Comical garage quotes

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by amazingtrade, Jun 25, 2009.

  1. amazingtrade

    amazingtrade Mad Madchestoh fan

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    Just wondered if other 'honest' garges have tried it on? I had a suspension rattle which I thought was a snapped spring. Looking at all the springs I found a rear one to be snapped. I bought some springs at £50 and with the help of an older neighbour fitted them. Rattle was still there asked my usual mechanic to check he said he could not find anything dangerious.

    A month later the ratteling got worse so I took it to another garage they discovered two bits of lower coil sitting on the cup. The springs are safe because they are both the same height and sit in a cup but because they have snapped once I am worried they break again but this time wrecking a tyre so I need to replace them. The garage who diagnosed it quoted me £200 which I laughed about.

    My usual mechanic would probably do it for £120 but would just say wait till the MOT (in March!). This means getting other quotes and the fast fit centres all want between £140 and £160.

    I am sure I can get this price lower too. My question is how the hell did the original garage think they could charge me £150 labour just to replace two springs? Plus the £20 for the diagnoses, which means the total labour bill would have been £170.

    I fix computers and would have to do about 6-8 jobs to get that money.

    I am also having a few little power loss issues which my mechanic has been helping me with, he has done three live data checks on my car with his £3k ECU reader and discovered its going into limp mode. We both agreed the MAF was the most likely cause.

    Next problem I had to buy the MAF, its a Bosch part and VX wanted £250 for it. I spend time on google and found a supplier selling genuine Bosch ones for £86. I phone them up and he started asking me a load of questions before he would sell it me, he agreed it did sound like the MAF from the symptons and lamdba fault code I have.

    So I will probably pay my mechanic £20 plus £10 tip for fitting it and covering the cost of the scans if I took it VX they would have wanted £50 for each scan, £250 for the part and got knows what for the fitting labour probably £50.

    So why are garages still trying it on in this hard times?
     
    amazingtrade, Jun 25, 2009
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  2. amazingtrade

    la toilette Downright stupid

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    Firstly if it takes you 6-8 jobs to earn £170 then you're probably charging too little!

    Secondly, if you had to rent a great big unit to fix your computers in, and fill it with massive great ramps to help access the machines innards, and enough tools to fill a garage, how much extra would you have to charge per fix to cover that expense?

    As you run your own business you should be aware of how much your overheads are, and appreciate the same thing in other businesses. Not many garages can charge a labour rate of £20/hr and cover their overheads, and stay in business. What do you think a reasonable hourly rate is for a garage to charge for labour?

    You ought to charge more yourself, to earn more, to buy yourself a decent car instead of all those clapped out Fords. ;)
     
    la toilette, Jun 25, 2009
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  3. amazingtrade

    amazingtrade Mad Madchestoh fan

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    Its a Vaxhall, has been a decent car, done 700 miles (all city) going over the worst pot holed speed bumped roads in the country. It is not surprising after 81,000 miles my springs have gone. Not had to put any coolant or oil in it either.

    I should charge more but the problem is atm I am getting all the silly jobs I cannot make any money on, the main thing I seem to be doing atm is RAM upgrades. It is just a hard environment at as home users are leavint their dodgy PCs full of spyware its only the more discerning customer which are using my services (but they have more money so that is no bad thing).

    I realise that garages need to charge a bit to cover them selves, but £30-£40 an hour is surely enough if they have 4-6 cars a day. Remember the parts garges supply usualy have a massive markup too. So they charge £50 an hour labour then charge you £50 per spring when you can get the same thing for £25 at the local factors.

    When I buy parts I get them at trade prices, I pay usualy 1/3 of PCWORLDs price but I will only charge 10% more for the part so it is still cheaper than what local computer shops would retail them for. Maybe I am just too honest.
     
    amazingtrade, Jun 25, 2009
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  4. amazingtrade

    felix part-time Horta

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    AT, the complete answer to your question is bound up in what economists call 'marginal utlity' (try that phrase in wikipedia). Yes, it looks like a steep price, but actually, its bound by what people find worth paying vs. what main dealers consider worth their while.

    Its about how 'value' is perceived. Suppose I have a good job, but the main dealer's labour charge rate is rather more than I get paid p.h.( by x times). Yet sometimes, to me, that can also represent good value - eg, a difficult/messy job done, and with a warranty

    Go figure.
     
    felix, Jun 26, 2009
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  5. amazingtrade

    amazingtrade Mad Madchestoh fan

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    Yep I understand that. The problem is I live in quite a wealthy area and I imagine this garages clients are the new trendy graduates that have moved in from other areas in the past ten years.

