Theiving Citroen dealers...

[Fab Foodie]

£380 for brake pads? Time to find yourself a new garage.

That's parts and labour, so fitted. It's not a job I can do myself.
I'll check around the independants and see what they charge.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

That's parts and labour, so fitted. It's not a job I can do myself.
I'll check around the independants and see what they charge.

You'd be surprised. Brake pads are very easy indeed to change on every car I've ever owned, and I can't imagine the principle has changed with the Citroen C8. However, I recognise that not everyone is confident about doing their own car maintenance, especially on the brakes. And if you wanted to keep your warranty valid, you probably had no choice.

 

[bauldbairn]

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 put my Civic into a Honda dealership(who did my services) to get a quote for a handbrake adjustment for my first MOT. I was presented with a price of just under a £1000(for pads/calipers/discs). A local independent garage fixed "a wrongly adjusted handbrake" for £27 - this included fitting new pads/discs they found in my boot(I'd bought just incase).
I was on a Civic Website(tut,tut) and found other owners had been charged up to £1300 for the same repair by the same dealership.


The only answer to your ridiculous quote of "£78" is fit them yourself or find(through friends recommendations) a good independent garage I'm afraid.

 

[Over The Hill]

Then there is the oil they put in. With most garages you can supply your own oil for them to use which costs you the price of a 5 l can from Halfords (Say £20). How much did they charge for supplying you 5l of oil (which they will buy in as a far lower price than Halfords sell it at)?

 

[Over The Hill]

Generally main dealers have customers who just want to throw money at their cars. They will tend to replace something that does not have 20,000 miles in it rather than leave it until it actually wears out. This suits the owner/driver who wants it all done in one day per year at any price.

 

[bauldbairn]

Then there is the oil they put in. With most garages you can supply your own oil for them to use which costs you the price of a 5 l can from Halfords (Say £20). How much did they charge for supplying you 5l of oil (which they will buy in as a far lower price than Halfords sell it at)?

Exactly and plugs + other consumables.

I always supply Motul fully synthetic oil to the garage - and the NGK Iridium Laser plugs that went in at the last service, shouldn't need changed again(ever,according to NGK).

 

[tyred]

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.

 

[siadwell]

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

Find that a bit hard to believe. I had a Scenic where the manual suggested taking to a dealer to replace the headlight bulbs. I was charged £40 labour - it was claimed they had to take the bumper off. The next time the bulb went, I found some instructions on the web and did it myself without any such drastic action. Cost - an hour of my time and some skin cells.

 

[tyred]

There's a good question. Why do they make it so difficult to perform something routine like changing a bulb nowadays? I can change a headlamp bulb in minutes in my car.

 

[Davidc]

Its either having a C8 or its your dealer. I have a C5 and while I don't like paying anything I haven't found any real cause for complaint at parts or labour at the dealers.

I had new wiper blades all round (=3) last autumn - they were charged at just over £25 + VAT and the labour was f.o.c. because they didn't have any when it was serviced in May and I'd had to take it back in. If I'd been told they were £78 each there'd have been an argument and then some, and my custom would have moved elsewhere. Same would go for brake pads at £380.

 

[on the road]

There's a good question. Why do they make it so difficult to perform something routine like changing a bulb nowadays? I can change a headlamp bulb in minutes in my car.

That's a very good question.

It means their pals can continue to make money from aftersales repairs.

 

[Davidc]

There's a good question. Why do they make it so difficult to perform something routine like changing a bulb nowadays? I can change a headlamp bulb in minutes in my car.

To make more money.

 

[ACS]

Put my Focus in this morning for a service and first MOT. Just had a call from them. Rear tyres need changing (knew that so no shock) and he suggested that as the car still had its original wiper blades they should be renewed.

Cost £55 + fitting.*cough* run that past me again you did say £55 + fitting. Errrrr. No.

 

[Spinney]

You don't even need to get work done by the dealer when the car is under warranty (apart from warranty repairs of course). Just make sure your local garage uses Citroen (or whatever your car is) parts, and keep the reciept to prove you have had the thing serviced to the correct schedule.

 

[siadwell]

It means their pals can continue to make money from aftersales repairs.

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.

When that car was written off, it had several hundred quid's worth of things that were annoyingly broken but not vital to fix.

Mind you, dealers can be competitive on some things, such as tyres, especially when you give them another supplier's price to match.