Expensive 54k service

[tse_adam]

I took my girlfriend's k12 to my local Formula 1 autocentre (i know don't grill me for it) for a service and MOT today, the final price of £359 came as a bit of shock considering it's only a micra. please tell me i haven't been ripped off even though they sounded quite genuine and knew what they were talking about. :down:

Jobs done:

Master service £90.74
Wisbone £69.59 x 2
Electronic Alignment £25.92
Labour £18.29
Alloy Wheel Balance £6.10 x 2
Brake clean and adjustment £25.84

Goods Value = £312.17
VAT Value = £46.83
Total value = £359

They said my front wishbones were on the way out, if i don't replace them my steering will become wonky and could potentially be dangerous.

I recently bought 4 dunlops tyres from etyres online and the mobile fitting guy supposed to have balanced the wheels already, 1 month on and it requires balancing again? :glare:

 

[Antony]

they have had you on that... there is no way they would all need a balance, mayeb 1 or two, but not all of them.. and not unless you asked for them.

and as for the wishbones...... theyre having a laugh. i have never changed a wishbone on a car..... and my car has done 142000miles+
on 54K there is no way they would be shot unless your doing rally stages every weekend.

and how much for wishbones? i used to work for Andrew Page ( a motorfactors) and a wishbone for a micra is about £12...
theyre squeezing you for every penny im affraid.

 

[tse_adam]

jeez that's not comforting to know.

 

[frank]

ant, bear in mind the k12 wishbones are renault-esque, and if they,re anything like ford ones 54k is not bad fwn
those prices are,nt bad, but tracking and wheel balance has got f/a to do with an mot (i doubt they were even done :suspect and personally, i would want a refund for the work done, that they should have called you and ok,d first

 

[Rimski1688]

Sounds like you've been swindled. Did they not contact you before doing the work and also are you sure the work has actually been done?

 

[tse_adam]

they did call at 9am in the morning, i did ask them to give me a quote first which my girlfriend heard as well but i sort of ''yea yea yea'' the rest of it, i might have said yes to it i dont even know. oh well.

To be fair they did show me the old ones with a faulty plastic joint ball and they also jacked up the car for me to see the new one installed. That's what made me feel they were quite genuine but hearing from Antony saying it should cost about £12, i am not happy with the price being charged!

i'll see if i could get the difference or at least a little bit back, i am not having a garage charging me like 500% more on the retail price, that's shocking!

 

[Rimski1688]

9am....most garages i know wont be awake till 9:30 so if they rang at 9am sounds they was testing the water and keeping you unawares. especially with it being a service. If it was necessary work like for an MOT i would appreciate the large amount but for a service thats pretty harsh.

I would try and get something back, sounds pretty expensive! welli hope my wishbones dont go at 54k lol

 

[Ed]

You just paid full prices for the parts. Would be interesting to see what "brake clean and adjustment" is however.

 

[capnmchl]

Sounds fishy. For those of you who work in a garage, how much time is £18 worth in labour?

Reminds me of tyre centers. Whatever you do, they always charge you for a new valve. Even if you don't need it.

 

[tse_adam]

You just paid full prices for the parts. Would be interesting to see what "brake clean and adjustment" is however.

they said my back brakes had a lot of dusts :glare:

Sounds fishy. For those of you who work in a garage, how much time is £18 worth in labour?

Reminds me of tyre centers. Whatever you do, they always charge you for a new valve. Even if you don't need it.

i dont even know what that is for :doh:

 

[teekay_tk]

i dont know about formula 1 but i have had similar experiance with the likes of budget (scotland) and kwikfit etc. what they do is quote a cheap price for the service, throw in some free tests etc and then find faults in your car so they can make money.

for example, when i took my car for service two years ago, they said it needed a new battery and new back tyers. i said no thanks. the battey is still working fine almost two years later and changed the tyers last year when i actaully took them to local garage and the guy said it would be ok to change them if i wanted but they were still street legal.

after a lot of experiance with places like these, i have found a good honest local garage and have never had any similar problems.

so my advice is find an honest local garage and stick with them.

 

[Ed]

£18 would be about half an hour of my labour - and that is too cheap really (35/hr + parts for routine stuff).

However brakes don't need cleaning if they have 'dust' on them. They also auto adjust so should not need 'adjusting' either.

As for tyre valves its always good practice to put on new ones. I would never leave an old one on.

 

[nissanmicrak12]

hi mate just to let you know unless you have hit ya car the tv(transverse) links should be fine!i would get them to show you them but i guess its a bit late now i quality check the wish bones at work for the quashquai and like hell would they buckle we have run over them with fork lift trucks the lot (we didnt fit them after that tho as that time was an accident lol but it looked fine!they dont budge! i pay 120 quid for my service ish that includes everything ?. did your clips come off the alloys?all they do is put a clip on the other side of the wheel to the valve?it made no difference to my mpg that i was aware of, (well it may involve more than that but thats all i seen the guys do a peacocks in sunderland lol) my brakes were cleaned in my service too i watched them do it with a air line infact i watched him do the full service ,dust went everywhere ! my thoughts are that they seen you comming a long way off , i always ask them to tell me how much its gunna cost b4 they commence work. i would suggest that you dont go there again and find someone who has been recomended in the future mate . we all learn from our mistakes bud its just a shame you got the bad end of the bargin .sorry mate

 

[Slug]

It's probably too late now, but you're entitled to the old parts that have been replaced on your car, i.e. the wishbones. You could've asked for them back after the MOT and inspected them or got someone else to have a look at them, see if they really did need replacing.

 

[slamdunk]

My experience with worn wishbones no matter how little play there is, there is excessive road noise (clonking, rattling and vague steering) if you didnt have any of those I doubt they needed doing...

Slam

 

[tse_adam]

thanks for all of the replies guys, really appreciate it. it is a little late now to claw any of those money back but i will definitely go with what you guys have suggested - find someone else next time.

They claimed that my aftermarket alloys (Team dynamics pro race 1.2) were heavier than standard alloys, resulting in the ball joint on the wishbone to go loose. if problem is not fixed, the steering might go wobbly and wheels might possibly come off. can it be that serious?

I really didnt notice any noise at all but to be fair they did show me the wishbones with wobbly plastic ball joints. But i guess they could have damaged it themselves with a screwdriver or something i dont know.

i will write to the head office requesting a full explanation on the work done to my car, i know it's late to get any money back but any response will help to ease my mind. I shall post the reply here once i get their response.