Do I trust dealers? FEELING VERY ANGRY/FRUSTRATED

gonnabuildabuggy · Do I trust dealers? FEELING VERY ANGRY/FRUSTRATED

Honda has just failed it's MOT (2nd MOT taken, 5yrs old). Had a call this morning saying excessive wear on front ARB drop link - £68 fitted.

Not exactly happy but not bad. Asked to pay next week when work done.

Now I get another call demanding (well receptionist asking nicely) for payment for MOT test as car can't be released without it.

Check costs to be charged for today and next week, to be told next week will be £315!!!

Ask what for and told front drivers shock leaking but not MOT fail.

So I say that I'll get the ARB done and leave the front shocks for a month or so (planning to get it done elsewhere). Then I'm told the fail sheet has just been handed in and the front shock failed.

So.....

I asked for the fail sheet to be faxed over and tbf it does say 13.45 on the timing (now 14.45) so maybe it did.....

But I feel £247 to supply and fit 1 shock absorber seems ridiculous. Is this how they make money on fixed price servicing deals as the service was pre-paid when I bought it?

I've now cancelled and will book it in with my local guy. Unfortunately if the shock absorber was actually OK I suspect it won't be by the time I get the car back today...

Also I was told when car collected it was 1.5 hrs for Service and 1hr for MOT. The car would have arrived at 10.30am and I had a call at 12.00 saying service done and MOT failed.

Victory to the small guy who does a good job and doesn't just look at the car and change the oil.

woof woof

I got screwed with my Elise by an independant guy once.

He told me he'd changed this and that and when I said that I wanted the old bits so that I could complain to Lotus they were suddenly "At our other site." Oh Yeah? "Why's that?" I said...he struugled for an answer so I took pity..."No probs, go and get them and I'll wait here" sez I. The conversation went on but it was obvious he was a liar and a total theif.

What can you do? Sadly you really can't trust any of them.

DradusContact

A good mechanic you trust is worth their weight in gold.

gonnabuildabuggy

I trust my two independents - local guy and BMW specialist. The former has taken twice as long to do a job and only charged as quoted (BMW rear brake pipes, notoriously labour intensive) and latter kept parts to show without being asked. The local one has also refused to do work asked on basis he doesn't think it necessary.

I'd stuck with Honda to keep FSH and as it was pre-paid (and in warranty for 1st 3 yrs) - now I'll just go round to my local.

Blarno

247 to supply and fit a damper?

Robbing barstewards. Assuming it has MacPherson struts, a damper change should be no more than an hours labour. I did both front struts on the Vectra last week in just under 2 hours.

gonnabuildabuggy

Blarno

150 quid labour. 2 hours at dealer rates, roughly.

Shocking.

gonnabuildabuggy

Just had it on the ramps - no sign of a serious leak, maybe a minor one or maybe it's had some oil smeared on it........

bump testing showed no performance issues.

Thats £250 saved.

scamper

Reminds me of taking the Fabia in for something minor, and the ford/skoda/maza dealership undertook a `free' health checkup and gave me a long list of this and that that required doing - got a mechanic friend to look at it, and none of the work was required.

canadian bacon

Mercedes tried it on with my sister, they wanted 4k worth of work done on an ML diesel (not my cup of tea, but there you go), Mercedes attitude to the fact they wanted 4k of work done on a 4yr old car was 'well, you do get the odd rogue vehicle'.....

She got the car looked at elsewhere, they gave it a clean bill of health, pretty amazing when one of the items was a broken suspension coil spring(allegedly).

DaveGibson

When I had one of my MG Maestro company cars I had a puncture so I took it to one of our approved tyre places and they said the hole had been caused by a large rivet and was too big to be repaired so a new tyre was needed. I had a word with the fleet manager (who was a friend) who told me to fetch the wheel and tyre and take it to the National Tyre depot. The hole was so 'large' that NT had to drill it out to pull the plug on the patch through. Mind you, as he re-fitted the wheel to the car, the chap told me the front damper needed replacing. "Why?", I asked. Well there's fluid sitting in the hollow of the spring pan on the strut. I pointed out it was raining and the fluid certainly seemed to be water.

