Mr.Clutch?

Don't you have the car regularly serviced - either DIY or professionally? If you did, then this would have been sorted before the MoT.

BTW, if the rear brakes are that bad, you would have known about it anyway.

Why have such a poxy thing hanging in front of you? And if you knew it was broken, why didn't you take remove you lazy sod?

Probably saw the state of your car and quoted for the worst case scenario - or perhaps they thought that we don't really want to work on this pile of shit so we'll quote high - and if he accepts it well...

I wonder what the state of that job is? Especially if they had to change the cylinders, fit new linings and bleed the system - plus adjust the headlights for that price.

Perhaps if you managed to connect brain cell number 1 to brain cell number 2 with a couple of jumper leads (in series to get more power), you might just realise that they probably did you a favour by failing your car, thus forcing you to get the jobs done - possibly saving someone from serious injury!

yes your getting shafted , my a6 clutch has just gone , i gave =C2=A3520. just in parts f= rom euro car parts , so basically for changing ur clutch , flywheel n master cylinder(= maybe) your getting charged =C2=A3480 labour ? omg they'd have no garage left if they= tried that caper with me , i dont mind paying for a mechanics sweat ,just not a fat greed= y owners flight to bondi beach lol, should take no longer than a day , i had clutch flywh= eel n master cylinder fitted , a cv joint and mot'd same day . purely bad design on audi'= s part , maybe thats why the upgrades a solid flywheel as in the days of old eh audi .

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You've obviously not changed a clutch on anything built in the last 10 years...

I feel like a complete knob. Just took my qashqui in for a new clutch and got the old sharp intake of breath crap... "oh and your dual mass flywheel needs replacing" Total cost £1150 (quoted £420 for clutch origina lly)

They do wear out and are a significant extra cost, the original quote should take account of that and be two prices:one with, one without. Previously with them it was always that your flywheel needs skimming.

It's near-as-dammit a scam on their part. Was recently talking to a chap who'd taken his car in and, since the job over-ran and he had nothing better to do, he was sat in reception for a few hours. The manager was phoning down the list of every job they had in and repeating the "you need a new DMF" mantra to every single one.

Theoretically it's not a bad idea to do the flywheel while it's all apart to save on labour but DMFs aren't £700.

Yes - prices will have gone up since the 10 year old post you're replying to.

Do you also feel a complete knob for replying to a post asking for help from

Anyone who uses any of these chains - Halfords Autocentres, Quik Fit et al - deserves all they get. There is plenty of evidence on-line that they exist completely and utterly to rip you off.

Chris

Surely all you have to do is contact a main dealer to find out the maximum cost of a flywheel? Might be possible to get aftermarket ones cheaper, though.

ECP price for a typical Qashqai DMF is 650UKP, so 700UKP from a garage isn't actually a bad price.

Agree that it makes sense to change it with the clutch.

Chris

Blimey, I thought they'd be cheaper than that now they've become a standard thing. I know I can get a full clutch and DMF kit for my 2004 BMW for about £350.

You'll find evidence of pretty well anything you want to believe online. Much of the motor trade sets out to rip you off in one way or another. Sadly, has always been so. The question would be is Quik-Fit etc any worse than say a BMW main dealer? My personal experience says no.

I've used Halfords for tyres and a couple of O&Es since the only local independent I'd ever trusted ripped off a friend. I've had none of the dire warnings/hard sell. But I was shocked last year. The fitter drove the car out after fitting new tyres and told me there was a grating noise from one wheel. There sure was. He offered to take a look at it. He reported back that it was just a stone and he'd poked it out. Nothing about needing new pads, discs, bearing. What's more he bloody well didn't ask for a penny. Am I being discriminated against or was he just an incompetent that Halfords will have sacked/retrained by now?

Yep, I was surprised.

A supply and demand thing, I guess.

Chris

Used them years ago, biggest bunch of con men you will ever meet, replaced a gearbox on my wife's car (actual fact just sprayed the old one green ) supposedly replaced clutch and flywheel too which we later found out was bullocks , avoid them like the plague , I almost forgot when i got the car back there was 130 miles extra on the clock too

If you put the car in to have a gearbox fault fixed and it wasn't, why did you pay them?

The Ford dealer local to me insists on a plugging in the diagnostics computer at a cost of £80 + VAT a pop even though the fault is easily diagnosed without it.

I will avoid Formula One Autocentres (the "trusted family run company") in future. They were OK for 2 tyres I went in for but I was given a dire warning about the other tyres that passed an MOT a couple of weeks later AND the MOT the year after. The "free" 10 point "safety check" also resulted in a proposed extra £100 of work - which I declined. When I went to the office to get the guarantee for the tyres they were very surprised that there was no other work to be done a though they expected every tyre job to have extras.

My experience with most tyre places is to buy on line or phone up beforehand for a price (remembering to ask if the price includes valves, balancing and VAT). A lot of the "trade" seems to operate 4 pricing structures.

i) With large chains buy on line and make an appointment is cheapest. ii) Phone up first is cheaper than just turning up iii) Just turn up and the price is made up on the spot.

iv) Add fitting, valves, balancing, weights, VAT etc. if you forgot to ask in the cases above if the price they quoted was the all inclusive price.

When local I use a couple of busy back street tyre places but my experience when on holiday last year and had to use a chain because of two punctures hasn't been too good.

Usual trick used to be to replace the friction plate but charge for a three piece clutch. I daresay it still goes on.