Service Charges - for things not broken

I

insom

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A little while ago my wife dropped her Nissan Livina off at Nissan to be serviced like normal. During they day they called her and said they wanted to replace the suspension in front for R10k. We told them no, and asked for a quote, because we couldn't pay for it just then. The quote just says: "Replace suspension", with no details.

Today it went into a suspension and shocks place for them to give us a quote on whatever is wrong. They couldn't find anything wrong with the car. Why would a Nissan dealer/service centre do that? Is that what service has come to in SA?

My old Opel also has a story. The reverse lights had stopped working. When I took it in for its service, I asked them to check it out. They called and said they wanted R900 to fix it. Told them to stuff it. It was just a switch which needed to be replaced (R50).

Why do these people get away with charging so much? Or trying to charge for stuff which isn't even broken?

Makes me sad that you can't trust people.
 
Stealerships do this....

I've yet to figure out why though, its not like they're struggling for money.
 
GM wanted to replace drop links and shock mounts at over R10k on my sister's Corsa D at the last service.

I checked them out, nothing wrong with them, within spec.

They also wanted to replace disks and pads at around R3500 which still had loads of life left on them.

I think they catch loads of people out by claiming that parts are worn which are difficult for the ordinary person to inspect and perceived to be safety critical.
 
ponder said:
They're called stealerships for a reason.
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I can testify to this...G/F took her Kia Picanto to Midrand dealership - Kia's headlights weren't coming on.
Their diagnosis...both globes need to be replaced @ R350.00 each + labor....
She called me...for advice..I told her:- "Get out of there and meet me @ Motorzone Midrand"
Cost for similar globes @ Motorzone were R70.00 for a pair!

20 x min to install/replace and Bob's yer uncle! Saved her a small fortune!
 
Ooops.... . At the time I posted this I was very upset. And this is what I had been told. After this, they called in a more senior guy to come see if he could find anything before it drove off. They did find something. :( Some rubber things on the engine mounts are worn. So apparently that's a replace the whole lot kind of repair because Nissan won't sell just the rubber mounts. They only sell the whole kit. Which is then stupidly expensive to replace some little bits of rubber.
 
Lol, Ford always quoted me R350 LABOUR to change the wiper blades - a job that literally took 2 minutes, and required no tools!
 
insom said:
Ooops.... . At the time I posted this I was very upset. And this is what I had been told. After this, they called in a more senior guy to come see if he could find anything before it drove off. They did find something. :( Some rubber things on the engine mounts are worn. So apparently that's a replace the whole lot kind of repair because Nissan won't sell just the rubber mounts. They only sell the whole kit. Which is then stupidly expensive to replace some little bits of rubber.
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the engine mounting(s)?

Take it to a decent mechanic and ask him how much. You already know the problem, so you can point it out...
 
insom said:
Ooops.... . At the time I posted this I was very upset. And this is what I had been told. After this, they called in a more senior guy to come see if he could find anything before it drove off. They did find something. :( Some rubber things on the engine mounts are worn. So apparently that's a replace the whole lot kind of repair because Nissan won't sell just the rubber mounts. They only sell the whole kit. Which is then stupidly expensive to replace some little bits of rubber.
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I went to bosch for the same thing. Engine mounts costed R150 each but labour worked out to R950. It was ridiculous
 
If a car is not under warranty/service plan and even then certain items don't impact, don't take it to a dealership. Yet to buy a car where dealership servicing/repair is worth their prices.
 
wentworth65 said:
I went to bosch for the same thing. Engine mounts costed R150 each but labour worked out to R950. It was ridiculous
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Have you changed a car's engine mounts before?

I've changed the gearbox mount and the rear engine mount on my old Corsa. F$king mission and a half. Changing the mount by the cambelt would be a nightmare.
 
insom said:
Ooops.... . At the time I posted this I was very upset. And this is what I had been told. After this, they called in a more senior guy to come see if he could find anything before it drove off. They did find something. :( Some rubber things on the engine mounts are worn. So apparently that's a replace the whole lot kind of repair because Nissan won't sell just the rubber mounts. They only sell the whole kit. Which is then stupidly expensive to replace some little bits of rubber.
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Take it to a decent independent mechanic.

