Rant (you were warned!) Garages ripping women off!

[Lynne]

I took my Corsa van in for an MOT at the local Vauxhall garage, as the garage I normally use in my village is closed for two weeks. I went to collect it and was told it had failed on various things

Bulb needing replacing in NSR side light (fair enough, they quoted me £1.75)
Headlight clips needing replacing as headlights couldn't be adjusted properly - fair enough but they quoted me £74 to replace them, half an hours labour each side
OSR tyre cracked showing cord according to them (quoted me £45 plus VAT)
Cracks in paintowork on door pillars identified as stress fractures in the welds (they quote me a whopping £375 plus VAT to correct this)


So I say I will take the car thanks and thought about things - headlight clips surely cant be that hard to replace. I go to buy the clips - 54p for both including VAT then get out my tool box and undo the headlights - after a couple of scraped knuckles I managed to get the old clips out - fitting them and replacing headlights was a doddle - this took ME 20 mins in total - someone who has never even removed a headlight in their life, most of that time spent removing the old clips, yet apparently a trained Vauxhall mechanic takes half an hour per side?????

Tyre - I look at the tyre and can see no cord showing through the sidewall so I take the car to TWO different tyre places and ask them to inspect it - nothing wrong with it and if I want to change the tyre they can replace it for half the cost of the Vauxhall garage.

So all that's left is the main issue - the supposedly cracked welds - I take the car along to another MOT centre and actually point them out and ask them about them - according to them its just paintwork damage (which there is plenty of on my trusty Corsa van!) and doesnt indicate there are stress fractures in the welds

So the question is - are garages ripping women off because they think they will pay up as they wont want to do the work themselves or are they simply ripping everyone off?

I have now learnt my lesson and will only trust my regular garage who have on occasions said something I have asked them to do on my car wasnt worth the money or I will try and complete the work myself. The local Vauxhall garage will be receiving a letter of complaint (the look on the parts guys face when I told him what they quoted to replace them said everything I needed to know) about their overcharges and also failing my car on problems with a tyre and on welds which does not exist - good job other MOT centres dont try to rip you off, so now I have a shiny new 12 month MOT, no thanks to Vauxhall!

Instead of the cost of corrections for my MOT costing me £500 plus it has cost me 54p for the clips plus the cost of a replacement bulb I already had as a spare.

Rant over, order now resumed

[Janos]

I think main dealers rip everyone off. Don't talk to me about my local VW dealer. £650 to INVESTIGATE a problem that I got fixed for less than £300.


Janos

[DannyB]

I would never use a main dealer again, diagnosed a dead alternator, replaced, fault still present. Then said, ooh that'll be the starter motor then. Fitted it incorrectly, refused to accept it until I took one of them out to the car and got him to try and start it.

Total charge £750. Starter motor failed again in about 6 months, got a pattern part and changed it myself in about an hour.

VW Drift bridge in Epsom.

Name em and shame em.

Danny

[MATTBIN]

Hi Lynne
I have an Astra, had Vauxhalls since 1982, so I think I can comment a little.
We have a local dealer, Useless, wouldnt let then fill my washer bottle. The one a little further away is much better. I think it just depends on the garage, I think they will try it on with anyone, doubt they are sexist, so at least they are fair!!!!
Tyre place where I live is the same, tried it on, faced up to them and they backed down regarding a puncture, said I'd driven on it, I hadnt.

Bike dealers are the same, some good, some less so, much less so.

Vauxhall (and others) have a set time as laid down by the manufacturer for how long a job takes. Sometimes they go over the allowed time sometimes they dont, swings and roundabouts really. In this case they probbaly would have done it quicker than the allocated time, but they also have to fill out job cards etc. I know it wouldnt have made that much difference but its where the dealer makes his profit, new cars dont make much at all. So we save on new car prices (or some do) and pay at service time.

Local main Ford dealer (in St. Albans) sorted the boys car recently, very impressed, loads of time on it, diagnostics machine etc (not available to non Ford dealers - I know cos the non Ford indy couldnt solve it) £75 - a bargain in my view. Some are good, very good.

Matt

[DannyB]

Originally Posted by MATTBIN

Hi Lynne
I have an Astra, had Vauxhalls since 1982, so I think I can comment a little.
We have a local dealer, Useless, wouldnt let then fill my washer bottle. The one a little further away is much better. I think it just depends on the garage, I think they will try it on with anyone, doubt they are sexist, so at least they are fair!!!!
Tyre place where I live is the same, tried it on, faced up to them and they backed down regarding a puncture, said I'd driven on it, I hadnt.

Bike dealers are the same, some good, some less so, much less so.

Vauxhall (and others) have a set time as laid down by the manufacturer for how long a job takes. Sometimes they go over the allowed time sometimes they dont, swings and roundabouts really. In this case they probbaly would have done it quicker than the allocated time, but they also have to fill out job cards etc. I know it wouldnt have made that much difference but its where the dealer makes his profit, new cars dont make much at all. So we save on new car prices (or some do) and pay at service time.

Local main Ford dealer (in St. Albans) sorted the boys car recently, very impressed, loads of time on it, diagnostics machine etc (not available to non Ford dealers - I know cos the non Ford indy couldnt solve it) £75 - a bargain in my view. Some are good, very good.

Matt

Funny my independant mechanic has the Diagnostic machines? As for the comment they don't make much money on new cars how come they are sooo much cheaper in Europe then?

Danny (cynic when it comes to the auto industry)

[Mark Davies]

One thing to say.

Trading Standards.

Turn the rip-off merchants in and watch them hung by the short and curlies.

[MATTBIN]

Danny my indy has some machines but not the latest stuff so the output codes cannot be unravelled apparently. They worked on the car for two days and charged me nothing, I am sure they would have loved to have sorted it and billed me.

New car prices - my mate used to work on the service side, so had no axe to grind and no bias, he saw what they bought cars in for and what they sold them for. The days of cheap 'comparable' cars isnt what it was, especially if you drive the dealer into a bargian, but you do have to work at it. They make more from the finance deals they sell.

Matt

[Lynne]

I used to work for a Vauxhall main dealer and I am well aware of how they charge jobs out BUT I am SURE that there will NOT be an allocation of half an hour to remove a headlamp and replace a clip - in any case, there is always discretion in the charging structure for jobs - even my local Toyota dealer (who charge top prices for servicing etc) replaced a sidelight for me on my MR2, charging me only £5 labour - they will get my business again but the Vauxhall garage sure as hell won't do. The assertion that new car prices are lower as a consequence or their charging structure has absolutely no effect on me as I will never purchase a brand new vehicle and frankly don't see why I should subsidise those who do - my Corsa van is only worth around a grand, why on earth would I spend over £500 on it? lol

Mark - I wasn't actually thinking of going as far as that but if I don't get a satisfactory response to my letter of complaint I will bear that in mind

[Richard Greenwood]

[Richard Greenwood]

I'll never use a main dealer again for servicing.

When I last took my Mondeo to a Ford deal it cost me the best part of a grand to service & MOT.

I vowed then I'd never use them again. Last year I took the car to my local garage. The cost this year? £250!!!

I had a problem with the thermostat a few weeks ago - local garage replaced it for the cost of the part - £19 - no charge for labour.

I've now discovered I've got a problem - the site our garage uses has it's lease expire soon. Is it being renewed? No - the site's been sold to a property developer & we're now going to get more houses in our village.

I'm going to be lucky to find a garage as cheap.

Richard