Anyone feel constantly ripped off by specialists?

[Rpmayne 0]

Maybe me being paranoid but just a few of many examples:

 

Local Bosch tune-up centre

Towed VR 15miles to this centre to find out why my VR would not run after a rebuild. £70 pounds later it was returned with the note that it IS mechanically locked and need stripping down. Actual cause, bodged alarm fitting, broken solder joint cutting supply to ECU. Lucky I didn't listen to that.

 

AMD

Took the day off to travel to AMD for a remap (closest to me). On the way up the car developed misfire. Got it there and explained the symptoms with no idea as to the cause.

 

Had a chat with the mechanic when I returned several hours later and apparently the leads were arking badly, and he had tried to use insulating tape to temporarily cure it as they didn't have any. I wasting several hours there phoning local suppliers for new leads so they could complete the remap. No joy so returned home.

 

Bought new VW leads and this wasn't the cause, was infact the coilpack. Where was the arcing then exactly? And there was no sign of insulating tape ever being used.

 

Also during his expert diagnostics he also mentioned that its very likely that as the car has done 100k that the bores are ovalised. How the fcuk do you come to this conclusion when you have already said its the leads, not to mention that the engine is as tight as a mouses ear hole on only 25k since complete rebuild /rebore.

 

Local gearbox specialists

Gearbox will not disengage reverse properly (different car this), chatted on phone and internal selector was his diagnostic. Fair enough, without looking at the box this is a gamble, paid £30 (although originally someone else there said I could have one for nothing, didn't catch his name), fitted and same problem.

 

Took the gearbox out and took to specialist, original quote was for £80 cash. Got phone call, stripped it and he can't find anything wrong with it but has reassembled it, used the internal selector he supplied (which made no difference) and has charged me £120. So total £150. Bear in mind that if I had said I didn't want the work done I would have got the box back in bits. Going to pick it up tonight.

[mattosmond 0]

there are way too many 'specialists' who actually aren't any better than joe blogs down the road, but because they use that pretence they htink it's ok to have dealer prices...... i wouldn't use anyone apart from my one man band mechanic.... who knows everything about dubs and charges me £20 hour and always plugs the car into the vagcom for free checks for faults corrects them...

[G60SC_Stoney 0]

you need to find yourself a local garge you can trust, they in turn also know good specialists who you can take the work to......

 

but you are correct, there are a lot of rip off merchants out there.

[CazzaVR 0]

Have been stung in the past with several misdiagnoses. Main culprit being a certain VW specialist in Canterbury...

 

Also not too happy with the work and attitude of a VERY reputable specialist who I took the car to in the summer...

 

Luckily, I've found a local VW specialist who is a top bloke. Often under-charges on parts and labour, and always helps out at short notice.

[dr_mat 0]

Best mechanic around my way is a Peugeot specialist. But he knows more about VW engine electronics than the main dealers would ..

[Jim 2]

Only ever gone to Stealth and only ever been pleased with their work.

 

But I just wish car labour / workshop rates just were not as high as they are. As soon as you're onto a two or three hour job, it starts to become a genuine financial concern.

 

I guess just spending the same money on a good set of tools and growing some balls is the way forward! I learned so much in the past few months round at Tempest's, and usually with 2cc showing me the ropes. Some of the stuff i've done in the last few months on the car:

 

* Dismantling inlet manifold to fit new gaskets

* Changing coolant flange on the front of the head

* Fitting a new front engine mount

* Fitting new HT leads and ISV / cleaning out throttle body

* Making up, by hand, new brake lines for Tempests Rado!

 

May sound like easy stuff to someone who already gets hands on with their car but before that the most advanced thing i'd done was fit a throttle cable. I'd never even jacked up my car before FFS!

 

But its been an enlightening few sessions in the garage and its also really good fun from a social point of view.. just chatting, taking the p1ss a bit and just fixing cars! :)