Theiving Citroen dealers...

[Globalti]

Just find an independent Citroen mechanic. You might find one by asking nicely on here: http://www.citroenpicasso.org.uk/citroen/

 

[beanzontoast]

I think some main dealers aren't as bad as they used to be. A while back I needed a radiator hose for a diesel Mk1 Golf and none of the local motorfactors could get one or match it with anything else. I braced myself and phoned the local VW garage (a garage which was always famous for high prices) expecting to be either robbed or else politely told to **** off and buy a more modern car. I phoned first thing in the morning was pleasantly surprised to be told they could have it in that evening and it only cost 12 Euro. The part department would be closed by the time I finished work but they were helpful enough to leave it with the sales people (who work longer hours) for me to collect after work. Up until that, I had avoided main agents at all costs, but I've since found that their parts prices aren't much dearer than the motorfactors in many cases. I suppose it is their outrageous labour charges that add up.

We had a succession of VW's - 4 in all - when we first started driving back in the 80's and I have to say, though I liked the cars one of my main reasons for quitting them in the end was the cost of getting them repaired. We changed to Fords from then on, and from my experience (not having to go to the main dealer for anything) our local garage has done a great job of maintaining them and at a reasonable cost.

 

[bauldbairn]

Find that a bit hard to believe. I had a Scenic where the manual suggested taking to a dealer to replace the headlight bulbs.

There was an article about it on BBC Watchdog - applied to top of the range models fitted with Xenons. They got the AA to fit them without dismantling the front end, but it was a struggle.

I had a dealer confess as much, when he stuck me for £250 to fix a rear window regulator. He said they (well, Renault anyway) design cars with bits that break to keep the dealers in business.

You mean "planned obsolescence" - very hard to manufacture this in, if a cars warranty lasts three/seven years and between 60,000 and 120,000 miles depending on car brand.
Although some manufacturers will buy components as cheaply as possible to keep the cost down this can also backfire big time - with mass recalls if they fail within the warranty period or becomes a safety issue.

 

[TheDoctor]

A few years ago I had a busted headlight in a Mazda. Main Dealer price - £220, plus an hours labour to fit it. Got the light unit (brand new) off the Interwebs for £80 IIRC, and fitted it in 20 minutes of trial-and-error.
5 minutes to sort-of calibrate the aiming of it, job jobbed.
Car mechanics get paid more than me, and I'm responsible for well over a million quids worth of hardware.
How does that work?

 

[vernon]

A few years ago I had a busted headlight in a Mazda. Main Dealer price - £220, plus an hours labour to fit it. Got the light unit (brand new) off the Interwebs for £80 IIRC, and fitted it in 20 minutes of trial-and-error.
5 minutes to sort-of calibrate the aiming of it, job jobbed.
Car mechanics get paid more than me, and I'm responsible for well over a million quids worth of hardware.
How does that work?

My kid brother was rebuilding a damaged repairable Aston Martin DB7 or 8 and required quite a few parts for the front end which had sustained most of the damage. He's normally a 'no expense is spared for quality' type of chap until he saw the price list for Aston Martin parts his solutions:

The cast aluminium engine bed was replaced with a Jaguar one costing less than half of the Aston one.
Four radiators - yes four - were sourced at the factory gate of the manufacturers at 25% of AM prices
The jaw dropping prices quoted for the headlights were ameliorated by purchasing the Mazda equivalents
Several other component were replaced with their Ford equivalent.

Clearly it helps to be in the car trade and spotting that behind the sniffy Aston image is a pot pourri of parts bin miscellany.

I was loaned the car for a weekend and found it a disappointing experience but that's another story.

 

[vernon]

Car mechanics get paid more than me, and I'm responsible for well over a million quids worth of hardware.
How does that work?

How many peoples lives are dependent on you getting the job done properly?

 

[bauldbairn]

Clearly it helps to be in the car trade and spotting that behind the sniffy Aston image is a pot pourri of parts bin miscellany.

Very common in the motor trade - I watched "English Mechanics"(or something like that) on Discovery Channel and they had a Bentley in for a repair to it's suspension. When they got the part - it was from a Citroen dealer, as Bentley used Citroen Suspension parts.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Very common in the motor trade - I watched "English Mechanics"(or something like that) on Discovery Channel and they had a Bentley in for a repair to it's suspension. When they got the part - it was from a Citroen dealer, as Bentley used Citroen Suspension parts.

It's only Bentley owners that can afford Citroen parts...

 

[Rhythm Thief]

I once repaired the ignition of a Citroen 2CV with bits out of an old electric shower.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I once repaired the ignition of a Citroen 2CV with bits out of an old electric shower.

An upgrade!

 

[Black Sheep]

A mate put his Citroen Picasso into a dealership in the Scottish Borders. He was charged £1000 to fit a new oil pump - and got fobbed off with a story about removing the engine / how much work was involved etc,etc.

Also heard that Renault dealers will charge £350+ to change headlight bulbs, because they need to dismantle the front end of some cars.

I know the older clio they claim to need to take the front wings off,


complete load of rubbish.

Going back to the original post, I'd have told them to take the wipers of, you didn't want them and are quite happy to aquire and fit your own, I keep a spare pair in the car over the winter (just incase they go while stuck in bad weather)

but then again, I've told a garage I'm not paying for some welding doing as I'd told them to call me if it needed more than what i'd asked for doing. - they just did it without asking, so refused to pay as I was going to weld it myself

after a short argument about it already being done and can't be un-done, to which I replied "should have thought about that before doing it" I paid half cost for it.

 

[ufkacbln]

We had a £2000 "guaranted cashback" when we traded in our Citroen.

They weren't happy when we expected the standard trade-in value that we were being offered elsewhere as well. Their idea of a bargain was to cut £2000 off the value of our present car and then generously give it back!

Nice of them