    The problem is there is still a lot of tight fisted norherners living here like me and we cannot afford to pay £70 an hour. I paid £17 fitted for a pair of wiper blades from Halfords a few months back, I knew I was being ripped off but I was so busy at the time it was a bargain to me.

    I also buy lots of butties from my butchers even I know I can make them for half the price, its just too easy and I love supporting them.

    I supose I have always been DIY motivated its the way I was bought up as my parents never had that much money and my dad is not much use at DIY. It meant that if locks needed fitting or changing, sockets needed replacing, sinks needed replacing I have had to it all. I would never ever dream of paying a locksmith to fit a lock because I can do it myself.

    The irony is my business is a business I would never use even if I didn't have my knowledge.

    I think when you're skintish you have to be more creative with money and that makes life more fun. You can still go out and get a bit drunk, go on holiday, have a decent car, and a good life it just means when things go wrong it is time to get dirty.
     
    amazingtrade, Jun 26, 2009
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  6. amazingtrade

    I-S Good Evening.... Infidel

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    As a graduate on an above-average wage...

    I've been spending quite a bit of time lately working on my car. It's a 6 year old honda, so nothing is desperately wrong with it but I've been doing brake maintenance, currently DIY refurbing some wheels and next month will be doing some undersealing.

    Money is part of the reason, but not all. To a large extent my experiences with garages means that in order for me to trust that a job has really been done properly I'd either have to sit and watch them do it, or do it myself.

    In one example, I paid a mitsubishi dealer £100 to change the auto transmission fluid on my old car. That price included labour, old fluid disposal and 5 litres of auto fluid. I couldn't get over the discrepancy that the system capacity is 9 litres and the fluid was still browny coloured and the transmission was still not shifting smoothly. Turned out that they had only changed the half of the fluid that was easy to change, and mixed the old and new fluids to a near 50-50 mix, which was a pointless waste of £100.

    So coming forward onto the honda, last weekend I took the rear brakes apart to free off the seized pads and sliding pins - there are two separate issues that cause rear brake problems and I just would not trust a garage to fix both, and to put the same level of care into properly removing the rust that binds the pads - it took me 3 hours. I know that most garages would have said that I needed to change the discs and pads (neither is true), and not tackled the underlying problem.
     
    I-S, Jun 26, 2009
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  7. amazingtrade

    amazingtrade Mad Madchestoh fan

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    The guy I usualy use is cheap and he does do a good standard of work. When he did the brake pipes on my dads car he made sure he routed them exactly where Ford did, where I know a lot of garages don't bother routing it over the fuel tank and just attach them to the chasis floor, the problem with that is they work loose.

    I am useless with actually fixing cars I don't know why, when I took the MAF out yesterday I could not even get the clips back on (they are funny sort of clips not the usual jubilee type with a screw).

    I am too scared I will break something.
     
    amazingtrade, Jun 26, 2009
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  8. amazingtrade

    DavidF

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    Knowing a responsable garage is half the battle imo ....and worth a million dollars (So to speak).

    I WAS dealing with an oldish guy in town who I felt was pretty good, looking after the interests of his cusommers and keeping to a fair price. This guy has now gone unfortunately and a younger lad has taken over . I wonder if the new lad has the same experience but for the moment I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

    One look under the bonnet of my transit connect is enough to dissuade me from a lot of DIY. I 've no intention of trying to get the filter off this thing...there is barely room to get a hand in, let alone swing a spanner. So, I need to get a garage to do it.
     
    DavidF, Jun 26, 2009
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  9. amazingtrade

    amazingtrade Mad Madchestoh fan

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    I think some knowledge helps too. My car has been loosing power at random and an ECU scan revealed lamdba low voltage. He seemed to think that it was the lamdba rather than the MAF but wasn't sure so we both went away and did some research on the Delco ECU fitted to my engine and next day both concluded it was the MAF. I did the MAF myself today as its a very easy job, just two clips, a wiring connector and ensuring the airflow is the right way.

    So far it has done the job :). Cost me £88 for the part and paid my mechanic £20 for the four ECU scans he did. If I had taken it to vauxhall the bill would have been closer to £500 and I wonder if the would have made my buy a lamdba sensor first at £124?
     
    amazingtrade, Jun 26, 2009
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  10. amazingtrade

    DavidF

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    Like you say, avoid the dealerships like the plague....I have my own personal experiences there.

    A good indy is the name of the game.




