Scottish Elises

£46 to replace a smearing wiper blade and £304 to replace worn handbrake shoes. Anyone else better it?

LR Stirling.

S

Ask for a quote from LR to replace corroded brake lines (which run between the body and the chassis)...

(And TADTS...!)

lets just hope you don't have electronic handbrake issues...

lad in my office had a 2k bill to sort out his RRS!

Parks Renualt Irvine

Car goes in for a 12k service and they offer to change the brake pads for £50 as there is only 3-4k miles left.
Car goes in for a 24k service and they offfer to change the same brake pads for £50 as there is only 4-5k miles left.
I changed them at 30k for £15

Audi in Stirling wanted £120 + vat to do the wheel alignment on my A2.
I booked it in then they told me that unless I replaced all four tyres they wouldn't warrant it as being correct - in fact the guy went as far as to tell me that unless I fitted four new tyres it was a waste of time.

So I took it to Kenneth Brown in Hillington who did the job for £75 without the need to replace all four of my hardly worn tyres. 15k miles later - still using the same tyres.

Fluoxetine wrote:Ask for a quote from LR to replace corroded brake lines (which run between the body and the chassis)...

(And TADTS...!)

I got lazy once and agreed to this on a Shogun after an MOT fail. £350 later and a set of spongy brakes, I'd learnt my lesson. After querying why a 2 foot section cost so much they justified it with a list of things that clearly weren't done.

I think there is a feeling in the trade that jobs start at £350. It seem to be what most people are prepared to write-off, rather than take to a dispute.

Subaru parts from Lawrence of Kemnay... Hilarious my,

Legacy sport tourer 2005 2.5 SE - new set of 2 cats / down pipe including fitting £2400 / booking time 4 weeks = instead ordered custom stainless steel made to order £700 and £80 fitting at local garage... All done within 10 days

Outback 2005 SE - AC compressor coil failed, new one £1300 / booking time 3 weeks = instead went to Overton for second hand one at £15, swapped the coil myself in 45mins. All working good as! Done same day.

Battery and alternator for vx - all standard vaux spec stuff.

£1k please sir

I threaten to remove car from garage on trailer and price drops to £500 within the hour.

BiggestNizzy wrote:Parks Renualt Irvine

Car goes in for a 12k service and they offer to change the brake pads for £50 as there is only 3-4k miles left.
Car goes in for a 24k service and they offfer to change the same brake pads for £50 as there is only 4-5k miles left.
I changed them at 30k for £15

Yeah, that's a common one. My pal got 'corroded brake discs' mainly a very slight surface rust from lack of use, on the last three mots, all advising replacement (which he nearly did the first time, until I told him to pass on the - don't be bloody stupid- response) my disc get a surface rust everytime it rains ffs !
They are hoping that you don't know the scams and the costs of replacements.

Another common one is when doing springs - insisting you do them as a pair.
Now I know people will start flailing their arms about and saying it's right - maybe on a lotus.
I went in with one spring about inch shorter on one side on my clio, when he said it needed replaced I asked - shouldn't it be done as a pair ? To which he replied - you've been driving about with one side an inch and half shorter, did you even notice ?
Fair point. I didn't drive the clio in such a way that i'd notice, and the remaining spring last another two years until the car was in the bin.

Key fobs are another example - £120 for the key, and £110 for programming.(plus vat)
The programing take all of ten minutes... (if you take your time)

Guy in my work bought a car, and had problems with the brakes, dealer told him it was his fault and he must have been driving through too many puddles. It was an off road 4x4 (obviously not designed for puddle use)
Other guy got a £2000 bill for work, which he thought was just the price - looking down the itemised bill he noticed something like a turbo or similar had been added to it. Asked the guy why it had been changed - oh, we had to take it off to get the the problem and we broke it, so you needed a new one..... (dealer needed a new one once he'd finished)

sendmyusername wrote:Key fobs are another example - £120 for the key, and £110 for programming.(plus vat)
The programing take all of ten minutes... (if you take your time)

Been stung with that one.

X-boss has a BMW 850CSi* and the local dealer told him it needed new disks and pads, the car always got what they said it needed. Later found out the boy who did the work (and was friendly with one of the appretices) only said they needed done because he was going on holiday and needed the commission.



*he might have got rid of it as I see him in a SLS

Not so much a Dealer piss take, but related.

I asked my wife to pop into Timpsons Peterhead and get a spare key copied for the Lotus. He told her it would need to be programmed at £35. I told her beforehand that it was a basic key only needed copying - she told him that. However, he was adamant that it needed programming. My wife declined this and came home. I then opened up the key and showed her the battery and bulb for the built in light - no transponder to be seen, surprise surprise.

Guess he thought he could take the piss as he was dealing with a woman? Anyway, needless to say I will get a key cut somewhere else....if I can find somewhere! It seems Timpsons rule the roost for keycutting in the area!

I was told by Advanced Autos (VW Audi Specialists) in Longstone Edinburgh that my passat hot start issue was a coolant temp sensor.. they replace one and said my car has the wrong engine as it only has 1 sensor instead of 2... I assured them it has the correct engine! paid £105 as they said it was fixed. Got home issue as was so a minute on google found the second sensor which was unplugged

They also told me my brake pads were dangerously low on the inside and needed to be booked in to be replaced as soon as possible!

I took the pads out a month later to paint my calipers... here is a picture of my dangerously worn out brake pads....



AVOID ADVANCED AUTOS in Edinburgh at all cost unles you want fleeced!

Brake pads are obviously a common one.

I've had it before... "rear pads are 70% worn, with only 2k left"

Wife panics, I have to cool the situation, telling her we can run at least another 2k, as there's still 30% left FFS (quite possibly more)

Another few months and 4k down the line, car's due an MOT - wife panics saying we must change them pre-MOT, so I asked my MOT man (trusty sort) to advise, he says they'd still pass but "will need doing within the 1-1.5k miles" so I think "sod it, change them...so the dealer's 2k estimate turned into potentially over 7k

Honda CRV in for first annual service. Front discs and pads are fine at 15% wear but the rears are 75% worn and the disc's are scored. No issue with the hand brake so want to charge £500+ to change them out. Until I pointed out that the fronts were fine and I don't drive everywhere in reverse so must be a problem with the car. After arguing they contacted Honda who authorized the warranty claim.
Car was in the wife's name and when they phoned initially it was her they spoke to, guy on the phone got all flustered when she handed the phone to me. Guess they expected her to just say go ahead, chancers.