Replacing Car Advice (Citroen C4 HDI 1.6 Diesel 08)

eamon

Get a garage to do the cambelt & waterpump. Its a 4 hour job around the £450 mark and well worth doing. As others have said Citroens & Puegeot have bullet proof diesel engines. Keep it serviced and ignore the bodywork. I have a Berlingo 09 plate (probably the same engine as yours) while it has the dashboard lights for the DPF the actual DPF wasn't installed when manufactured so I would be inclined not to be concerned. Even if you are concerned any emission issues would have already been identified at MOT time. What I do before MOT is take my car for a medium long drive, keep in 4th gear and 70mph for about 10 miles and this gets everything hot and burns stuff away (I hope). No issues with last MOT and my car is now at 94K.

throughtheblue

eamon said:

Get a garage to do the cambelt & waterpump. Its a 4 hour job around the £450 mark and well worth doing. As others have said Citroens & Puegeot have bullet proof diesel engines. Keep it serviced and ignore the bodywork. I have a Berlingo 09 plate (probably the same engine as yours) while it has the dashboard lights for the DPF the actual DPF wasn't installed when manufactured so I would be inclined not to be concerned. Even if you are concerned any emission issues would have already been identified at MOT time. What I do before MOT is take my car for a medium long drive, keep in 4th gear and 70mph for about 10 miles and this gets everything hot and burns stuff away (I hope). No issues with last MOT and my car is now at 94K.

All quotes I've got so far have been over £400, however another garage has given me a quote of belt/pump for £250. 
The catch is they don't have many reviews online. They fixed our thermostat for £90, and I used them because they were just down the road. 
My avoidance of asking them, was limited English, which put me off for a longer job like a cam belt. They did the thermostat for the best price around, and it solved the problem, so I think I should go ahead. 

Grumpy_chap

throughtheblue said:

All quotes I've got so far have been over £400, however another garage has given me a quote of belt/pump for £250. 

If all the quotes are over £400, then the Citron price linked up thread at £450 seems sensible and would be the way I'd go.  You may not be local to the garage linked up thread but that looked like it was a national offer from Citroen.

As to the quote at £250 - you need to make your own view.  They did a good job before for you.  Can you ask around friends if they have any experience of that garage?
They do possibly sound as though they are just too cheap.  Tough call.

Bigwheels1111

My mechanic charges £50 an hour inc vat.
£200 plus belt kit and new antifreeze, say about £350.

Unless you trust the mechanic I would go with Citroen direct for £449.
If it’s lasted this long I would get them to do it.

throughtheblue

Grumpy_chap said:

throughtheblue said:

All quotes I've got so far have been over £400, however another garage has given me a quote of belt/pump for £250. 

If all the quotes are over £400, then the Citron price linked up thread at £450 seems sensible and would be the way I'd go.  You may not be local to the garage linked up thread but that looked like it was a national offer from Citroen.

As to the quote at £250 - you need to make your own view.  They did a good job before for you.  Can you ask around friends if they have any experience of that garage?
They do possibly sound as though they are just too cheap.  Tough call.

As far as I can see, the belt kit with pump from dayco are £75, leaving the labour at £175.If they reckon it's a 3 hour job, then that seems ok, they didn't charge VAT last time, just cash in hand. 
They did the thermostat for half the price, solved the problem and no issues since. I think they may be used by their own speaking community more than the general public, so hard to know about reviews. 

Grumpy_chap

throughtheblue said:

they didn't charge VAT last time, just cash in hand. 

Aaah, all cash-in-hand.  That explains the price difference. 

No income tax, no VAT
No money back, no guarantee
Black or white, rich or broke
We'll cut prices at a stroke

Da Da Da Dum....

throughtheblue

Grumpy_chap said:

throughtheblue said:

they didn't charge VAT last time, just cash in hand. 

Aaah, all cash-in-hand.  That explains the price difference. 

No income tax, no VAT
No money back, no guarantee
Black or white, rich or broke
We'll cut prices at a stroke

Da Da Da Dum....

Aye, it's a bit of a punt/risk.

Arnold Clark/Citroen have quoted me £789.

If it was just the cambelt, I would go for the £450 jobs, with more protection, but it could do with interim service, and either balancing/tracking, so I'd prefer not to be creeping up to £700, given the lack of resale value due to the body work.

Grumpy_chap

throughtheblue said:

Arnold Clark/Citroen have quoted me £789.

If it was just the cambelt, I would go for the £450 jobs, with more protection, but it could do with interim service, and either balancing/tracking, so I'd prefer not to be creeping up to £700, given the lack of resale value due to the body work.

Is there a Citroen Dealer offering the offer fixed price rate linked upthread?  You may need to ask for it.

As to the £700 for the cambelt, service, tracking, that does not seem unreasonable.  Will you then have a car that will be good for you for a year?  Cheap motoring if so.

You were considering spending £7k on a different car.  No guarantee, if you did so, there would not be maintenance bills come along so sometimes better the devil you know.

What is the cash-in-hand garage quoting to do everything you need?

It is hard with the old cars - I have an 07 Focus riddles with rust, but it works.  If I changed it, PCP would be £300 (or more per month) so I always work on the basis that if I can keep it going each year for under £1,200 then I am in a good place - that's only 4 months equivalent of the payments on a new car so I am quids in.  Although, current PCP's are heading towards £400 monthly for a bog-standard car so only 3-months equivalent if the maintenance cost is £1,200.

throughtheblue

Grumpy_chap said:

throughtheblue said:

Arnold Clark/Citroen have quoted me £789.

If it was just the cambelt, I would go for the £450 jobs, with more protection, but it could do with interim service, and either balancing/tracking, so I'd prefer not to be creeping up to £700, given the lack of resale value due to the body work.

Is there a Citroen Dealer offering the offer fixed price rate linked upthread?  You may need to ask for it.

As to the £700 for the cambelt, service, tracking, that does not seem unreasonable.  Will you then have a car that will be good for you for a year?  Cheap motoring if so.

You were considering spending £7k on a different car.  No guarantee, if you did so, there would not be maintenance bills come along so sometimes better the devil you know.

What is the cash-in-hand garage quoting to do everything you need?

It is hard with the old cars - I have an 07 Focus riddles with rust, but it works.  If I changed it, PCP would be £300 (or more per month) so I always work on the basis that if I can keep it going each year for under £1,200 then I am in a good place - that's only 4 months equivalent of the payments on a new car so I am quids in.  Although, current PCP's are heading towards £400 monthly for a bog-standard car so only 3-months equivalent if the maintenance cost is £1,200.

Annoyingly not. It's an Anrold Clark Citroen, I quoted the price and they said it didn't include the water pump and labour alone was £489. 

Thanks for the perspective, it puts used cars into balance well. I need to go through the service history and see how well up to date the family member was with servicing etc, which would help make a decision. 

The cash in hand garage is quoting the for the kit (belt and water pump), labour and antifreeze. 

throughtheblue

Finally looked through the service history.

It had a full service just over 12 months ago, and since it's done 7k miles.

(Oil filter, engine flush, air filter, cabin filter, fuel filter + full vehicle check).

The maintenance guide is for the cam belt to be replaced 150k miles, 'severe' conditions 120k, or every 10 years.
The car is 14 years old, but it seems a lot of miles before replacing compared with petrol/other cars?

A more reputable garage has quoted £366, but earliest is late November. Is that too much of a risk waiting?