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Not going ahead with main dealer quote

Took the Fiesta to the local Ford dealer, and the long and the short of it is that, at their prices, it's beyond economical repair. Parts around £800, labour £937.50 + VAT. Altogether including VAT it was over two grand. My Dad popped into the Ford dealer to pick up the quote from them, which, not to my surprise, didn't include a breakdown of the labour charges, and the guy never mentioned that I owe anything to this point.

Anyway, I've basically decided I'm not going to bother getting it repaired and I'll just sell it as it is for spares or repair.

But am I obliged to pay the main dealer anything at this stage. As far as I'm concerned they have made my running van (it was still running fine, just not for more than about 5 minutes as it would overheat due to coolant not being able to circulate due to it being all gunge-like) into a non-runner, and I don't want to pay for this "privilege". However, I'm worried that their point of view is going to be that they have spent x amount of hours taking things apart and diagnosing the problem(s) so as to be able to ascertain what exactly will need doing, and they will want paying for that.

But surely any garage will accept that out of every 100 customers that bring their car in for them to look at, a certain amount will not go ahead with the work, and these will not want to pay for not having a problem fixed.

What are people's experiences with situations like this? Will I have to shed out my hard-earned for them taking the head off my engine and making it a non-runner?

I haven't gone in yet, but I think I'm going to cut my losses on this one (I may take an offer, otherwise I'll let ebay work its magic), and enjoy the Audi, and hopefully the buck will stop here with cars blowing up on me!

Peter

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1993/K Vauxhall Carlton Estate 2.0CDX (SOLD) 1995/N Vauxhall Omega Elite Estate 2.5TD Auto (Lovely condition, needs new turbo, £1500 ono) 2000/W Ford Fiesta Van, 1.8TDi (Service History, needs head gasket doing, £1600 ono)
Reply to
AstraVanMan
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If all you asked them for was a quote that's all they can charge you for. Thereagain for £800 you'd assume you need a new head , not a new head gasket

Reply to
Duncan Wood

"AstraVanMan" wrote

If all you authorised was an ESTIMATE or a QUOTE [which are quite different] then you should not have to pay a thing. OTOH you probably authorised exploratory work in order to find out what was needed in order to be able to provide an accurate estimate or possibly even a quote. If you did, then pay up for the time they spent. Do their staff work for free and are they exempt from overhead costs? Are they a registered charity for the benefit of yourself?

Huw

Reply to
Huw

if it's gone into the garage, and bit's have been taken off, they would have said in the start of proceedings that you would either have to sort it with them or they wouldn't take anything apart a bit of sticky one this if they are asking for a few quid for however many hours they've spent pulling it apart then I would most likely pay for it, then again, if they've had to take the head off and stuff like that to diagnose the fault, and you haven't told them to, then you can tell them to get stuffed

anyway, those prices seem a bit steep to me, a head gasket swap shouldn't be that much surely phone a few other dealers and ask them how much they would charge drive in drive out to change a head gasket on that car and compare the prices

Reply to
dojj

Well to be fair to them I did authorise them to remove the head, so looks like I will end up paying. Fair enough I suppose.

Well I didn't get a breakdown of the labour charges, but the parts included a new alternator (they told my Dad the housing was cracked), new rad, oil cooler and heater matrix (apparently it was so thick that they couldn't be flushed through - that's according to them anyway) - 4 new coolant pipes (now I'd be very surprised if they couldn't be flushed through) and loads of other bits (most of the rest were bits I would expect to be required).

I did start making a post about it the other day, but the power lead fell out of my laptop (battery probs) so I lost it. I might have to dig up the bit of paper and do another post on it.

Peter

Reply to
AstraVanMan

Go into the dealer like normal, ask for their prices and when presented with these figures, laugh, say how expensive everything is these days, wish them well and ask for your keys and car. You may now depart, not wishing to darken their expensive doorsteps ever again!

If you haven't authorised any work then it would be unreasonable for them to have started any work. If you authorised a quote and they charge for them - you're liable for the cost of the quote.

Simple eh? Just a smile when you say your car isn't worth it and wishing them well will put the 'awkward' shoe onto their foot.

Adam H

Reply to
Rev. Alfa Adam

as long as they get it back to your house that is :) or put it back together again so that it's running :)

how do you crack an alternator by blowing a head gasket i wonder? rad and cooler and heater i can understand, same with the pipes, but the alternator?

Reply to
dojj

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