My luck is phenomenal

[Jono8]

£220 sounds like a great price for what you are having done, and £220 is nothing for a motoring bill. You better get used to it!

I've spent nearly £800 on mine and I've only owned it for 8months (granted half of that is new front tyres and new rear discs and pads which are a given)

 

[Hagar]

£220 for a lesson on rebuilding engines. Well top end actually. You could learn a lot if he is willing to let you look on and ask the odd question. Too many people do not know anything about what happens under the bonnet and you could look upon this as a learning exercise in more ways than just financial. You would never get this from just handing it over to a garage to fix.

I started on motorcycles, two strokes gravitating to four strokes so was pretty good on engines.

One of my first cars broke a drive shaft soon after I bought it (Triumph Herald with three beefy guys in the back). I was pretty upset, but a mate who knew about such things took me to a scrapyard for a replacement and we bought new universal joints and bushes. One afternoons work and we had not only fixed the problem but replaced all the wear parts on the drive and rear suspension.