Halfords prices

I wonder if some of those items are also works of fiction. Did the prices include VAT or was that extra?

If the front and rear brake pads were replaced was there a fail on the MOT brake testing?

that included vat and there was no failure as it was worked on first. the oil flush and petrol treatment were probable fiction, they stung her for the fuel treatment the year before as well.

Don't people ask for a quote these days before getting such non routine work done?

yes, they gave her a quote, she had paid upfront online for the service/mot, then they produce a list with RED and AMBER warnings of what needs doing, the customer is then on the spot, without a car 'THAT IS DANGEROUS AND ILLEGAL TO DRIVE' and the poor sap caves in, in this particular case they arranged interest free finance on the spot, so it didn't seem so painful to her. Her mother then suggested me to do the daughter's repairs, bit late, but whatever.

Did it fail the MOT?

What was the "DANGEROUS AND ILLEGAL TO DRIVE" reason?

No the MoT passed after the work, the red items were the coil and the pads, these are described orally to the customer as dangerous and illegal. On the imvoice they are 'require immediate attention'

How does an ignition coil make the car dangerous or illegal? Presumably the car was driven into Halfords without ignition problems.

According to the Halfords web site the brake fluid is not changed on their 12,000 miles/1 year full service. It is routinely changed on their

I wonder if Halfords actually removed all the road wheels and checked the balance (including that of the spare)?

Not called Hal frauds for nothing are they.

Quoted a mate £148 to replace a broken front spring.

Also offered to replace the 1 year old one on other side.

Unable to quote for rear radius arm bush. Can only assume they are unable to the do the job. The book says remove rear suspension beam and use a f-off big press.

What you do is support beam under spring, remove the bolt, pry the radius arm down and use a cheap e-bay f-off big threaded bar, double length nuts and big washers to pull the bush out and pull the new one in. Bushes replaced for £125 including bushes.

Pair of springs off e-bay were under £30. Cost of getting the spring replaced £25.

The emissions could be wrong, it had the warning light on and misfire was diagnosed.

This was at 43k at the time of the service (march 19), the 189 is the service and mot, the oil and filter seem to be included in that. The car is a 13 plate, and as far as I can work out it is due for a cambelt, but they haven't mentioned that to her.

I'd be dropping Which? a line. It's the sort of thing they cover if they have enough similar stories.

Shouldn't Halfords have first given the customer a choice of which of the coil packs they stock? They appear to have 3 (from different manufacturers) with the same specification, one at £112, one at £191 and one at £315? Having multiple selections in stock could be lead to another form of scamming. Fit the cheapest and charge for the most expensive.

IIRC the later Astras (like this one) use individual coils rather than four joined together. Whether they put on one or all four is unknown.

A single coil cost £315? Is it made of solid gold?

Lets look at it with some sense. An older coil for all four cylinders (with a dizzy) might cost you 15-30 quid. And there's a lot more copper etc in that than COP. A smart coil - ie most these days - includes a switching transistor and a much smaller coil. Far less basic costs than an old fashioned coil.

But but but the plug is not 2 x 1/4 spades. It's a very special patented connector so you have to buy the OEM coil. Some have 4 connections digital signal / earth, coil +ve feed and earth, others 3 - coil and digital earth are common. There is absolutely no standard for order of connections so even if the plug fits it may just destroy ECU or the coil.

COP coil doesn't have the industry standard plug lead but a snout that goes down the plug hole. Not interchangeable, some won't reach plug, some reach the plug but poke up so the cover won't fit. The coil bolts to the head with a unique bolt pattern, so you have to leave them "floating" if it's not the correct coil.

AS its unique to the car maker and usually engine range specific, they are making far fewer of each individual type of coil and that drives up the cost.

Back in the day a coil was 12V, 9V or 6V depending on the ballast resistor or lack thereof. The ends that plugged into the dizzy and coil were all the same and only the length of lead might change. Plug leads were either resistor or copper, you could buy the stuff off a reel and fit ends to suit.

Same goes for headlamps. Everyone used to have 5 1/4" or 7" round headlamps. You might have pop-ups. Then someone made rectangular ones, you might have pop ups. These days as every headlamp is on the whim of a stylist, it's unique to each car and sometimes model of car. The price of a headlamp has rocketed, can be well over £1000.

Everything is designed to lock you into their supply chain and then they can charge what they like for parts.

Brake pads. Wheel fitment. Sometimes even the tyre.

And the next scam with be a "Digital" coil a "Digital" pad a "Digital" headlamp and they'll charge Digital money, usually the digital point will be a long way from the pound sign :-(..

Yes, and don't forget that the ECU will have to be reprogrammed to match the new coil.

What was the mileage ?.

Did she complain about a misfire ??.

Neither of these two were actually done, because this is an industry-wide scam.