Not sure if this is in the right section or not but here goes

Today I took my car in to have the front coilovers fitted on an 02 reg polo. I was quoted 96 pound including vat which I was more than happy to pay. I then asked if they could fit some new lower arm rear bushes. They said yeah sure, and I realise that it should take slightly longer to do this but not too long as its in the same sort of area on the car so when the suspension out there isn't much more to do before you get to the bushes (I realise that it would cost more to do maybe an extra hour?) Well I got a text just then saying your bill is 192 pounds. Is this a fair price or are they taking the piss?

Youch, that is expensive. I would have expected maybe £150 at tops.

It depends where you go round here, There's a lot of garages that will be really cheap, but never expect the work doing to an amazing standard, or get shafted by halfrauds or a big name garage, and the same result!

another 96quid?

id say piss take...

Is there anything I can do? They never told me how much more it would cost or called me up to let me know that the price would be higher? I withdrew 140 quid to pay for it as they charge 40 am hour and I thought it would maybe be an extra hours work at most. This happened to me about an exhaust a couple of months back at a different garage where I live

That's the risk you run with garages; if a part is stubborn it's going to take longer to complete the job. The VAG specialist I use are great, I got them to do my lower suspension arms and brakes/pads and he charged me hour and a half less than it actually took.

That's the risk you run with garages; if a part is stubborn it's going to take longer to complete the job. The VAG specialist I use are great, I got them to do my lower suspension arms and brakes/pads and he charged me hour and a half less than it actually took.

Yeah I get what you mean, its not fair if something takes them ages but surely a call halfway through wouldn't go a miss? To explain what's going on I know it doesn't change the price or anything but it would make me think they aren't trying to take the piss.

I'm not sure quite what you mean by lower arm bushes (is it wishbone rear suspension?), but it doesn't sound extortionate IMO. Were they supplying the bushes or had you given them the bushes to fit? Either way I wouldn't say they're taking the piss. When you aren't maintaining or modifying your car yourself it will seem to get very expensive.

Edited 8 March, 201313 yr by Phataz1

I'm not sure quite what you mean by lower arm bushes (is it wishbone rear suspension?), but it doesn't sound extortionate IMO. Were they supplying the bushes or had you given them the bushes to fit? Either way I wouldn't say they're taking the piss. When you aren't maintaining or modifying your car yourself it will seem to get very expensive.

The front wishbone rear bushes so its on the front not the rears, and no I supplied the bushes. I normally do most stuff myself if I think it won't take ages. But it was taking ages to get the struts out so I just got the garage to do it.

I wouldn't say that is all that bad, especially if it includes parts. I've recently done one bush and it can be a bitch of a job. Just because the area is the same, doesn't mean that makes it any easier

tbh i reckon they undercharged you for the suspension change and made up for it on your extra's but generally most companies of any kind rinse you for extras for example i work for an alarm and cctv they give you basic alarm thats good for fuck but peanuts all so when we are ther in the day fitting it we say to customer you could do with some more devices etc really, usally we get it as a forenier but if its under contract the rep charges rediculous prices

bascically reeling you in and stinging you

Edited 8 March, 201313 yr by Guest

Yeah, I think they undercharged you - 90 odd quid for a suspension change is pretty good tbf. I hope they did alignment afterwards?

I got stung like this the other month - tracking and camber was 70 quid, perfect I thought. I said to them while the car was up - any chance you can weld a small 3" section of exhaust to bridge the stainless and standard box. Simple job - would've done it myself but because it was chucking it down I didn't want to go under the car, and since it was already up in the air they could just do it. £20 I thought, it's a 5 second job and takes no time at all.

£192. That's over £120 for something that wouldn't have taken more than 10 minutes, honestly. Not even that, it was so shit it fell off the new pipe 10 miles down the road and I had to sort it myself.

He said he'd phone me if it was going to be a fortune more, and never did. Had no choice to pay it, because I didn't have the balls to turn round and say eh, no pal - you never told me this.

It's over now though. Never again.

Count yourself lucky. You have to press the bushes out so its a good hour job.

Price sounds right for around 3 hours work.

My garage charges £96 an hour so your bill could have been worse

£96 an hour?! :lol:

Count yourself lucky. You have to press the bushes out so its a good hour job.

Price sounds right for around 3 hours work.

My garage charges £96 an hour so your bill could have been worse

£96 ph what? do they coat your car in gold do they or do you earn £960 per hour so you dont have to worry about paying such bills?

Main dealer prices yo!!

You'd be suprised were stacked out with work... Bitches got money to waste!!

The two garages i use charge £65 and £75 an hour. Considering the last bill for my VR6 (belt, tensioner, waterpump, coolant) was just over £130 they obviously know what they are doing and work quicker. Much better then paying a run of the mill garage for them to read a haynes manual first.

I'd never let some pokey run of the mill garage work on my two, nor pay main dealer prices as they tend to be technicians rather than mechanics

Just as well my mate Steve runs a independent VW specialist garage and only charges £40 per hour, plus I can work on my cars on a saturday if I want on Steve's ramp, plus I get all my parts at staff rate got it pretty sweet atm tbh :-D

They tend to be technicians rather than mechanics

Meaning?

They tend to be technicians rather than mechanics

Meaning?

Possibly a dig at laptop mechanics?

"Where is the port on this car?"

"Doesn't have one"

"Oh................"

They tend to be technicians rather than mechanics

Meaning?

Possibly a dig at laptop mechanics?

"Where is the port on this car?"

"Doesn't have one"

"Oh................"

In terms of VW garages anyways, they seem to be clueless unless its plugged into a computer telling them what to do, wasn't tarnishing all with that brush, just that when I had an overheating problem with the polo, a VW 'technician' told me the thermostat was knackered, whereby I said it wouldn't warm up if that was knackered would it? His expression said it all, water pump failure was the actual cause

I'm only messing.

Being a technician/mechanic myself I completely agree with what you say. Everything nowerdays is done by computer so alot is relied on the diagnostic equipment.

Ill be the first to admit even my 3 year training course/apprenticeship it was all computer and minimal "manual" fault finding so I can understand what your saying.

There will come a time when everything on a car is controlled bu computer and the techs wil be trained that way so working on older cars will be like a new thing