Mechanics Bill

Jayob10

Received a mechanics bill today for €700

can anyone tell me if i'm being fleeced? Now i'm giving the lad the benefit of the doubt but here is a rundown of the work carried out

Battery Discharging/brakes semi ceased/Timing Belt/Auxiliary Belt/Oil Filter/Indicators front not working/Remount rear view mirror/ Management lights on, dismantle all calipers and free out, trace wiring fault causing battery discharge/ central locking system fault

timing belt €52
Auxiliary Belts x 3 €20
Filter Oil €10
Semi Oil x 4.5 €22.50
Indicator bulbs x 2 €2
Labour €550

is this excessive? I am probably overreacting

the agreement was to get a price on all work needed to be done before he carried it out, but he kept the car for near 3 months, he claims he was trying to find the source of the battery leaking and it was a process of elimination, and thats what took him so long.

The car is not worth a whole lot either, had we known the bill would be €700 we would not have gone through with it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Atlantic Dawn

What was the make and model of the car, was it done at a main dealer or independent mechanic?

Getting a timing belt done and looking at the other work done I'd say it was pretty ok. If however you had an agreement to get a price on all work done before it was carried out then he shouldn't have gone ahead with it.

Jayob10

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What was the make and model of the car, was it done at a main dealer or independent mechanic?

Getting a timing belt done and looking at the other work done I'd say it was pretty ok. If however you had an agreement to get a price on all work done before it was carried out then he shouldn't have gone ahead with it.

independent mechanic. id rather not give the model.

but for the labour carried out there are not many new parts.

maybe im just being a bit naive

Gary ITR

Jayob10 wrote: »

id rather not give the model.

Well nobody here can say if your price was fair or not

brembo26

Without the make at least it would be hard to judge the labour costs...

Avns1s

brembo26 wrote: »

Without the make at least it would be hard to judge the labour costs...

I think we'd also want to know what the cause of this "battery leakage" was and what was allegedly done to find it.

swhyte027

To be honest looking at your list of which there are some time consuming jobs you got away quite lightly I've personally freed up calipers and it's a two min job and let's just say it was 150e for your timing belt kit the going rate for fitting such is about 150e labour so there's 300e.in fact I'd say 700e is very good price.also don't c the point in not giving the make and model unless it's 1987 Toyota starlet r something........

brembo26

.

Nissan doctor

Its sounds like there was a lot of time consuming issues with the car. Tracing a wiring fault can be a nightmare and you seemingly had several electrical faults with the car, battery, locking, indicators etc.

I once spent 5 hours removing and stripping the wireing loom on a vito van to repair a broken wire, They owner then went mad because he had to pay for 5 hours labour when, as far as he was concerned, all I had done was splice a wire together!:rolleyes:

They can be difficult jobs as you can't possibly price the job before you start as you cannot foresee how long it will take to find the problem, and likewise, you can't stop half way through as chances are you have half the cars loom pulled apart!

EPM

Moved to main motors forum - not DIY related.

Jayob10

Jayob10 wrote: »

independent mechanic. id rather not give the model.

................

He definitely fleeced you, saw you coming so he did.

Jayob10

it was a 1989 Audi Avant Quattro Turbo

Seems very decent in fairness, all jokes aside.

Plug

Front of the car off with these to do the belt?

Fishtits

RoverJames wrote: »

He definitely fleeced you, saw you coming so he did.

Would you care to share your reasons for this assumption?

Fishtits

Fishtits wrote: »

Would you care to share your reasons for this assumption?

'twas in jest as at the time the OP was not mentioning the brand of car, given that on some cars a belt can be changed in less than 30 mins and on others it could take 6 hours I thought it appropriate.