Phil the Brit
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- 1,499
So I recently took my 2010 Quattroporte to a well known independant garage in Essex for a service.
I have used them before on a few occasions.
The job was an annual service and I was quoted £900.
The owner phoned me the next day to tell me the car was in a poor state and needed the following doing............
ns and os front shox bushes £128 plus £170 labour
osr lower ball joint £900 plus £255 labour
nsf track rod end £162 plus £118 labour plus geometry £450
rear discs and pads £450 plus £250 labour
osr shox and bush £1000 plus £120 labour.
(That is £2840 parts cost when Eurospares cost would be £2364) make of that what you will.
Total bill was going to be in excess of £6500.
(He also reported car needed two front tyres and that was absolutely correct.)
I told him that car was only worth circa £9000 so I wasn't going to have work done (except service which had already been started).
Something didn't ring right and as I keep all my bills I checked and saw that rear discs and pads had only been changed two years previously. They surely didn't need changing again just two years later?
My wife suggested I have a health check done at Lancaster Colchester so they could check accuracy of the report.
This was done yesterday and the car came back with a totally clean bill of health. They sent me a video of the car report and it was virtually nothing wrong.
Couldn't understand this so I spoke with service advisor and then told him what other independant garage had said about some suspension parts just a few days previously.
They put their (different) top technician on a re-check and are adament that reported faults do NOT exist.
Can someone tell me what they think is going on here.
For full disclosure the same independant reported a new wishbone reuired on my 4200 a few years ago, I did the same thing then and Lancaster Colchester said it was NOT cracked and didn't need changing. At the time I put this down as a mistake but now I am not so sure.
Comments anyone?
I have used them before on a few occasions.
The job was an annual service and I was quoted £900.
The owner phoned me the next day to tell me the car was in a poor state and needed the following doing............
ns and os front shox bushes £128 plus £170 labour
osr lower ball joint £900 plus £255 labour
nsf track rod end £162 plus £118 labour plus geometry £450
rear discs and pads £450 plus £250 labour
osr shox and bush £1000 plus £120 labour.
(That is £2840 parts cost when Eurospares cost would be £2364) make of that what you will.
Total bill was going to be in excess of £6500.
(He also reported car needed two front tyres and that was absolutely correct.)
I told him that car was only worth circa £9000 so I wasn't going to have work done (except service which had already been started).
Something didn't ring right and as I keep all my bills I checked and saw that rear discs and pads had only been changed two years previously. They surely didn't need changing again just two years later?
My wife suggested I have a health check done at Lancaster Colchester so they could check accuracy of the report.
This was done yesterday and the car came back with a totally clean bill of health. They sent me a video of the car report and it was virtually nothing wrong.
Couldn't understand this so I spoke with service advisor and then told him what other independant garage had said about some suspension parts just a few days previously.
They put their (different) top technician on a re-check and are adament that reported faults do NOT exist.
Can someone tell me what they think is going on here.
For full disclosure the same independant reported a new wishbone reuired on my 4200 a few years ago, I did the same thing then and Lancaster Colchester said it was NOT cracked and didn't need changing. At the time I put this down as a mistake but now I am not so sure.
Comments anyone?
