is it a fair price and am I right to be annoyed?

booksale

Sorry for the long post, please bear with me. And also since I know very little about cars and am not a native here, I really need your opinions.

I posted here before about my Ford Fiester 2000. It got flooded and the garage that I used to go to said it's worth to fix it. I like my car too, so if it can be fixed, I would. The garage gave me a quote around 850 something.

After 1.5 months of repairing, I got my car back. I am listing the price here and I hope you guys can give me advice whether I am charged reasonably:

S/H engine: Euro 400
T.Belt Kit: Euro 110
Water Pump: Euro 40
Antifreezw/ Coolant: Euro 20
Oil filter: Euro 8
Synt Oil: Euro 50
Clutch Slave Cylinder: Euro 80
Brake Fluid: Euro 12
Labour: Euro 200

And no VAT.

He once said that he would not charge me the labour cost, because he would just ask his staff do my car in between fixing other cars. The reason he charged me now I guess is that someone scratched the car he lent me as a replacement (which wasn't my fault, anyway, another story). So, I did not say anything when he charged me for labour cost, although, to be honest, if he can get my car fixed quicker, it wouldnt happen, and also, my insurance actually does cover me a replacement car.

I am claiming the insurance as I basically have no extra money. But within a week that I took back my car, I found there is a loud noise coming from the back of it when I drive at the speed from 50-100kmph. I am not sure but it may be the exhaust?

I am disappointed about the whole situation, because it took 1.5 month for them to repair the car and I wasn't told that there were other problems other than the dead engine. He said he would check for me, and he gave me a quote of around 850 that I think it worths to fix. If I knew need to pay more to fix other problems, I would prefer to get another car.

Before the accident, one of the rear light was gone, after the repairment, the rear light was still not fixed...

Am I expecting too much that they would give a thorough check after the accident and fix the car well for me and give me a proper quote before they start the job.

I felt I was not treated fairly and I was not informed properly by the professionals I trusted (which because I know very little about car) which led me to make a decision based on inadequate information. Am I right to be annoyed?

And also, should I take my car back to the garage to check? I told them about the noise already, and I told them that I was not happy with that. They asked me to take the car to them to check, but I dont have time yet, so, I will go in two weeks. I am not sure whether I should go back or not.

PLEASE HELP! And also, if anyone knows any nice, reliable, reasonable, honest garage around D3-D13, please let me know.

Cheers!

pippip

To me that's a good bit of work at a very good price. They should have been faster, did you keep ringing them and did they give you any reason for the delays?

I would just continue with them as you have more chance of them repairing the noise for less than another garage considering the work you have already given them.

mlumley

I make that €70 more than quoted. That is not bad as they dont know all what has to be fixed. If you had asked for a fixed price, i can say it would be a lot more as they would have to cover themselves. As for charging for labour, i would think that it took longer to fix/find parts than thought.

The knocking sound, you can take it back, but they may say it wasnt there when they had it. Or, that it wasnt part of the brief you gave them.

They will do what you asked them, and no more, as you can then say you didn t ask them to do it. See what I mean?

I personaly think you didnt get a bad deal. He has to make a living and pay staff after all.

Some places I know will do work that is not necisary, and charge for it. Then tell you the car aint fit to be on the road. Happened to me in Clonmel the day I was due to go on holiday with it.

They arnt all rip off, and NO, I dont work in the motor trade.

booksale

tks for reply.

I paid 950 euro in total, 100 more than quoted (well, the above figure was an about price, just didnt bother with the cents and 1 or 2 euros something).

I dont mind paying 100 more than quoted and I dont mind paying the labour cost.

But, I feel that I wasn't informed properly and my decision thus was made (by me I know) based on inadequate information they gave. If they told me that other than the dead engine, I would need to fix the exhaust or this and that, and that I would need to spend more on the car, I probably would not fix it and would go get another one with the money I paid and going to pay.

And I wrong to be not happy with that? Within a week after the car I took back the car from them, and it has got problems already, is it alright for me saying that they did not do their job probably? He told me he would check for me to see whether it's worth to fix and he said it's the engine that's dead and it's worth to fix. He did not inform me about the exhaust or anything. And even the rear light wasn't fixed probably. And again, he said he would check the car!

Can I say that if I wasn't charged unreasonably, I was still led to make a decision based on the trust on professionals/friends to fix a car that might not worth to fix as they said? That, instead of fixing it, a true professional/friends would tell me that it would be better off buying another car with the money that needed to be spent on fixing it? But if they told me so, of course, they can't make any money out of it.

Maybe I should not be angry? But I am indeed angry though, can't help. That's why want to get a fair advice from you guys. Feel better as I know the price at least is reasonable.



Cheers!

Solnskaya

Cheap.Fast.Good. When getting a job done, pick any two. You can't have all three, just two. You got your two. Move on:) BTW, LOL at your version of "ripped off". You must be a dream when it comes to buying a round........

unkel

booksale wrote: »

He once said that he would not charge me the labour cost, because he would just ask his staff do my car in between fixing other cars.

Or maybe he said he would not charge you the full labour cost?

What he charged you was very, very cheap for the work he did. Even a cheap backstreet mechanic would have charged at least twice that in labour alone. Was it wise to go ahead with the work? I would say no. Unless your car was in excellent condition otherwise with good tyres, plenty of NCT and maybe tax left on it.

Don't blame the guy. He quoted you a very cheap amount and didn't overrun much. It was up to you to decide to go ahead or not.

booksale

I just did not feel that I got two to be honest. It's definitely not fast. Maybe it's cheap, but is it good? That's what I doubted. Maybe it is. Then that's good.

Dont really get what you said the next sentence.

I do honestly think I can pay 950-1200 to get a nice little car.