You don't "misdiagnose" the suspension when its the engine mounts... This whole thing still sounds fishy.
 
TheOx said:
Have you changed a car's engine mounts before?

I've changed the gearbox mount and the rear engine mount on my old Corsa. F$king mission and a half. Changing the mount by the cambelt would be a nightmare.
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I've replaced the clutch on my Kia Cerato and that required entirely removing three of the four engine mounts, unbolting the fourth mount, removing both drive shafts, unbolting the steering rack, unbolting the subframe and dropping the gearbox out the bottom.
I saved R5000 worth of labour in the process and didn't have a stealership break things, strip bolts and incorrectly assemble things.

It's a piece of cake - one just need the tools and some patience.
People have it too easy now days ... :whistle:
 
Paul_S said:
I've replaced the clutch on my Kia Cerato and that required entirely removing three of the four engine mounts, unbolting the fourth mount, removing both drive shafts, unbolting the steering rack, unbolting the subframe and dropping the gearbox out the bottom.
I saved R5000 worth of labour in the process and didn't have a stealership break things, strip bolts and incorrectly assemble things.

It's a piece of cake - one just need the tools and some patience.
People have it too easy now days ... :whistle:
Click to expand...

Lol, patience is in short supply for me :D

The upside to doing work on your own is that you know how you did it. The downside is that you're completely liable for the work you do :D
 
Best is to have an independent RMI approved mechanic that you trust.

Co-worker has an older ML320 and the driver window stopped working completely. Mercedes took one hour to tell him they have to replace the entire console around the gear lever as all the switches are nearly worn out with the driver side one being completely shot. This would cost in excess of R10k.

Took the car to an independent auto electrician, it stood there for 2 days and when he had time to spare he worked on it, only charged for an hours worth of labour to open the console and clean the switches. Everything still works 18 months later.
 
Well, an update on this:
Took it somewhere else based on friends recommendation. They've stripped it, found a few bits to replace. And will replace and put it back together. Should it get back tomorrow.

Total is 1/3 what Nissan wanted. And I don't think the bits they are replacing are part of what Nissan wanted to replace (although I don't know what they were going to do in detail since their "quote" just has: "Replace suspension" on it).

Am I allowed to be upset again? Or just happy it isn't costing us so much?
 
Prime example, nice one Roux..
Rouxenator said:
Best is to have an independent RMI approved mechanic that you trust.

Co-worker has an older ML320 and the driver window stopped working completely. Mercedes took one hour to tell him they have to replace the entire console around the gear lever as all the switches are nearly worn out with the driver side one being completely shot. This would cost in excess of R10k.

Took the car to an independent auto electrician, it stood there for 2 days and when he had time to spare he worked on it, only charged for an hours worth of labour to open the console and clean the switches. Everything still works 18 months later.
Click to expand...
 
dealerships normally have low level mechanics who are basically installers.

They plug in their little diagnostics, get a report and replace. Or just look at time, do a few generic checks and replace the entire unit.

Go to an independent specialist. One who specialises in a particular brand, ask around on various car clubs - bound to find somene
 
While what is said here could be 100% fact, there are times when a dealership isnt really out to rip you off..

here a flowchart for a dealership:
Look at thing first
Is thing broken? No.
Does it look and perform like new? no
Is it likely to break BEFORE we next get to see this car? perhaps yes
REPLACE/QUOTE
(you love this when it is under guarantee, and hate this when it isnt)

here's a flowchart for an independent/your brother-in-law/friend:
What does the customer want fixed that is already broken?
Fix it.
See anything else broken? yes
Tell them. (maybe)
See something worn out? yes
Tell them (maybe)
 
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