SambaFi

If the shock was truly knackered then they should have replaced the pair.

TimR

I take my cars to a local Alfa/Fiat specialist and stand and watch them being MOT'd.

There's no way I'd just drop it off somewhere anymore.

Scouse

Last time I got Bigger Regie serviced by Renault they came back and said it needed a new NS wishbone as it was too worn as well as new disc's & pads at the front.
I declined their kind offer of £600 to replace both as it had just been MOT'd the day before and there was no issue over the wishbone at all or any sign of irregular tyre wear. When I checked the dealer sheet it said the pads were '60% worn' and disc's 'show wear, need replacing some time in the future'.

Mind you it was on a Renault's '£70, 70 point fixed fee service' that they ran earlier in the year as opposed to the usual £249.

Max Headroom

Its reassuring to see that the bandits are still lurking in the motor trade. I gave up on main dealers about 20 years ago. Having worked in the trade (sales) and seen what some of the spanner monkeys (and i use the term generously) get up to I'm happy to go to a quality independent/specialist. they understand customer service far better than a lot of main dealers.

A lot of main dealer pricing is based on time/labour calcs done by the manufacturer. So they charge for example 2 hours labour, to service the car. But in reality only an hour is spent on it. but the bill is still calculated on the basis of manufacturers figures.

I recall making a service manager of mine wriggle on the hook when i asked him why his booked hours of work for the service department seemed to indicate that customers were paying for their lunchtimes as well... Amazing what a fat annual bonus makes people do...

And why do i hear so much - still - about misquotes of bills. Ie. prices quoted ex vat and sometimes ex lab as well. shocking.

SambaFi

I have found that ex VAT quotes are sometimes used to soften the impending blow as well as being a potential trick. The reaction when one does a quick mental calculation is telling.

gonnabuildabuggy

I'm annoyed with myself to some extent - I only had it MOT's by the dealer as he was doing the free (well paid for at time of purchase) service and I expected it to pass.

It's another good reason to avoid new cars.

I've had to cough up for another MOT but at least I've saved on the other bit.

And all done today, dropped car off at garage owners house last night and just collected it.

Frank Bullitt

Martin

[quote="gonnabuildabuggy"]
It's another good reason to avoid new cars.
[quote]

It's not new, it needs an MOT, so is due for change

I am joking this time.....

It will be interesting to see what happens with the MINI when it gets to MOT time as it shouldn't have cost us a penny up to that point.

gonnabuildabuggy

[quote="Martin"][quote="gonnabuildabuggy"]
It's another good reason to avoid new cars.

Martin

Oh dear, I was planning to keep the MINI for 4 years (so it would be 4.5 years old), or maybe a little longer....

Now you tell me

I'll have to declare it a 'forum keeper' instead!

Now that's done, I must get onto Autotrader and start looking for a replacement

gonnabuildabuggy

Mark

Can't understand why anybody would take a car to a main dealer for an MOT unless it is getting something else done at the same time.

Just take it to a council/local government test station - cheaper and there is no fucking around - they don't want to fix it, just test it.

Dr. Hfuhruhurr

Mark

TimR

Dr. Hfuhruhurr

Martin

scamper

Had my second serivce at Subaru y'day - as usual very efficient, fuss free if expensive. However, reduced the bill down as we knocked off diff oil change etc for another time, and I still get a subaru stamp.

Very refreshing to hear "nah, don't bother doing that, the cars out of warrenty - leave it to next time", instead of "you must do it now, its really worn or broken and makes your car dangerous"

Bryan M

I had the free Audi MOT - went in, got MOT, paid not a bean - strange feeling for a main dealer!!! That said going back for a service so it worked