Shite price for parts

[martybabes]

I have a VW. It's not new, and it's not shite, yet. Last year, the window mechanism failed, and the glass slowly descended into the driver's door.  The Law of Sod dictates that it is a cold evening, made all the more cold from having to drive home (around 60 miles) with the window open.  A friend fixed the window for me while I supplied the parts, available on an ebay site for £8 and a few pence.  The parts comprised lots of wires and a small plastic bit about the size of a matchbox,  We used the plastic bit but not the wires.

 

Last weekend, the nearside window did the Descent of Death into the door, so I popped the car into the local garage for them to do the necessaries.  They sourced the part from the local VW main dealer.  An hour's labour was £43 but the plastic part, which they tried to source from all sorts of places instead of the main dealer (as you'll very soon see why), was over £100.00

 

Obviously VW are now having to recoup some money from VW owners in order to pay for the massive fuckup of their defeat devices fitted to millions of their cars.  Fleecing me for £100 smackers in order to subsidise their iniquitous attempts to con various governments, punters and environmentalists is not fair, not cricket and not British.  OK, I know VW are not British but you get my point.

 

I shall never, ever buy another VW ever again.  Probably.

[HH-R]

Silicone sealant and some 2x4 in the door, SORTED.

[Christine]

ploymorph... make your own plastic parts

[Sigmund Fraud]

Most VWs of that era have self-destructing window mechanisms... Thankfully, they are so popular that there's a cottage industry making replacement parts which are available for £cheap on good old ebay.

 

As long as there's ebay and scrapyards, nobody needs to pay £100 for a small piece of plastic.

[alf892]

I have a VW. It's not new, and it's not shite, yet. Last year, the window mechanism failed, and the glass slowly descended into the driver's door.  The Law of Sod dictates that it is a cold evening, made all the more cold from having to drive home (around 60 miles) with the window open.  A friend fixed the window for me while I supplied the parts, available on an ebay site for £8 and a few pence.  The parts comprised lots of wires and a small plastic bit about the size of a matchbox,  We used the plastic bit but not the wires.

 

Last weekend, the nearside window did the Descent of Death into the door, so I popped the car into the local garage for them to do the necessaries.  They sourced the part from the local VW main dealer.  An hour's labour was £43 but the plastic part, which they tried to source from all sorts of places instead of the main dealer (as you'll very soon see why), was over £100.00

 

Obviously VW are now having to recoup some money from VW owners in order to pay for the massive fuckup of their defeat devices fitted to millions of their cars.  Fleecing me for £100 smackers in order to subsidise their iniquitous attempts to con various governments, punters and environmentalists is not fair, not cricket and not British.  OK, I know VW are not British but you get my point.

 

I shall never, ever buy another VW ever again.  Probably.

So you have found all other main dealers price parts openly, honestly and at the minimum required to cover costs and provide a small profit then?

[Pillock]

I think you'll find manufacturers including VW were charging extortionate prices for parts long before they were found out for being clever with software.

[Junkman]

Yes, genuine spares obtained from main dealers can be expensive and the car biz in general isn't the most honourable.

But lately, VW in particular displays business practices* that are beyond the usual mickey.

 

- Diesel emissions fraud

- To get the sticker price of the Up! under €10k, they charge extra for metallic paint. That in itself is nothing unusual. However, the Up! initially wasn't available without metallic paint!

- That their window lifters are total tosh is a well known fact. Instead of replacing them with improved versions free of charge, they fleece their customers with excessive prices for spares.

 

Why do they get away with it?

 

Two reasons:

 

- The state of Lower Saxony is one of their biggest shareholders (= fascism)

- The sheeple keep buying their tat

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I found myself falling into the Sheeple trap.

Oldest daughter is looking to buy a new car, she's looking at Fiat 500Xs, that Citroen bubble wrap thing and Nissan Duke.

 

Even though I should ,and do, know better , I suggested looking at what deals you can get on Golfs.

I don't know why, we've had a 500 since new in 2009 and it has been completely blameless. Nothing has ever gone wrong in 80,000 decidedly unsympathetic miles. The biggest bill was, I think just under £200 for a cambelt and water pump.

Anyway ,she ignored me and is test driving a Fiat tomorrow, she's taking her mum, apparently I'll take the piss out of the salesman and embarrass her, as if.

Bad news is that we could lose a proper shiteworthy car in p/ex, daughters are in swap around talks so the Rover 600, 206CC or Arosa could get chopped in.

At least it won't be for a fuckin VW.

[For Fiats Sake]

^^ Wow, the dealers will be happy to give you top money* for for the 600,206 or Arosa.  

 

If they have to have a brand new Fiat save 17% off the list price including accessories  by becoming a member of the Fiat Motor Club UK (a separate owners club, no connection to Fiat) Basically by spending £30 to become a member you get very cheap finance and/or staff discount on a new car.  You will need a "chit/voucher" from the club to get the discount.

Dealer just gets a handling charge for processing the sale so won't offer you anything else and will press hard for the usual add ons (paint protection, insurances etc).  I got a miserable offer for my trade in but sold it privately during the lead time for build.  All main dealers have to accept the voucher and it still counts as a sale for them, best to be upfront about it upfront with them.  The schemes are infinity or privilege depending whether you are taking finance or paying cash.  I'm sure a quick google (it's been discussed at length on the Fiat Forum) will get you some more information.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Ok,thanks for the info, I'll get on to it before she goes in tomorrow. Trade in offer for the 500 was £2,300, so as you suggest unlikely to get more than £200 for any of the others, will they listen?

It will be financed so not easy to compare deals, although a Fiat place in Coventry seem to be able to beat anything our local one can manage.

[tooSavvy]

I bum raped a door, off a daewoo, for a 'kwalitee' winder cog.

 

I would still have icicles hanging from my ears had I attempted to source another 'margarine' cog/mech direct from Proton (@£££..)

 

TS

[Urko]

I like that Citreon bubble wrap thing - I won't be getting one until they are £300 though.

[gordonbennet]

Bloody window mechanism shit itself on the Merc coupe last year or was it the one before (the massive bills tend to morph into one and you try and forget them), pillarless so its a bit of a monster of a carriage, not a hope in hell of finding another, a snip* at £400 IIRC and its a bastard to fit and set correctly.

 

On the other hand the usual bit that snaps on the seat belt presenter, there's posh for you, was £16...well it was after i looked over the parts blokes shoulder who wanted me to buy the whole bloody lot, and pointed out to him the part had its own individual part number.

 

Them glass palaces don't come cheap.

[Lacquer Peel]

VAG want £60 for a piece of steel pipe I could probably make myself.

Who needs power steering?

[Supernaut]

This sort of thing is why I'm going to get rid of the A4 once it's got an MOT and buy something silly like a cheap Vauxhall Omega instead.