Dealer Rip-offs

[Scudnut]

Thanks for Sam and Andy for bringing this up in another thread, my first visit to the garage by the way

What dealer rip offs can you tell us about?
Or maybe you want to defend them.

I don't know any bike ones but here's a couple of car ones for you cagers..

Wrong Fuel.

As some of you know I do car recovery work.
I picked up a "wrong fuel" Audi A4, petrol in diesel, not driven.
Audi dealer £1,000. he tried a local garage he knew and they did it for half that.

We recommend a garage in Slough, who are also open 24/7.
Any car (within reason), £195+vat.

Locking wheel nut key.

Check tomorrow that it's present, otherwise it's a recovery.
One Sunday morning I picked up an Astra, took it to a Dealer, the only mechanic there said £35 an hour and it's going to take a couple of hours to drill out the wheel nuts, I advised him against that and took him to Kwik Fit instead, I don't know what they charged but when I lost mine Dougie down at Whitton Tyres got them all off and fitted my new set for 20 quid.

[Mickie]

Mentioning no names of course, wouldn't wanna get sued for slander/libel (whichever) now would we

[AndyR]

To be honest, the only time I'd ever consider going near a bike dealer is if I wanted a brand new bike and wanted to finance it.

In my experience, dealers aren't very helpful, they treat customers with complete contempt and the reality is when it comes to servicing you're only paying for the stamp.

One dealer I know admitted to me that the only work they did on cars was basic servicing. If you had an auto box that was playing up, they'd take the car in, ship it out to an auto box specialist, ship it back in then charge any extra £20 an hour plus the VAT on whatever the specialist charged.

It was the same with body work, engine rebuilds, etc. It was all out sourced to other independent garages with the dealer making £20 an hour for doing naff all.

Turning to bike, my biggest issue to date is actually finding a decent independent bike repair spot that will actually do the work they say they'll do, they'll do it professionally and competently and they won't "estimate" the bill then hand you a bill three times larger than their initial estimate.

[jonnywombat]

The Laverda came from a dealer, and has only ever been back once to have the plugs changed under warranty as a recall.

Of every other bike/car I have owned I have only been to a dealer once, which was to have an espace (worst car ever) put on Renaults electrical diagnostic do dad... Once I had a diagnosis the car was taken away and fixed elsewhere...but it still cost like £30 for some yts kid to plug in the box read the fault code and then look it up in the computer.

[Bornagain]

I thought I would support my local bike dealer and took my CBR6F for a service. When I got it back home I checked and the oil filter hadn't been replaced. When I challenged the company they said they only replaced the filter every other service and they had changed it last time. I pointed out that they hadn't serviced it last time and they had better sort it, which they did but I don't use them any more. I now have a bike lift and do my own servicing where possible.

[FirestormMike]

Can't really comment on bike workshops as I do all my own stuff.
Can comment on Hartburn Garage who worked on my car last year though.
I've got a turbo diesel mondeo, the 130bhp one, and was driving it up the M1 last year when it started to feel a bit flat. Got to mates house in Leeds and driving round the smaller streets, the car felt poo, with no aceleration at all. So, bonnet up and a good look round and couldnt see anything, but because I could hear a whooshing noise (only when under load while driving) suspected the turbo, dump valve etc....
Took it to the garage the following day and was in their workshop trying to suss it with them. They had numerous bits off, changed gaskets and eventually after about 2 hours I said I'd leave it with them, just to phone me when it was done.
about two and a half hours later, my car pulled up on the drive with the mechanic beaming and when I went out he said "cracked it". It turned out to be a transfer pipe that carries the pressurised air from the turbo to the intake and it had a split, that only opened up when there was a decent amount of pressure going through......
Anyway, I drove the car back to the garage and asked the gaffer for the bill, he said "I'll sort it out and post it to you, no rush" So I go home a bit glum, expecting a big bill for labour (it was in there over 5 hours) and the parts, the big pipe was over £40, plus all the gaskets.
2 days later, the bill came via post. £70 + vat. Needless to say I was quite happy with that and would recommend them to anyone.

[Manky Cat]

When I crashed my CBR last year the greedy guy in the greedy garage told me it would cost some £1,285 or there about's to repair, I told him in no uncertain terms to "feck off and take a reality check and that he'd better come back with a new & better price as I hadn't got HADDOCK written across my fore head" The new price for repairs? £700.

"YOU CAN'T TRUST THE B'TARDS"

[robertall]

ST erth services, in hayle.

Charged £118 for an exhaust, fitted.

Charged over £200 for 2nd hand front panel, mudguard and leg sheilds, on an Aprilia Rally scooter.

And that isn't slander, because i am telling the truth. I am not going to comment about them.

Rob

[druidsam]

my last car lost drive, and the only place i could get to pick it up was the renault dealer i bought it off , after it was in the workshop they phoned to say that the clutch was knackered and would cost £610 to replace, i desperately need the car so told them to go ahead, two days later they phone again and tell me that while they were bolting my car back together the noticed that the offside drive shaft was broken, another£274

i think that the driveshaft was buggered and that caused the loss of drive, they only noticed after replacing the clutch and the car still wouldnt move, but i couldnt proove that so had no choice but to pay up



..................Sam

[deano]

Originally Posted by druidsam

i think that the driveshaft was buggered and that caused the loss of drive, they only noticed after replacing the clutch and the car still wouldnt move..................Sam

and I think . . . . yer absolutely right