Garage said a price...now wanting more?

shauncr91

shauncr91

shauncr91

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Last week I took my Clio in for a new cambelt to a small indie garage down the road from me. The owner had a look at my engine and said that it'd cost £120 all in for the work.

Because I was a bit short of cash my father loaned me the money and wrote a cheque for £120, when I picked the car up I gave him the money and they then claimed it wasn't enough and that he'd square up the price with my dad (They've known each other a very long time).

Today my dad went down with another cheque and the garage owner got very angry and started shouting, eventually tearing the cheque up, with a co-worker behind him claiming he'd heard him quote £150 (Nobody else was even there when he quoted us the price because it was outside around 50ft from the actual building).

So what would you do? My father ended the argument by telling him that if he didn't want the £120 cheque then he could have nothing since that was the quoted price. Would you honor the new price or stick with the original quote?

Another thing, he's claiming that the parts for the cambelt kit cost £66 yet in 5 minutes of searching we managed to find one for £55. When we told him that another garage had quoted £100 + VAT @ £117.50 he claimed BS and refused to verify this by calling the other garage.
 
SeatIbiza said:
£120 or £150 for a cambelt is a great price either way.

It's £30 are you really that short?
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No but it's out of principle, he said one price and has now upped it by a quarter of the original quote. The argument isn't between me anyway it's between my father and them but I just want to know what others would do in this situation.
 
Give him his money and dont go back, its not worth a row over 30 quid.
 
Well, not having heard exactly what was said it's difficult to tell.
Your dad already knew that the garage was claiming that £120 wasnt enough before he went down there so did he go down there with the intention of arguing the price or sorting the price out ?
Also you may have found the cambelt (kit) cheaper but I know how my local garage works, he uses a few set companies to get his parts from simply because they will deliver same day if he contacts them early enough, and some of them send 5 vans a day out. That kind of service carries a premium, that is why sometimes I wait 3 or 4 days and get my parts myself online.

Another thing to bear in mind is the relationship you have with your garage, the place I take mine has always done all the work on my car he is very fair and does a good job and is cheap. He doesnt tend to quote prices before doing a job (probably to avoid this kind of situation) but I do try and get a rough idea of cost off him first. If the relationship is good with the garage and he always looks after you guys then pay the £30, either way very unprofessional of him to start shouting at his customers I would question taking any business this guys way ever again.
 
DogsBody said:
Well, not having heard exactly what was said it's difficult to tell.
Your dad already knew that the garage was claiming that £120 wasnt enough before he went down there so did he go down there with the intention of arguing the price or sorting the price out ?
Also you may have found the cambelt (kit) cheaper but I know how my local garage works, he uses a few set companies to get his parts from simply because they will deliver same day if he contacts them early enough, and some of them send 5 vans a day out. That kind of service carries a premium, that is why sometimes I wait 3 or 4 days and get my parts myself online.

Another thing to bear in mind is the relationship you have with your garage, the place I take mine has always done all the work on my car he is very fair and does a good job and is cheap. He doesnt tend to quote prices before doing a job (probably to avoid this kind of situation) but I do try and get a rough idea of cost off him first. If the relationship is good with the garage and he always looks after you guys then pay the £30, either way very unprofessional of him to start shouting at his customers I would question taking any business this guys way ever again.
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I understand what you're saying about the delivery vans, didn't think of that.

As for why he went down...he'd spoken on the phone before and said "Fine pay me £120" and slammed the phone down, so he went today with a cheque for that amount.. Before he'd even said hello today he started swearing and screaming "THATS WRONG" (The cheque), and then tore it in half before even looking at it.

Tbh as far as my dads concerned he's been paid since he left the cheque with him (In two parts), and said if he wants to tape it up and cash it then that's his choice.
 
shauncr91 said:
Yea, when I originally picked it up I had a cheque on me for the quoted price. He simply said to just take the car and the cheque, and he'd sort it out with my dad later.
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There is nothing to worry about then as long as you have checked he has completed the work. Your Dad has given him the £120 cheque, he decided to rip it up. That's the end of it
 
The Garage owner sounds like abit of an arse.
I once was quoted £80 from my Garage owner for ns wheel bearing, I reckoned that was a fair price so I handed the car over to them.
Came back the next day to find second in command, as the owner was on holiday, he charged me £120.
I paid it, but told the guy at the time I'd been quoted £80 and would be speaking to the owner on Monday.
Monday came, I popped in spoke to the owner he confirmed my quote and gave me £40 in cash back.

Wether or not I've been charged extra for the next few services/repairs who knows, but it's good to have a garage that's reasonable.

I'd take my car elsewhere in the future as no professional would be screaming at a grown man who's gave him good business over the years.
 
I always use the same garage for any repairs that need to be done. Always give an estimate cost to cover themselves if its more, if its less then its good for me and the garage are always honest.

I once needed new tires and was away from my local garage so looked up a place online and got the number. Give them a ring and they quoted me £70 for 2 tires. When i went the invoice said £100. I asked them about it and they said because i had been quoted that over the phone thats all i would have to pay. You do get some decent garages and i would use them again if i needed. Even if it did mean that i paid that extra money for them this time round
 
TheDean said:
This is why I now insist everything being in writing. I'm sad to say this has happened to me before :(
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I think we've all been there at some point.

Quoted £500 for a clutch change on a GTIR. Took them 2 weeks and presented a bill for £750.

In writing or not at all. In this instance pay the £30 and move on.
 
The guy let you take the car away on trust without paying anything on the understanding your Dad would bring the money for the repair. Frankly, the guy sounds pretty reasonable to me. For the sake of £30 seems a bit daft to get all het up about it.
 
As people have said pay the £30, it is a good price.

I had my cambelt and water pump recently done and it cost me £240 and that is knowing the owners well.

Always get quotes in writing. Also did anything crop up in the job which took longer as sometimes there are other factors that genuinely result in a price increase (seized bolts, ancillaries etc)
 
I agree that getting quotes in writing is a good idea. Often written quotes will be stated as being subject to a certain percentage deviation (invariably upwards) from the quoted price. This variation is often in the region of 10-20% before they need to contact you about incurring additional costs.
 
when i used to do a fair bit of car stuff for people id give a quote and stick to it, regardless.

jobs can turn out to be a pain. was once doing an oil change and came across a filter that had not been removed for years and had to be breaker barred off. you could end up causing loads of extra work if something liek that goes wrong.

round a bolt trying to get the sump down... you can end up taking the gearbox and clutch off to finish the job

i once had to change a lambda. they can be a real PAIN if they get stuck. it took 5 minutes so you do win sometimes but obviously the price had the risk factored in it
 
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