1500 to fix car, am i being ripped off?

galaxyminstrels

Ok so about a month ago, i was driving a narrow country road, car went down a little into verge on the left hand side, i panicked and hit the ditch on the other side as turned the wheel to quickly.
Went to a garage and needed job done quick as didn't want to tell my parents (only got car in February). So the garage gave me a spare car for the week and through them, they sent the car up to a panal beater up the road to fix.
Car is 05 Astra hatchback and needed a new door which i knew would cost 400/450, A couple of other scratches which cost about a 100e and also the mouldings for the door were about 70. No problems there.
Problem is that the labour for just one and a half days work cost me 900e. I was shocked about this but since i had no other option i am paying it all back in instalments. I know there was only a day and a halfs work done on the car because the day after i crashed it the scratches were repaired and the door didnt arrive until 12 the day i collected it, and i collected it about 5 o clock that evening.
So am i being ripped off by this and if so what do i do? Have paid back 700e already and would love to not have to pay the whole thing if someone on here thinks im being ripped off by the garage.

SAABMAN

Maybe the door had to be painted too?

Mycroft H

You entered into a contract when you made the first installment. You now have to pay the rest off weather you think its bad value or not. Its a little late now to be worrying if your getting good value

tytlak

Garages are charging various amounts for labour from 50 euro per hour up to 100 euro from authorized ones. You paid ca. 75 euro per hour. It all depends on the garage, how many employees, whether you paid vat, etc. Bigger garages tend to be more expensive.

Wise thing is to shop around. I lowered the cost of labour for 150 euro on my water pump by doing so. Look after your money next time, sorry to say but you could have saved up to 300 euro on labour.

Thoie

Bear in mind, when I was younger I was used to the fact that garages handed out free cars while yours was in for a service - at least that's how I saw it as my parents were always given a car.

I got a bit of a shock when I went for my first service on my own car. Asked where my free car was, and the garage looked at me funny and said if I really needed one they might be able to rent me one for the day - at a price. It's quite possible you've been charged for the loan car.

lifer_sean

Hard to give any price guidance, without seeing pictures.

Was it a new door ? If so, it needs to be primed and painted inside and outside before fitting. Then has to be fitted, and all the locks, window motors and trim swopped over. This all takes time. Were the other scratches on other panels ? Did they paint the side of the car ? To get all this done in 1.5 days sounds really good to me, and would take more than one person for some of the time (one person sanding / painting door while the second strips old door and repairs the damage on the other panels. Guess 12 hrs for one guy and 4 hrs for the second, total 16 hrs labour ? Assume 50 eurs / hr (which wouldn't be bad). Using the prices you give for the parts it starts to look like :

Door = 400
Moulding = 70
Labour (50x16) = 800
Paint and sundries = 100
Subtotal = 1370
VAT at 13.5% = 185
Total = 1555

No charge for loaner car.

However, if job is done then you are not in a position to negotiate on the price now anyway. The time to do that was before the work started.

david

Where did you get it done? Sounds about right if the door was new.

galaxyminstrels

Yeah, the door was brand new from Opel themselves. Thing that annoyed me was that when i asked the man in the garage would it be under a grand he said definitely. If it had of been more i would have gone through my insurance but i believed his estimate.
Just i've heard stories of people getting this stuff done way cheaper and while i know there was pressure on them the day the door arrived to finish it as i needed the car, it definitely shocked me to know that for about 1 and a half days work a mechanic would get 900e!! As far as i know it did have to be painted and the central locking etc had to be fixed again.
If i had more time to get it done and had the option of being at home when accident happened i probably would have got it done a lot cheaper.
Ah well, you live and learn. Thanks for all ye're help anyway. Just puts my mind at rest if anything, knew i was going to have to pay it anyway.

Darragh29

Sounds about right to me OP. I don't it doesn't seem fair but that's the way it goes.

Gregor Samsa

galaxyminstrels wrote: »

Problem is that the labour for just one and a half days work cost me 900e. I was shocked about this but since i had no other option i am paying it all back in instalments. I know there was only a day and a halfs work done on the car because the day after i crashed it the scratches were repaired and the door didnt arrive until 12 the day i collected it, and i collected it about 5 o clock that evening.

That's one and a half calendar days, but if more than one person was working on it, it could be more than that in man days. I'm not saying that it's definitly the case (I' obiously dont' know the details), but to give an example: a job that takes 3 people one and a half days to do is going to cost more in labour than a job that takes one person the same time.

pyramuid man

Its not nice to be hit with a bill like that but thats the joy's of owning a car for ya.

galaxyminstrels wrote: »

So am i being ripped off by this and if so what do i do? Have paid back 700e already and would love to not have to pay the whole thing if someone on here thinks im being ripped off by the garage.

What we think is irrelevant in fairness. The fact is the garage has carried out the work and can charge what they like now. Just because someone here says its not good value is not going to cut your bill in half. Sorry if I seem harsh.