Rip off garages

[CortinaDave]

Just had a call from the Mrs. The alternator belt had snapped on her 54 plate fiesta 1.4. Told her I'd fix it at the weekend but she needs the car so booked it in to a local garage in Aberdeen.

 

To replace the belt - £118. HOLY SHIT.

 

It's literally a slacken two bolts and slide off job IIRC, but she's paid it 🙈🙈🙈

 

Out of interest after that I rang the ford main dealer for a quote to see what insane price they would charge.

 

Girl at the service desk- what's your name, address,phone number, email, reg number blah blah - why do they need all that just to give me a price?

 

She then told me I'd have to "bring it in for a quote as its a complicated job"

 

just flat out lies. I guess I'm lucky I know a local friendly mechanic and don't have to use these places generally.

[lisbon_road]

It isn't one where you need to take the engine mounting off, is it?  Older Astras are like that, though I must admit Ford don't usually do stuff like that (though nor do GM).

 

Seems incredible though, as even at £20 for a belt it would be getting on for two hours.  Why?

[Bren]

Some fiestas can be a PITA to work on as the engine bay is very cramped.

[Bobthebeard]

Devils advocate and all that....

But I would not want to give a firm quote for any job. Even a simple* job.

Things rarely go to plan.

[Junkman]

Buy a 1976-1983 plate Fiesta.

Problem solved.

[AlabamaShrimp]

^^^ or 84 to 89 one

[CortinaDave]

It's not a bad wee thing to work on. I'm fairly inept but have done most things it's needed thus far.

 

When the woman at the ford service desk asked for my email I told her - " it's cortinadave as in the car then the blokes name at hotmail...."

 

She interrupts and says. "Sorry cor-what? Can you spell that " 😂😂😂

[strangeangel]

To replace the belt - £118. HOLY SHIT.

 

It's literally a slacken two bolts and slide off job IIRC, but she's paid it

 

 

 

Name and shame time, I reckon.

[Bobthebeard]

Buy a 1976-1983 plate Fiesta.

Problem solved.

Yep....

You iz correct I suspect. Car development reached it's peak years ago. After that it is all just complicated and unnecessary stuff for the sake of it. My 1990 Honda Prelude is, in my opinion, as advanced as cars need to be.

Just my opinion like...

[panhard65]

Just had a look at labour times and they give you 0.8 of an hour to change the alternator so a belt should be less than an hour. Same sort of time for petrol or diesel. I wonder if they have changed the tensioner as well to get the price up. Saying that ford parts prices are a bit of a joke now days 8 quid for a thermostat rubber seal !!!

[Bobthebeard]

I would really dislike having to own and run a garage. The cost of insurance, tools, equipment, diagnostic stuff, ramps, premises, phone line, credit/debit card, Internet, wages, overheads.... Etc....

Horrible.

Yet customers complain about charges. If running a garage is such a cash maker then give it a go! Then weep.

Of course they make money on parts etc. That is why they exist. Supermarkets make money on food and stuff.

[Eddie Honda]

What's the hourly rate at the stealer? Minimum 1h + 20% VAT would prolly add up to 118 quid these days.

 

Besides, sheep don't come cheap up thataway.

[CortinaDave]

Imagine if the same logic applied at tescos. "Sorry mate I know you only bought a loaf and scanned it at the checkout but it's a minimum £100 charge. Got to pay the staff and the electric"😂

 

At the end of the day though she won't use them again so it's a customer lost, and the money they'd make from her January mot and any other work she needs will now go elsewhere.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I believe it's a headlight out job to do - it's a right bastard of a job on a  Ka. Still 50 quid tops plus a belt.

[brickwall]

People moan about the price of a service, but then you have to look at what goes into it. My gearbox and transfer box needs nearly 10 litres of the red stuff and even going around oiling every little hinge and stuff takes a fair while.

[Junkman]

It's 250 quid to change the gearbox of a P6 V8.

I should know, I've had it done many times.

[garbaldy]

I would really dislike having to own and run a garage. The cost of insurance, tools, equipment, diagnostic stuff, ramps, premises, phone line, credit/debit card, Internet, wages, overheads.... Etc....

Horrible.

Yet customers complain about charges. If running a garage is such a cash maker then give it a go! Then weep.

Of course they make money on parts etc. That is why they exist. Supermarkets make money on food and stuff.

Not forgetting they will also get charged for having a bank account and every time they pay the staff take a card payment and pay cash or cheque in will incur charges,

Everyone is on the bandwagon of charging businesses,

I bet the biggest cost will be business rates as the coontcill sure know how to charge

[Christine]

I'd rather change 2 fanbelts  on a fez .. then have the afternoon off

[Tamworthbay]

People moan about the price of a service, but then you have to look at what goes into it. My gearbox and transfer box needs nearly 10 litres of the red stuff and even going around oiling every little hinge and stuff takes a fair while.

it only takes a second to tick the box and sadly I have seen the results that way of 'servicing' all too often when I look at FSH cars.

[michael1703]

That's probably £65+vat labour per hour and a genuine belt at £30odd+vat

 

Still cheap for a nelson Mandela

 

Some dealers hourly rates are double that per hour

 

Dealers aren't raking it in anyway, the manufacturer has them by the balls.

 

You can only be a dealer if you use X. y and Z tools, stock £30k of spares that nobody will ever need and have the shinies most expensive showroom in the land

[CortinaDave]

Wasn't a main dealer - a small backstreet garage. I rang the main dealer after she'd told me what she'd paid the backstreet guy just out of curiosity as to what their price would have been.

[michael1703]

Doh, misread it.

 

 

If you stick the reg into ecp how much is the belt incase it's something fancy

[CortinaDave]

13 quid. 🙈

[BavarianRetro]

I would really dislike having to own and run a garage. The cost of insurance, tools, equipment, diagnostic stuff, ramps, premises, phone line, credit/debit card, Internet, wages, overheads.... Etc....

Horrible.

The guy next door to me has just paid £37000 for a computer and diagnostic software!

[sierraman]

It isn't a bad job if it's the same as the Focus. I did one about 3 months back, took about 40 mins including fitting a new idler and unseizing the tensioner. The later duratecs are more of a swine, you need some bent bit of tin to complete the job. Belt is what less than £15 I paid. I'm guessing it's the 1.4 type same as the one fitted in focus?