THANKS anyway.

booksale

unkel wrote: »

Don't blame the guy. He quoted you a very cheap amount and didn't overrun much. It was up to you to decide to go ahead or not.

THANKS.

I am disappointed because I think he's my friend (I know him long before I started driving and basically I quite trusted him) and if it was me, and if I have a professional knowledge and I knew it's not going to worth it, I would tell the truth. Maybe it's just me. Anyway.

Cheers!

Pulsating Star

booksale wrote: »

tks for reply.

If they told me that other than the dead engine, I would need to fix the exhaust or this and that, and that I would need to spend more on the car, I probably would not fix it and would go get another one with the money I paid and going to pay.

Cheers!

Am I correct in reading that the car had a dead engine going to the garage?
If so how could they foretell problems with exhaust before a new engine is fitted?

Dosen't seem a bad price to me, I had one replaced (nothing special)and it took a number of months and 1500e.:(

booksale

Pulsating Star wrote: »

Am I correct in reading that the car had a dead engine going to the garage?
If so how could they foretell problems with exhaust before a new engine is fitted?

You are right. Thanks.

Pulsating Star wrote: »

Dosen't seem a bad price to me, I had one replaced (nothing special)and it took a number of months and 1500e.:(

What was the model and size of the engine of you car? A number of months? Did you ask why then? Do you still go to that garage now?

-Chris-

You have no reason to be disappointed imho.

They supplied and fitted an engine to your car for under €1k. That's a very good price.

You were obviously on a budget, so they didn't do any additional work (i.e. the rear light). They didn't tack on any additional jobs, they just did what they were told.

They took a while doing it, but only for the reason of keeping your cost down.

You've noticed an issue with it since, and without quibble they've asked you to bring the car back in to see if it's rework or not. If it is, I'd expect it to be done for free. If it's an additional issue, there'll be an additional cost.

They lent you a car for the time that your car was with them. That was free of charge as far as I can tell.

They didn't charge you VAT. While there may be legal/moral issues with this, the fact that they did a cash job for you has saved you from having to pay the VAT on this job.

It seems to me like this garage has done everything in their power to keep the cost of this job down, while also doing all the necessary work.

Let us know what happens after you bring the car back for the rework, but as it stands at the moment, I don't think you have any reason to be angry.

booksale

THANK you guys for your honest opinions. Very much appreciated.

Just thought I could get another nice little car with the money that I spent and the insurance indeed would pay more for me to get another car instead of repairing the Ford. But I know it's me who made the decision and I should have listened to others' opinions that time (some people recommented me to get another car instead of fixing it) but I did seriously think they were more professional and they did see the car and they knew better than me and any others who hadnt seen the car.

Will let you know when I bring the car back to check.

Nissan doctor

The prices you have paid above are EXTREMELY cheap. The garage was obviously doing you a very good favour. The parts prices all look very good and they even went to the hassle of finding the engine for you. €200 labour would normally only cover roughly the cost of replacing a timing belt on that engine never mind replacing the whole engine + other parts!


IMO you should be on here naming and praising the garage.

As for another noise in the back, its likely nothing to do with what they did but it makes sense that if you damaged the car in a flood then the exhaust could be damaged(hot exhaust suddenly submerged in cold water).

shamwari

OP, most quotes are estimates. These are not an absolute calculation of what the final cost will be. They can vary either way, and usually with a job of the complexity and scale of yours, it is reasonable IMHO to expect some variation of the final cost. Hope everything works out for you

George Dalton

I thought this sounded familiar. OP in my opinion you should have listened to the advice you were given here a month ago before you went and spent the value of your car on repairs:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056437252

Where is everyone now who reckoned he could get the engine supplied and fitted for €450?

The overall price sounds about right. Looking through the breakdown parts and labour, the timing belt kit and oil are a bit on the expensive side but the labour is very cheap so more than offsets that fact.

ottostreet

That's a lot of work done for 950...You should be praising them, not giving out!

BUT...ya big eejit, 950 euro is worth more than the car! Why didnt ya buy a new car!

booksale

OSI wrote: »

I don't get this, you had a rough idea of how much it was going to cost, and you knew how much a replacement car would cost. I'm not such what you expected the garage to do here, that was your own decision to make.

I dont know at this moment whether I need to pay for fixing the noise. If I need to, then on top of the 950, I need to pay extra. I was quoted around 850 and I dont mind to pay 100 extra. But if I knew I need to pay more than 1000, I would prefer to get another car.

booksale

ottostreet wrote: »

That's a lot of work done for 950...You should be praising them, not giving out!

BUT...ya big eejit, 950 euro is worth more than the car! Why didnt ya buy a new car!

Because I like the car and the garage said it worths to fix and it gave me a quote that I thought was OK! That's why I am giving out!

Yea, guys, I know it's my own decision disregard of the opinions from the garage!!

booksale

George Dalton wrote: »

I thought this sounded familiar. OP in my opinion you should have listened to the advice you were given here a month ago before you went and spent the value of your car on repairs:

Yea, I should have, but because I thought those guys havent seen that car, and also, by that time, the garage had taken out the broken engine already.

Instead, I got given out by the insurance company that I should not let them start the work before the inspection go ahead. But I did not know they started tbh. The guy told me he would not start the work soon because he would need to look for the right engine and the garage that time was very busy. But when I told him (the day after they towed the car to their garage) that the inspector needed to go and inspected, he told me the engine was taken out already but he would keep it so the inspector could check. This was a little bit annoying too, because as a garage, I thought they knew better than me that work could not start before the inspection done. But maybe he did not know/ forgot I wanted to claim? Although, seriously, I did mention I would check about claim with the insurance company.

The whole thing was a bit chaotic at that moment anyway.

THANKS for you guys'