Please check this garage bill and let me know if it is reasonable or not

[rkrishna]

Hi, my car was overheating and I took it to a local independent garage two weeks back and today I got a call saying it is repaired and emailed me the invoice. here is the breakdown, Please let me know if it is reasonable. apparently the head gasket is blown up and other parts also needed replacement due to this according to the mechanic. their customer service was very poor and they were very rude whenever I called them to get an update. they gave very high estimate initially and I made a mistake of not getting quotes from other garages.

 

Please let me know if there are any parts in this bill that aren't anything to do with overheating, so shouldn't be included, or if the parts charge is high or if the labour charge or effort is high etc.

 

(all amounts rounded to nearest one). the estimate was £1200 and the total to pay now is £1365 out of which warranty company agreed to reimburse only £450 (for head gasket alone). the timing belt is also covered under warranty, but they said they don't pay because it isn't broken. they said the same when I had to replace my car clutch and fly wheel earlier and they didn't pay a penny for that saying they will pay only if it is broken.

 

my car is Ford Focus 2003 diesel £70K mileage

 

1. labour = 8 hours = £400 (£50 per hour)

2. Cylinder head work = £260

3. head gasket = £44

4. head gasket set = £40

5. head bolts = £27

6. timing belt kit = £70

7. Engine oil = £31.25 (each lit £6.25 and quantity 5) (CORRECTION MADE)

8. oil filter = £7

9. environmental disposal = £6

10. car anti-freeze per lt = £7

11. Fote water flush = £13

12. Forte oil flush = £12

13. Drive belt F1133960 = £24.36

14. Exhaust studs & Bolts & sundries = £45

15. Pulley (belt tensioner) F1473384 = £140.96

VAT = £227

total = £1365

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited July 2, 2011 by rkrishna

[heliosuk]

I'll let those who cannot see the flaw first respond!! I need a laugh at the moment.

[mr2mr2]

labour + c/head work ????

labour + labour

[MARTIN3030]

Timing belt kit ?

Should also include the pulley (listed at £140)

 

Why is the head work listed sep to the main labour ?

 

Exhaust studs bolts and sundries £45 .....a bit over the top too........

 

Head gasket usually included in a head gasket set.

[mr2mr2]

so overall then looks like someone pulling a fastone on you

[MARTIN3030]

Thats an understatement.

[mr2mr2]

i thought i was going mad when i saw the 2 labour charges....

at least the guy used common sense and questioned the total rather than just blindly paying

[MARTIN3030]

I cant work out why the so called cylinder head work is listed sep.

Work on the head involves removing all ancilliaries,then cleaning surfaces where old gaskets have left deposits-normally a simple job using a spray and fine emery paper.

There is no mention of the head being warped which could have meant skimming.

In modern engines this is almost unknown.

[MARTIN3030]

Helliosuk...over to you.

[rkrishna]

The "Cylinder head work" is for skimming, I don't know what it exactly means, but apparently this job is done by some specialist engineering firm, so that is a separate charge

[rebel11]

Labour is excessive, sounds like they were on a go slow, they can't turnover that much business, if it takes them 8 hours to carryout all those task. Take the bill to a

another garage, tell them you want all those things done, get a quote, even several quotes. Contact AA or RAC to get quotes.

[Conniff]

Must be part of the 'good garage' scheme, Forte flush, that has to be worth £500 on it's own

[rebel11]

That sounds like a resounding indoresment - not:-), a good mechanic could build a new car in half the time.

 

Must be part of the 'good garage' scheme, Forte flush, that has to be worth £500 on it's own

[Conniff]

 

1. labour = 8 hours = £400 (£50 per hour)

2. Cylinder head work = £260

3. head gasket = £44

4. head gasket set = £40

5. head bolts = £27

6. timing belt kit = £70

7. Engine oil = £6.25 (quantity 5)

8. oil filter = £7

9. environmental disposal = £6

10. car anti-freeze per lt = £7

11. Fote water flush = £13

12. Forte oil flush = £12

13. Drive belt F1133960 = £24.36

14. Exhaust studs & Bolts & sundries = £45

15. Pulley (belt tensioner) F1473384 = £140.96

VAT = £227

total = £1365

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I was going to respond, but there are too many things not right, least of all the sums themselves don't tally.

 

The timing gear is a total cockup, entered as a kit and then as individual items.

[rkrishna]

I made the correction as per the invoice and now the sums tally (the amounts are rounded to nearest pound). thanks

[riget]

I don't see why you're all against the garage when all we know about the job is, it's an eight year old diesel car with 70k miles, that has overheated.

I don't know this engine and havn't worked for several years, but I've over 30 years in the motor trade.

 

1) 8 hours for this job seems very reasonable

2) The head obviously had to go to a machinist to be skimmed, and possibly more.

3&4) I've know a few engines where the head gasket has to be bought seperate from the head set.

5-12) all seem ok

13) poly v belt

14) seems a bit high but don't know what was needed or costs.

15) poly v belt tensioner, seems expensive but if that's the dealer price nothing to be done.

 

I'd be interested for any mechanics to show where this is way out, like the timing gear cockup, or the time taken to do the job.

I'm not saying it's all ok but it doesn't seem to over the top.

[MARTIN3030]

If he had wanted to pay dealer prices-he would have taken it to the dealers.

There are lots of aftermarket trade suppliers now selling oe.

In fact Main dealers have begun offering good trade parts deals.

For example you can get a VAG cambelt kit that will fit Octavas/VW/Audi and Seat 1.9 tdi for half these prices.

Why was the original quote so high also ?

They would not have known the head needed skimming until they had removed it.

Also I just realised they didnt change the water pump.....after all this work I would expect them to have changed that.

[j66]

You'll want the head checked for flatness and skimmed if necessary, crack and pressure tested, they might even have to strip it down to do this, that's the specailist cylinder head work.

 

On an 8 year old car you can encounter all sorts of stubborn fixings which will add to the labour time, usually the 'book' times listed for the job are manufacturer derived times based on working on new vehicles. Even relatively minor sounding things like cleaning the cooling system takes time.

 

No garage is going to warrant a cylinder head job without replacing the timing belt and you don't just replace the belt, you really need to do the tensioner and pulleys as well. It also seems that the auxiliary belt tensioner was suspect as well, which probably wouldn't have been in the original estimate. The difference between the estimate and the final invoice is basically the auxiliary belt tensioner, how many garages automatically estimate for one when pricing a cylinder head job?, not many I think.

 

There was a report in one of the trade magazines recently where a garage had done a cylinder head job on a car, sometime later the car overheated due to a faulty radiator and the garage had to fix the car at their own expense. It was deemed that they were the experts and should have replaced the radiator at the time.

 

Bear in mind that you have also given the Government £227.

 

I think that it is the going rate for a good job.

[kp278]

£1300 for a head gasket repair isn't excessive