Just when you think it couldn't get worst.....

[SV Mad]

Three weeks after being shunted off at a roundabout (no injury thank God) and the bike is getting fixed by the insurer (phew), I thought I was getting it back today, but alas....'parts not arrived due to the bank holidays, Sir'....Oh well it should be back in a week.

Car goes in for service and MOT at Vauxhall and given that I have it serviced and MOT'd by them every year (it's a 2006 Vectra with 59000 miles) I thought it would be back, no troubles, by lunch.

'Hello, is that Mr A - your car has a fractured suspension coil. We can get the part today and get it sorted for you. The service and MOT is £175 and the suspension will be £359. That's a total of £534. It's failed the MOT, shall we get it all done?' :smt093:smt093:smt093

Ouch...:shock::smt097: :evil: I put these in just to cheer me up and I think they're cool (I'm not of the Playstation age, much!)

[G]

£359 to replace a spring on the shock... are they actually having a laugh. You could buy 4 new performance springs and get them fitted for much less than that.

[aaron020873]

i'm no expert but that seems a bit on the expensive side, i'm sure i have had new springs fitted (not on a vectra though) for alot cheaper than that....

[SV Mad]

UPDATE: I told Vauxhall to wait and my brother in law has just (in the last minute) been my saviour. He works for Euro Car Parts and has got the springs for £28+vat and his mate, who runs a garage, will fit them for £40 and hour labour. All in should be £120, and Vauxhall (the ripping off b*******) will re-test the MOT for free next week. :)

[Reeder]

Cheeky thieving *******s

[G]

Which part of your brain fell out when you took it to a main dealer for an MOT anyway lol?

Take it to an independant MOT specialist in future that does not do repairs, they seem to be popping up everywhere around here... that way they have no interest in whether it fails or not.

[SV Mad]

Which part of your brain fell out when you took it to a main dealer for an MOT anyway lol?

Take it to an independant MOT specialist in future that does not do repairs, they seem to be popping up everywhere around here... that way they have no interest in whether it fails or not.

Get the service for £175 and the MOT free - every year. Piece of mind and a courtesy car every time.

[aaron020873]

and do they pull your pants down everytime????

[SV Mad]

and do they pull your pants down everytime???? Oh yes.........

[aaron020873]

:smt046

[maviczap]

I stopped taking my old Cavalier to main stealers, after I got a quote for rear brake cylinders.

10years of trouble free, cheaper motoring followed that decision, all in all, we had that car for 13years. Only got rid of it last year.

Just had the cam belt changed at the required intervals and did the oil & filter changes myself

[Stenno]

If I was you I would now take the opportunity, preferably face to face with the dealer and ask them to explain how they came to the price of £359 just to hear their response.

[maviczap]

If I was you I would now take the opportunity, preferably face to face with the dealer and ask them to explain how they came to the price of £359 just to hear their response.

because they can and there's a lot of idjuts who do pay stealer prices.

for 2 rear brake cylinders would have cost me nearly £200 at main stealers, at the local independant £40.

Until people vote with their wallets and go elsewhere, then its going to continue

[yorkie_chris]

Piece of mind

Here is piece of mine:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA
:smt082:smt082

[-Ralph-]

Why am I not surprised :rolleyes:

STEALER!!

[maviczap]

Just think, with all the money you're not going to fork out now, you can put it toward a GSXR front end ;)

[thefallenangel]

£180 for a service from Nationwide paid for in £60 of clubcard points paid from fuelling my works van :D

[Specialone]

Vauxhall parts are bloody expensive, I remember that from when I had them in the 90's.
I've always had my VW's serviced by the main dealers but I'm beginning to feel like it's a lot of money for very minor work especially now my 3 year warranty is up.

Glad you didn't get bent over and royally shafted in the end anyway, good work :)

[tactcom7]

The Gf's car failed it's MOT a few months back, alarm bells were ringing when she told me she'd found an MOT for £19 on a 'special offer'.

They wanted £175 in total for the work, broken rear coil spring, headlight adjustment, seized brake bias valve etc, ended up getting a spring for about £25, fixed everything else myself and got them to do the headlight for a tenner.

To their credit the manager was kind enough to put it on the ramps and show me each failure in detail and guide me through what was required to fix it which I was very surprised at :)

[metalangel]

Piece of mind and a courtesy car every time.

Yeah, that's what he's asking. Which piece of your mind do they take?

[timwilky]

Best stealer was the local VW, daughter bought a polo privately that came with a full service history, including all previous invoices.

First service she put it in for they wanted to put on new discs, strange as it had only done 4000 miles since they had put on new discs for the previous owner.

When it subsequently failed its MOT for a bent wheel, they made her sign a disclaimer to the effect that she was removing a dangerously defective vehicle. Refused to provide a free retest as it had left the premises. so 3 belts wih a big persuader had the rim aligned and it sailed through the local independent. she then realised that just maybe dad knew what he was talking about.

[SV Mad]

Just back from the 'outlaws'. Brother got me a single OE spring from his work for £21.75, fitted on 'mates rates' at a local garage in Coventry. Great job and all for the princely sum of £60 labour (£81.75 total + £20 tip, to get the boys a beer). A little cheaper than the Vaux dealer!!!
I will be asking the question as to why they say you can only buy the springs in pairs and they must be changed together. The Coventry garage said this is 'cobblers' and EuroCar parts supply them as singles.

[SV Mad]

Just think, with all the money you're not going to fork out now, you can put it toward a GSXR front end ;) :smt082:smt082:smt082:smt082

[Lozzo]

I will be asking the question as to why they say you can only buy the springs in pairs and they must be changed together. The Coventry garage said this is 'cobblers' and EuroCar parts supply them as singles.

I fitted a single new spring to the front o/s of my BMW a few months back and afterwards it sat on level ground with the same ride height as the n/s. In the past I've worked as a durability and handling test driver at Millbrook Proving Ground driving all manner of performance and normal vehicles, so my driving can't be that bad and I can make informed judgements on a car's handling. I drive my cars reasonably spiritedly, especially through corners - it handles absolutely fine as it is.

[yorkie_chris]

Yeah, they're full of sh*t. Ask them why the springs they are selling are so crap as to take a permanent deformation from such a low mileage and in that case you'll expect a full set of springs that are actually fit for purpose for free :)

[collis]

I had my car MOT'd by quick fit for "free" sometime ago, they claimed the breaks were low and all the CV gators were broke.

It's been redone twice since then and the CV gators have never been mentioned (Did change 1 as it was fubared) breaks have never been mentioned in 2 years (I know they are in need of changing).

In fact, a local garage that also does repairs passed the car first time having done no work to it and we thought it would fail.

Although i'm tempted to take the car to the local council run place next time, Money Saving Expert site reccomends taking your car to a council run mot centre if possible as they have no vested interest in repairs

[yorkie_chris]

Just find a place that does MOT and nothing more, does not have to be council