Rip Off

I cant help feeling I have been ripped off...
Car annual service, MOT, new cam belt,new water pump,brake fluid change came in at a staggering £640... Me thinks I shall be going elsewhere next year. No more of this loyalty stuff from me.

 

What car is it?

That is not a bad price at all to be fair, even for something like a fiesta or some other small ish car.

 

I would feel exactly the same! My car's due for a service and I'm hoping to pay less than £200 for it, all-in. I'll be shopping round carefully.

It really annoys me when loyalty does not pay - insurance companies, for example, will rip you off blind if you renew automatically and fail to shop around every time. It's such a tedious bore doing the shopping around, it makes me want to scream. And I guess they know that!

 

Just the belt change and water pump for the Porsche is around £800-£1000, if I threw in a service and mot with the fluids changed it'd be about £1200 or so!!!

The citroen with all the above would be about half that. That is with a garage I use that is only £35 +Vat labour.

Main stealers I think Porsche charge over £150 an hour plus vat, and Citroen about £80 an hours plus vat. So main dealers prices for labour and oem parts would treble or quadruple what I pay, jeeeeeeeez.........

 

I wonder how much it is for a Rolls Royce!!!

Val

 

Fauxhall are very expensive. My bro had a vectra a few years back, clutch went, it relieved him of £800!! That was around 6 years back, so I reckon with inflation that'll amount to about £1k today. I remember my dads jag, back in the 80's, parts and servicing weren't bad considering it's a prestige brand, he never took it to a main stealer though!

The mrs has a Citroen c4, the same as me, but hers is the petrol whereas mines the diesel, prices can be dear,on those depending if you use the main stealer or not. Before that, she had a Hyundai Tucson, drank the juice, and the parts were expensive, iirc, the dealers labour was £100 an hour inc vat. Had a wire corrode in the ecu, cost of replacing the wire? £480!! Literally a 45 min job and a quids worth of part, but took them long enough so they could justify the labour cost, Robbin bar stewards! The car went a month after!

 

Why do modern cars always need the cam belt changing, and why cant they do it for nothing, seeing as its a built in defect in most modern engines.
Designed to put the fear of christ into all motorists should this rubber band snap.

I have serious doubts about modern engineering, far too complex and relying on technology more and more.
All this adds up to us paying more money for cars and servicing.
Not quite worked out the benefits yet.

 

Even chains don't have an infinite lifespan though Pete, they stretch and can snap. Bit like a motorbike chain really, they need periodic adjustment, lubrication and eventually replacement. A cars cam chain doesn't have the wear of a bike chain granted, but even high mileage old cars should have the cam chain inspected and replaced, if nessasary.

 

I am a fan of the old school cars/bikes, no gizmo's or driver aids, no abs, no power steering, no leccy windas, just plain old engineering. Nothing to go wrong electrically, other than the ignition system which doesn't need some software to check at an exorbitant price. unfortunately modern society and eu regulations (although environmentally speaking it's a good thing) frown on an old smoker of yesteryear.

 

Yeah but I'm sure its a longer time span and not considered lethal if not done on the correct day or mileage, how many cam belts get changed well before doomsday just because everyone is scared the thing is going to snap with disastrous consequences.

 

Totally agree with you Pete. I remember the first few cars I had, never replaced a belt or water pump, can't even remember changing the oil. Never had a problem other than irrc, wipers packing up on one of them. These days, it's "built" into the servicing schedule at a much earlier date. The Porsche has a 4 year belt change interval, and omn every second belt change, a water pump! It also has a cam chain which drives the cams via sprockets on the cams, and these were originally not part of the maintenance schedule but as the cars are getting old, it's recommended to have them replaced,otherwise good bye top engine.

The maintenance on it every 4 years is bad enough, but come 8 years it's not very affordable at all....... With all the belts inc the cam, balance, alt, power steering, water pump, cam chain, rollers, tensioners, engine oil seals I reckon that little lot will buy a good used car if taken to a,Porsche dealership!! Not for me ta....... Rather spend it on plants for me garden