Car back from service

pdw8 · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:03

My wife took our car for its 80k service yesterday and I knew it needed the cambelt changing. She collected it today and the final total was £1584 :eek:

At least they gave it a free valet :rolleyes:

Whats the most expensive garage bill you have ever had? (everyday work not tuning etc)

[TW]Fox · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:06

£1584 for everyday service work?

Tell me thats not the Audi, right? Your wife has a Ferrari 355 or something?

pdw8 · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:10

Yes, it was the Audi.......

Had the cambelt plus water pump and other related bits done, new pads all rounds and the standard service(about £440 alone)

ZG002 · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:12

the things people pay to keep a full service history on there cars :eek:

Dandle · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:13

pdw8 said:
At least they gave it a free valet

The valet won't have been free a lot of guys when taking their cars to Audi tell them not valet them as thats still charged at £90ish ph and they probably spent more than an hour on it!

Mackass · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:13

My Dad's Audi had something similar, serviced a couple of years back and was around £1400, although he did manage to get them to lower it a little, no idea how much he paid in the end.

[TW]Fox · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:14

Thats utter madness, is the waterpump actually a serviceable item on these?

I find that staggering £1500 for a service on a mainstream car? You didnt have it done at a main dealer, right? That'd probably have been under 500 quid at an Indy and I'm sure it wouldnt have knocked £1k off the residuals of an 80k car..

pdw8 · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:21

yep, took it to the Audi dealer I bought it from. I am not totally stupid, I asked around at a few local garages but they were reluctant to do it as it is a hell of a lot of work to change the cambelt. You have to take the entire front end off including the lights, rad etc to get to the cambelt.
They estimated it takes 7 hours to do the cambelt alone. I called an independant Audi dealer near Slough and they only quoted £100 less than the main delaer and it would use £50 in petrol there and back.
Believe me, If I could have got it done a lot cheaper I would have, i'm not too bothered about FMDSH anymore.

neil-ste · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:23

You just had your pants pulled down good and proper.

lordrobs · 24 Mar 2006 at 00:53

Ouch, I wish your wallet a speedy recovery

Dandle · 24 Mar 2006 at 01:31

Don't mean to be a know all but if your car is a 2001 onwards A4 3.0 Quattro(engine code ASN/220bhp or BBJ/215bhp) then the book time to do that belt is 4.5 hrs not 7 only the bumper is removed for access to do the job(not the rad, lights etc). I would question the times they have charged to do this as that seems rather excessive.

agw_01 · 24 Mar 2006 at 01:32

[TW]Fox said:
Thats utter madness, is the waterpump actually a serviceable item on these?

I find that staggering £1500 for a service on a mainstream car? You didnt have it done at a main dealer, right?

Ahhhhh, the joys of owning a 12 year old car eh Fox

thebrasso · 24 Mar 2006 at 10:08

Things like this are why I doubt I'd ever get my car serviced by a main dealer. Instead I use an independent (albeit small Stoke based chain) garage where the total prices quoted are usually about half what Honda could quote me.

I hope your wallet recovers mate. Although its swings and roundabouts, I do know that Audi parts are expensive compared to say Ford and Vauxhall parts.

pdw8 · 24 Mar 2006 at 11:11

I'm sure Fox will see a similar hike in service/running costs when he gets his 530D.

[TW]Fox · 24 Mar 2006 at 11:12

pdw8 said:
I'm sure Fox will see a similar hike in service/running costs when he gets his 530D.

There is no £1500 scheduled service for the 530i. The most expensive scheduled service is an Inspection II at approx £300.

Bat · 24 Mar 2006 at 11:43

Audi completely take the mick. I have FSH of my old A4 and it used to be taken to Audi for everything by the previous owner. There are several bills in there for £1000+. I got a quote from my local Audi dealer for a full service, plus brake discs and pads, brake fluid and coolant changed: £840!

Got it done by my usual Audi/VW specialist instead: £235.

LeoWyatt · 24 Mar 2006 at 11:58

it cost me £175 to get the water pump, cambelt, tensioners, etc changed on my 1.4 polo

You were had over a barrel mate

As someone said above, find your local specialist

Morba · 24 Mar 2006 at 11:59

LeoWyatt said:
it cost me £175 to get the water pump, cambelt, tensioners, etc changed on my 1.4 polo You were had over a barrel mate

As someone said above, find your local specialist

it would cost me more than that for an oil service from bmw!

pdw8 · 24 Mar 2006 at 13:34

[TW]Fox said:
There is no £1500 scheduled service for the 530i. The most expensive scheduled service is an Inspection II at approx £300.

But thats the point, the service plus brakes was about £500 but the cambelt and bits was £1000. This only needs to be done every 60-80k so is a one off, not a routine cost.

iv-tecman · 24 Mar 2006 at 13:55

£1500 for a 80K service...!! When they rammed you from the rear, did the back of your teeth hurt?

Crazy, and I agree, the valet wasn't free..!! You've paid for it, and then some. Most expensive bill I've ever had for a car was £250 for a front driveshaft(s) on a Mondeo, included fitting and an oil change and half service as well....