    I do wonder though, at you seem to have little luck with your motors....?
     
    DavidF, Jun 26, 2009
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  11. amazingtrade

    amazingtrade Mad Madchestoh fan

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    Done 722 miles in my car since I got it (need to reset the trip counter soon!) and in that time the work I have had done:-

    Full service inc plugs
    New front brake pads
    Two new rear springs (were fine when I bought it)
    Three new tyres (the spare was ilegal, one was cracking, so put two new ones on the rear)
    One front tyre (had a nail in it and was down to 3mm so not worth repairing)
    New petrol cap (lost my old one forgot to put it back on!)
    New MAF to cure flat spot
    Sump tightened to fix an oil leak
    Clutch cable adjusted (did this myself)
    New wiper blades

    Will also need two new front springs at some point - phoning round for this.

    The roads I drive on are all full of pot holes and my springs were all the original so I don't blame the car for this.

    My chasis is solid and my car does not use any coolant or water so if I keep look after it I hope it will look after me.

    As you can see it looks a lot newer than the 9 3/4 years and 81k it is.

    [​IMG]

    The fact I am only the third owner is probably reflects that. I just like to keep on top of things.

    My next car will be brand new though. I would intend to run it for 5-6 years and sell it on.
     
    amazingtrade, Jun 26, 2009
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  12. amazingtrade

    DavidF

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    It looks a really nice little car.

    It reminds me alittle of the mk1 astra I had long time ago.

    To me it also make s a complete nonsence of this silly scappage scheme.

    I wonder why the springs needed eplacing....if they were good when you bought the car...

    You have had it no longer than 6 months, I think.
     
    DavidF, Jun 26, 2009
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  13. amazingtrade

    amazingtrade Mad Madchestoh fan

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    Well they were all the originals and its a very common problem on Corsas. I go over 50 speed bumps and pot holes a day. My dads Fiesta is constantly needing work on the suspension for the same reason.

    If you look at the roads near me you will lots of bits of coil in the roads.

    I like it because its cheap to insure but has all the toys too. It also has enough power (0 - 60 12.9 seconds, top speed 102 apparantly) the brakes are probably the one thing which is lacking compared to a new car. I also love having 5 doors as it makes getting computers in a doddle.

    I am going to Wales in in next week and imagine the car will do 500 miles in one week during that week.
     
    amazingtrade, Jun 26, 2009
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  14. amazingtrade

    DavidF

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    Yes, thats about what my astra had.

    Thats enough for most purposes....gets you round tractrors etc.

    My transit connect does it I think in a about 14/15, I would think. You have to live off the torque......the intercooler gives you a bit.

    In fairness it cruises easily at 70/75 as it has a whopping high 5th, about 26mph/1000pm.

    You also i think have a fifth, which my astra never got. I'd have loved it at the time.

    Actaully the transit really neeeds a 6 speeder.




    Sorry your roads are not too good.
     
    DavidF, Jun 26, 2009
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  15. amazingtrade

    mr cat Member of the month

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    I'm sure you car's in probably better nick than mine - but I've done almost 70k in about 3 years?

    I tend not to worry about niggly little things... :)
     
    mr cat, Jun 26, 2009
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  16. amazingtrade

    Samantha

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    Without a break down, no way of knowing if the quote was 'comical' .... they may have been using better quality springs for a start.

    And that is a long list after just over 700 miles.

    I keep my vehicles pristine and when something is needed, I get it sorted. But since I do 600+ miles per week, I'm glad I don't get that sort of list so quickly.

    I am planning to sell my VW in September/October, and even though I know this, I plan to fit 2 new rear tyres and have a full service in the next 2 weeks, and I shall put a brand new MOT on before selling.

    It has always been serviced at the main dealer but has not cost that much and considering it has given me 100% reliable service - I am happy to pay the £250(ish) per year to have something I can rely on - it would cost me far more if I was unable to get to work.
     
    Samantha, Jun 29, 2009
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  17. amazingtrade

    I-S Good Evening.... Infidel

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    Some more DIY.... Before:

    [​IMG]

    After:

    [​IMG]
     
    I-S, Jun 29, 2009
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  18. amazingtrade

    mr cat Member of the month

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    nice bit of photoshopping... :D
     
    mr cat, Jun 29, 2009
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  19. amazingtrade

    Dev Moderator

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    :D.
     
    Dev, Jun 29, 2009
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  20. amazingtrade

    I-S Good Evening.... Infidel

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    [​IMG]
     
    I-S, Jun 29, 2009
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