Tell Us Your Dodgy Stories or Prices You Been quoted/had to Pay for your vehicle...

1: did you find it on the coast? If so, what suburb
2: $500, that's awesome, wish I came across it.

 

The dodgy smaller mechanics businesses can't survive very long.
Only takes one unhappy customer.
Statistically they'll tell ten of their friends who then tell five of theirs.
That ends up being around 500+ people warned off going there just because they ripped one customer off!

 

unlucky, good work if he paid it!

guess it comes down to the relationship you have with particular trades people on site

 

Got quoted $3500 just for the fly wheel on the wife's V6 2000 Passat, that was just the fly wheel no labor or clutch plate or any other parts. Damn VW know how to make money!

 

There are plenty of good mechanics out there, and unfortunately, a few idiots that ruin it for the rest.

I have never been ripped off by a mechanic because I decided at an early stage of my driving that I wanted to learn how to do things myself. I can't imagine how much I've saved over the years by carrying out my own repairs.

The one thing that really pisses me off, though, is on the few occasions where I have had to speak to a "mechanic" or workshop supervisor, when warranty work was involved, is the impression you get that they think you are a wood duck and can be fobbed off with utter bullshit.

When I had the Mark V Golf, it suffered a number of defects. One was poor first gear synchro. The car would crunch when engaging first gear at low speeds, around 10-15kph. When I mentioned this at one service, the manager tried to tell me that some cars were designed that way to prevent you trying to engage first at too high a speed. (Umm, 10-15kph is too high a speed???). Treat me like a fool and prepare yourself for a roasting. That's what he got, in front of the office staff. I didn't care one bit if he was embarassed. He assumed I knew nothing about cars and gave me a load of crap, hoping I'd walk away.

I had a better solution.

I got rid of the Golf.

 

the guy down the street from me charged me 330 bucks for a service on my calais when i first bought it. i even supplied the drive belt and it said on the receipt drive belt $30. which means he made 30 bucks for 1.5 minutes of work.... that was the last time i went to him in 2008...

 

You feel good about ####ing people over??? Lucky you aren't anywhere near any of my sites.

Fair price for fair time (which includes travel). That is just extortion. Yes it happens in the industry very often. No it doesn't happen all the time - it also comes down to the supervision skills of the builder.

Yeah - from what I understand maintenance cost on VW is crazy dear. Heard quite a few horror stories.

Reaper

 

jet skis are a great one

$300 to change 4L of oil and a filter...

 

My aunt had a 2000 model golf convertible. One of the hydraulic lines blew and needed replacing. She took it to a vw dealer and they told her that every single hydraulic line was shot and needed replacing(car was only 3 years old at the time) and quoted her $6000 odd for the job. She sensed bull **** and took it to a convertible repair place in a sydney, cant remember where. $450 all up to replace the one hydraulic line.

 

soooooo.. if somebody can make sense of this i will stop hating pedders...
i asked them to check my suspension to see if it was good so i could think about selling it when i got my coilovers, howmuch it would cost to fit my coilovers and just got the 28 point safety check.



$170 in parts for what seems to be just a steering rack boot and a wheel alignment, with $120 in labour. all up i got my quote for $290 and politely declined.
$370 for the coilovers to be fitted i think is fair as it did take me a couple hours to do by myself.

 

Went to Jax once, for a wheel alignment and balance. Not only were my wheels about as balanced as Britney Spears when they were done with them, but they gave me an excellent list of faults and made me wait an extra hour.

Broken Engine Mounts = $330 (They were 10,000km old at the time and perfect).
Centre Muffler = $325 (There was a slight ding in it).

Also my brand new (literally one week old) brake pads were apparently 5 and 6mm... they regrew on the way home too apparently...

Last time I ever went there, and a prime example of a change in employees ruining a business. I know go to the Bob Jane around the corner - much better.

 

The stories you have heard are probably pretty accurate. The servicing costs were high, but it was the build quality and durability of the thing that disappointed me. lI realise that this is off topic, but our experience with poor service is relevant to the thread.

We purchased a Comfortline 2 litre petrol 6 speed manual in Feb 2005. From the first day of ownership, a pronounced knocking could be heard when the clutch was depressed. It took over two years of trying to get a mechanic to identify the sound, but we were told it was "normal for a Golf". Two brake light switches failed, the cruise control failed, a doortrim needed to be replaced, a power window switch was defective on delivery (so what was the pre-delivery fee all about?) and other internal trims around the rear hatch had been fitted badly. The crunching clutch was the final straw, but the attitude of the service department ensured that I was lost to Volkswagen forever.

Since disposing of it in November 2007 (when I traded it on ol' Calaber), I have read numerous seriously bad reports about the DSG transmissions (which we didn't option) failing at great expense to the owners and other common faults. In my opinion, the Mark V Golf was seriously flawed by poor design, a low standard of quality control, substandard components and crappy assembly in the South African plant where Aussie Golfs are assembled.

 

Sounds like poor supervision by the builder to me. That said, to let it go on for 5 years sounds daft on everybodies part.

Reaper

 

Before I tell another story, I should say that these are definitely exceptions to what I have normally found.

Back in the late 70's, I had one of the first, if not the first, Honda Accords in Oz. It was a great car for its time, but I had one recurring fault. It used to develop an exhaust leak at the union of the exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipe. Before the car reached two and a half years and 80,000 Km, I had to fix it twice - only 1 year/20,000Km warranties in those days.

While talking to another owner, I found out that there had been a recall for this exact problem, but I expect that I had not been advised as I had moved address. I decided to approach the local dealer, who checked and found out that they had one modification kit in stock. They then tried to price each component individually to reach a quote for me. It was a couple of hundred dollars so I turned them down.

I then called Honda Australia, and they told me that they would fix the problem for me, but they didn't have any kits left. I gleefully told them that I knew where one was, and they proceeded to tell the dealer to do the modification for free. Result was a very cranky dealer.

Anyhow, took the car in for the mod. During the day, they called me and told me that the clutch was slipping, and that I needed a new clutch at a cost of around $450. In response to their request for approval to continue, I refused. After all, I was sure that I would have noticed a slipping clutch.

They continued to give me a hard time at the dealers when I picked up the car, but I ignored them. However, as I drove the car out of the dealer, I noticed very bad clutch slip. It was so bad that I knew that I would have noticed it.

I nursed the car the few Km to home, then got out the genuine workshop manual that I had to check the system. The pedal height and free play were correct. As soon as I opened the bonnet to check the clutch cable and its connection to the gearbox, the problem was immediately evident. I could see some shiny metal on the adjustment thread. I adjusted this to no shiny thread showing and guess what, no more slip. I traded the car with over 30,000 Km extra a year later, and the clutch still had plenty of life in it.

 

Oh and when you check the oil on those things the dip stick stalk snaps off every so often.