Garage Quote

BYTEr

BYTEr

BYTEr

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Joined
2 Oct 2004
Posts
1,048
This week I've had everything creep up on me all in one go, tax, insurance & MOT and today I'd booked the car in for the MOT, which it failed on multiple things.

I haven't been using it since the 6th of September and only got it back an hour before it was due to go in and knew it was going to fail, front 2 tyres I thought were barely legal if legal, wipers were smudging, rear fog light wasn't working nor was 1 of the side repeaters so was dreading the phone call back.

It eventually failed on 1 of the front tyres (the other front getting an advisory), both wipers, rear fog light and side repeater and what I didn't expect their was a big rust hole in the drivers door seal and oh something about a brake adjuster which has possibly seized but apparently normally cleaning it solves the issue.

I told the garage I'd like them to do the work and whilst their at it give it a full service and to get the cam belt changed as I think it was long overdue.

So for the welding, 2 front tyres (avons he said £38.85 each), full service (again overdue), cam belt and the little things like the wipers and bulbs it all came to £515 which I thought was reasonable, I was their when he phoned for the price of the cam belt kit which was £40 something pound which I thought was cheap and I saw him list it on the quote as such but the few people I’ve told seemed shocked at how much its all going to cost, there a local garage and from what I’ve seen and the work they’ve done on other things they’ve got my confidence, was just checking if the above quote seems expensive to you lot, oh and this on a Saxo 1.1 '97.

Thanks in advance.
 
The repairs very nearly match the value of the car, and from the sound of it the car doesn't seem to be a peach.

Have you considered replacing it at all?

And yes, £515 does seem rather steep.
 
What can you get for £500 thats appreciably better than a 97 Saxo thats just been fully serviced, has a complete 12 month MOT, a replacement cambelt and two new tyres?

Nothing, I'd imagine. Unless we are talking bills of many times the cars value I always find the link people place between a cars value should they wish to sell it and the cost of any work which the car requires. Unless its for sale, its value doesnt matter - its broken, you must fix it.

The one figure which DOES matter is not the value of your car but the replacement cost with a car thats fully road worthy with no faults. If THIS is less than the repair cost, then its time to consider moving on - but it rarely is in the cases I see of people suggesting changing cars over bills for largely consumable items which could just as easily be required on the new car.
 
I am not necessarily suggesting a £500 car, but what I am suggesting is that the OP reconsidered before he attempts to throw good money after bad.
 
Seems fair to me . Mate at work took his c4 into get a mot .. passed (just) but they said it needed disks and pads all round .. £800 the quoted and it wasnt even a citroen garage .
 
Phew, Fox you've made me feel a ton better putting it that way.

I got it in May 09 and been driving since Oct '09 and done 12k miles and in that time its cost me £6.50 for a replacement alternator belt from the RAC, so in that respect feel fortunate, also in 3 days I'd of earnt a NCB halving my insurance, and at present cannot afford to be without a car and don't have the means, time or the will to try and get a car as roadworthy and friendly to insure for a young driver.

Also the car despite sounding bad is in quite good nick, the bodywork is surprisingly good, it had a full detail, first from me just by hand as I'd read the detailing thread and thought I'd give it a go and then by a friend who'd started a few months before me with a machine polisher, refurbished alloys, new windscreen, and no other evident mechanical faults or the usual rattles you'd expect and although people slate saxo's for things such as the pedals being to close together etc I quite like it, except for motorways, where even the slightest crosswinds above 60MPH makes it almost impossible to drive in a straight line.
 
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BYTEr said:
what I didn't expect their was a big rust hole in the drivers door seal and oh something about a brake adjuster which has possibly seized but apparently normally cleaning it solves the issue.
Click to expand...

Why did I think you were talking about a Saxo as soon as I read this? :P

If the cam belt change included a new water pump and tensioner (if it didnt it really should have) and it was a major service (i.e plugs etc as well) I can imagine the price coming to that. They're horrible cars to weld (very thin metal) which could have taken sometime (if they did it properly, not saying they didnt! :P )

From knowledge the rust will be caused by a leak which I suggest you find before it causes the same issue again, unless you just got unlucky and it rusted from the outside in rather than the inside out.

The brake adjustor gets a lot of lov...hate sorry, on the forums I browse, cleaning can get it going again but it will keep seizing. Its basically a little piston I think with some spring attached that is moved by weight in the back of the car and adjusts the brake bias forward or back accordingly. Easier to free up then replace, but it is something you could do yourself one sunny day as its quite accessible on the underside of the car at the back, near the axle.

I love mine, but then again it is my first car and I suspect after its next MOT in March it will be given some oil infrequently (to counteract a leak from the front crankshaft seal), weekly checks, and thats probably it untill it stops running. Otherwise it will become (more) of a money than it already is, but thats more me being unrealistic in wanting a squeak free car, with a car thats 12 years old and french.

