, with your left foot well away from the clutch pedal?

If you have, I'd be looking for some sort of engineers report on why it fails so quickly, then be onto Vauxhall, Which, Watchdog etc.

Your call, you can either

pay the £800 for them to reassemble it, then pay someone else close on £800 to do all the work, then get rid within the next 3000miles, before it fails again.

pay the whole £1600 for the full job and get rid within the next 3000 miles before it fails again.

Get them to fit just a clutch, and leave the flywheel & slave alone, which will save £600, then get rid of it quick to WBAC or someone whilst it is working. They won't "guarantee" this, as you always change the slave, because they are so poorly made that they will quickly fail, and it is another £800 to change it, and if the flywheel face really is badly worn, the clutch will not have much pressure on it, and will wear out even quicker than last time. But you now know what a Vauxhall "guarantee" is worth.