Ball joint failure and snapped axle - reasonable repair quote?

MichaelMoneySaver

Hi,

I am new to owning cars. Previously I ran an e-bike , but my commute (to an Amazon warehouse) now requires me to have a car. This is my first major breakdown - I'd be really grateful for advice on a quote received.

My 2007 Renault Clio Dynamique is a very nice little car and has clearly been looked after well by previous owner, lovely condition. It had a single advisory on MOT 1000 miles back "Front Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Both ()". I've owned the car for a month.

Yesterday morning, I was driving home from nightshift when the front driver's side ball joint failed. 

This is (I now understand) a very dangerous thing to have happened and I am fortunate as I was just half a mile away from joining the M90. At motorway speeds, I can only imagine the car could have rolled or hit the central reservation and/or been hit by other traffic. As it was, the failure happened at low speed on a tributary road while exiting a roundabout on a quiet Sunday morning.

The front offside wheel immediately collapsed into the fairing, pointing in the opposite direction to the nearside front wheel. When I tried to reverse onto the kerb (after first jacking up the car and kicking the wheel into alignment), the engine made a loud grating noise and car would not move. After a 3 hour long palaver which involved some very kind police officers guarding the lane behind my car, I had the car towed to a nearby backstreet garage with good Google reviews.

I have been quoted £440 for replacement of ball joint, suspension arm, a snapped right axle and snapped ABS sensor - including parts, labour and VAT. I'm told the work will be completed by tomorrow (so within 48 hours). This price seems like it is probably reasonable to me. I am not "cheap" and I believe mechanics (and all other small business people) have substantial business overheads and years of acquired skills and are entitled to make a reasonable profit. Indeed I gave the local tow guy more than he asked for, for coming out quickly in the early hours of Sunday.

However, I wanted to check with people knowledgeable about cars that this quotation is reasonable and not unduly high (i.e. that I am not being ripped off sideways)? Thank you!

Happy to be alive and to not have hurt anyone 

Mike

Lomast

Does not seem a bad price to me 
I'd guess £100 in parts 4-5 hours work at £55-60 an hour plus £70 odd vat sounds about right

marlot

Sounds a fair price to me.

ButterCheese

Yeah that's ok, you don't get much for much these days!  I had brake pipes and a lamda sensor fitted a while back, that cost me £350.  It's very common for the labour to cost far more than the parts, especially with modern cars as it takes half an hour to even get to the thing that needs fixing

greyteam1959

Sounds about right to me.
Next time you get an advisory on your MOT perhaps you should take note of it & fix it ASAP ??
😁😁

angrycrow

greyteam1959 said:

Sounds about right to me.
Next time you get an advisory on your MOT perhaps you should take note of it & fix it ASAP ??
😁😁

Bit harsh, the failure was in a completely different component. 

Advisory was the inner tie rod, failure was the bottom ball joint. 

Flight3287462

greyteam1959 said:

Sounds about right to me.
Next time you get an advisory on your MOT perhaps you should take note of it & fix it ASAP ??
😁😁

I had a car that had the same advisory (bushes) on and off for four years.  It is more about knowing what the dangerous ones are.  And this is one of those.

scrappy_returns

greyteam1959 said:

Sounds about right to me.
Next time you get an advisory on your MOT perhaps you should take note of it & fix it ASAP ??
😁😁

That doesn't hold water at all. Nonsense.