It helps im ok with a spanner and have had a good poke around the engine and car in general, but I know what can (and will eventually) go wrong with it and in my current financial situation I cant afford to fix everything, unless I go el'cheapo with scrap yard parts and fit them myself and can put up with noises, which im sort of half managing at the moment :P

Just my 2p I guess. When me and a guy I know see each other we always have a laugh over our Saxo's, and what problems were having this week or month. He has fitted stupid wheels to his though which have affected the indicated speed, handling and comfort (of what little there was) somewhat :P
 
Thanks for the reply, no works been carried out yet it was just an estimate and I'll be ringing tomorrow to finalise any work. I'm unsure about the water pump and tensioner so I'll check, thanks, they just said a cambelt kit, but it was only £40 something, again with the service I'm not sure, I saw listed, oil, air and fuel filters, semi synthetic oil and spark plugs, again I'll check so thanks.
 
It would be silly for them not to change the waterpump and tensioner while they have the belt off, but the waterpumps are known to be a pain to get out, but once replaced its not something you'll have to worry about

Tbh £515 for:

Tyres (80)
Full Service (admit not the biggest car in the world but its parts + their time) (say 80?)
Cambelt (40 for part, 1-2 hours @40 p/H 80-120
Welding (hard to say, 50?)
Little niggles (30-40?)

My additions make 370 but im neither a mechanic nor know their prices. Tbh they might just be trying to get extra money out of you on stuff like the service cambelt and niggles.

But then again, they might need to outsource the welding to somewhere else and they might just be going off what their computerised system says (if they have one) and they find the job takes more or less time than anticipated.

I'm not trying to put you off but you will get differences in price between different garages. Big chains (not independants) can charge stuff like 30 quid for brake bleeding (on a saxo? please, get a brake bleed kit for a fiver, some fluid, and a mate to help) and the same for an oil change. Which on a saxo is essentially loosening a square bolt, waiting for the oil to drain (add engine flush if you desire), new seal, retighten, fill up.

I've saved a lot of money by doing things like my last service, headgasket replacement (not failure it was just leaking oil from a galley, common) helping a guy I know do some welding on the inner wings (I cleaned/cut out stuff, he welded, I painted/sealed) changing brakes (basically the entire system except the pipes, fun), and changing the front wishbones on both sides, fixing the leaking sunroof, couple more things I cant remember.

Sorry, im mumbling. Basically its an OK quote but not the greatest, before you finalise have a ring round other places and get some quotes at garages B, C, and D, and go back to garage A and say garage C will do it for this price, can you match it? Etc :)
 
Welding is the expensive bit I had to have some done 2 months ago and it cose 200 for only a small job. I think your quote is good but i would just scap the car and spend the 500 on another one with a years MOT and Tax
 
Well what a nightmare this has turned into, only collected the car today, and well, its not what I was expecting to say the least.

First off all they wanted £620, I then noticed they only changed the 1 front tyre with a "secondhand" £10 one as stated on the bill, when its on full lock theirs clunking noises, the brakes seemed really spongy and the brake pedal felt as if it was just loose, I pulled over and and theirs a massive break fluid leak, theres about a 10cm high black line on half the side skirt from the welding, they've overfilled by quite a lot the engine oil, but at least I've got an MOT certificate.

They came and collected the car, apparently changed a seal and fitted new brake pads, brakes still feel worse, possibly due to the £10 tyre I dunno. The guy I spoke to about the work wasn't in and wont be till next week so spoke to someone else, the reason for the extra cost was the welding was £70 more than what they initially said it was going to be so I argued why they didn't bother to ring and ask if I still wanted it done there, he agreed actually, about the tyre, well its "legal" he goes, I said its not what we agreed and again why wasn't I rung about it, apparently he thinks the bloke was trying to save me money, yeah, they saved me £70 on the tyres which was added onto the welding cost, he basically just fobbed me off saying to speak to the bloke next week. Not happy.
 
One of lives lessons I suppose, yeah I was lazy but still.. Well guess I'll be ringing round tyre places tomorrow which is yet more money and I'll just dump the £10 one back to the garage and getting the money back.

Oh, they also charged me for 2 x screenwash, I mean, really? It was only £1.98 for both.
 
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To be fair you've got to take some sort of responsibility for this. The MOT isn't an unplanned random event - it happens every year and you even get a 1 month period where you can get it done early so you've got lots of time to sort any fails out.

Yet instead you decided it was a good idea to present a car for an MOT with 2 illegal tyres, blown bulbs, dodgy wiper blades etc. I mean why would you do that? It's an open invitation to get ripped off! You knew these things were faulty before the test so quite why you didnt pop to a decent place and get a great deal on some good tyres first, and then spend all of 2 minutes in Halfords getting a new set of wiperblades and some bulbs I'll never know.

I wonder how long you'd been driving it around with duff bulbs, wipers which smeared and two bald tyres?

Why do people just leave everything for the MOT testing station to fix and wonder why they then get a huge overpriced bill?
 
Well like I said I hadn't had access to the car the month before and literally only got it back an hour before so didn't have any time to fix anything and starting a new job and not using the car I just forgot so I accept it's partially my fault, but nevermind. Thnx for the replies.
 
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