Big Bills

[Lord Sterling]

I'm also mechanically inept so will usually roll my car into a garage if the job is something I cannot/will not tackle on my own. The biggest bill I have had so far is £700 for the Mk1 Sterling (I'm still paying it back aswell) gearbox fitting, full service and MOT.

 

The biggest bill I paid all in onenwas nigh-on £400 for the KV6 as it needed some work to pass the MOT, I also asked for the underside to be hammerited.

[Vince70]

The worst for me was back in about 1988.

 

I had only been driving a year and had a mk2 Cavalier 1.6L which the clutch pedal had split around the bulkhead area and needed a plate put behind, a very common problem on early MK2 cavaliers apparently.

 

I just took it into a local garage and came out £450 lighter but they did change the dash bulbs apparently as it needed new ones, even though the bulbs worked.

 

Years later I had a Mk1 Astra which did exactly the same thing but this time I picked up the local rag and phoned up a mobile welder who made a better job and all it cost me was £40

 

Also don't get me started on Merc Main dealers,

I had a newish smart roadster which would go back in under warranty work on a frequent basis it wasn't the car at fault but the lousy repairs, I had three jobs done which I put right myself as the main dealer was incapable of doing the repairs.

 

I was also quoted over 2 grand for the fitment of brabus gauges as apparently it would need a new loom and recoding plus £250 for the gauges.

 

I did it myself all in within 10 minutes with advice a from a friend for £63

The gauges cost £53 new direct from a Merc dealer in Germany and that included postage COD and the adaption lead cost £10 which was also a genuine Merc/smart lead made for the adaption.

 

Also it didn't need to be plugged into winstar as the dealer told me,

I guess that's how main dealers have lovely big glass buildings as someone has to pay for them.

[cort16]

My car has a maintenance contract on it including tyres thank god. When I had my A6 I had to get 4 tyres replaced at once. They got charged to the account but before I set off asked how much it would have cost me and the guy said £1040. Eep. Sneakily that contract didn't cover punctures and after hitting a pothole I was faced with a £260 bill for a tyre so I bought exactly the right continental tyre part worn off ebay for £60 and put it on the spare. The contract on the Merc I've got just now covers punctures which is lucky as I've had 3 in 18 months.

[cort16]

My cars in Mercedes today getting it bottom examined. I hope they fix it this time as it's getting annoying. It's so slow just now it's like driving the SD1. I'm at the mercy of Hyundai AtoZ's.

[RobT]

Biggest bill in recent years was £400 to resolve HGF in a Rover 114 three years ago, coupled with a waterpump and timing belt change.  I liked the car so figured it was worth spending on.  But then a year later the main bearing in the CVT 'box started making a racket so it went to the scrap yard.  I don't care what people say about the K-series and OMGHGF I'd still have another.

 

I try to do most stuff myself but if it looks too complicated/pain the arse I'll get a trusted local place to do it.

[mercrocker]

Seeing some  examples above of Vein Stealer ripoffery, I feel a  bit better now about my £800 mid-term rebuild on the Minor's chassis....When you think about it, as Vince says, somebody has  to  pay for those glass showrooms.   Speaking of  which I am a bit mystified as to why VW Van in our town (its called Breeze,what a shit name for a van dealer) saw fit to clad a nice brick garage that  had historic associations with Messerschmitt imports back in the day.   Set  in a crescent of brick built council houses from the immediate  postwar period it now looks like a great big silver plastic box surrounded by god knows  what T5 and AmaKok crap.   Amazing what  shit you  can wreak with £90 an hour.....

[r.welfare]

Werbeniuk, he was my favourite Big Bill.

 

Oh, cars? Yeah, I do most things myself which keeps the cost down, keep all the receipts and a spreadsheet, when I eventually sell a car some folk are impressed but the odd new owner hasn't been bothered, each to their own.

 

Servicing, brakes, suspension bits are all fairly straightforward for me now, never done a clutch though. Also I think next time the Accord is due a cambelt (it'll need it's third one in 5 years or about 30,000 miles, probably the latter will come first) I will bite the bullet and have a go myself, it'll cost me about £100 in parts including the special crank puller but given it cost me near on £500 to have done professionally last time (2 belts, tensioners, water pump and valve clearances) I might as well. Looks quite an in-depth affair but I've got a couple of guides from the net.

 

I've had mixed success with cambelts, with a 50/50 ratio of good (late 80s Mazda 323 1.3 which took less than an hour and required no special tools at all) and bad (Omega 3.0 that I just couldn't time up no matter what, kept moving a tooth when I turned it on the crank pulley, gave up after 3 days as I'd turned the Torx bolts on the pulleys to cheese from untightening and tightening them so many times, towed it to my local garage in the end).

 

Worst job I've done to date is change an ABS unit, no fun getting the old one out and even less fun getting the new one in and the pipes reconnected, mind you had it all done in an afternoon, two man job to bleed the brakes though.

[red5]

Seeing some  examples above of Vein Stealer ripoffery, I feel a  bit better now about my £800 mid-term rebuild on the Minor's chassis....When you think about it, as Vince says, somebody has  to  pay for those glass showrooms.   Speaking of  which I am a bit mystified as to why VW Van in our town (its called Breeze,what a shit name for a van dealer) saw fit to clad a nice brick garage that  had historic associations with Messerschmitt imports back in the day.   Set  in a crescent of brick built council houses from the immediate  postwar period it now looks like a great big silver plastic box surrounded by god knows  what T5 and AmaKok crap.   Amazing what  shit you  can wreak with £90 an hour.....

 

Having worked for a VAG dealer that'll be from VAG themselves I suspect. Ensuring the building is 'up' to Dealer Standard..

[oldford]

I've always fixed my own cars and only ever buy a car that I'm capable of fixing myself.  I'm very lucky in that I do have access to a grage workshop complete with ramps and I can pick the brains of my knowledgeable work colleagues.

 

Some of these modern cars are frightening, we've got a 4 year old Passat due in later this week with a parking brake fault.  Our initial scan of it shows a problem with one of the rear caliper motors (electronic parking brake), it may need a new caliper at £450 + VAT.

 

Cam belt changes at £300, mine cost me £12.50, clutch changes at £800 (because it needs a new flywheel), I did mine for £90.

 

One of the main problems that franchised dealers have are massive overheads.  The importer will impose on them buildings standards, what workshop tools to have, what IT systems to have, what working procedures to follow and will send them all sorts of unsolicited stuff for showroom displays and charge them a lot of money for it.  Whether they like it or not the importer will just take the money from the dealers bank account.  It'll also mean that the dealer will likely have a member of staff whose sole job is not to earn money for the dealer but to ensure that the required standards are met.

[dugong]

I have two very good indie garages near me. Their taste in music is excellent.

[HMC]

I try to do as much as i can. Ive gradually taken on more from simply doing maintenence originally. What spurred me into action was I had a B5 passat a few years back that demanded periodic garage visits and one day i sat down and totted up few bills over 6 months and was shocked what it came to. My next 'preject' will be any work needed for the Sierra MOT. As yet ive stopped short of tacking welding, but the main limiting factor these days is simply not having enough time.....