Posted: 5/20/2009 7:29:54 AM EDT
..in mild shock. Having dropped the family jallopy in for the bargain 99 quid service & MOT (5 quid off for booking online ), an hour or so later I got That Call.............
New rear no. plate f/o/s indicator u/s r/o/s brake light u/s oil leak corroded (slightly) brake pipe new discs/pads on the rear new tyres on the rear r/o/s handbrake cable broken f/o/s coil spring! broken r/n/s coil spring, so basically replace them all! Fu&k!!!! 
That'll be 604 quid, on top of what you've already paid......... Fu#$ity Fu&k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
I don't recall having done the Paris-Dakkar in it since it was last serviced 6 months ago................................ 
After some wheeling and dealing and compromise I got it down to a mere 444 quid, only for them to claw back up to a settlement of 510 over something else. Bugger. Deep gloom, that has severley dented the budget for 'Project .308 Cheapskate'........... 
I'm just going to collect the POS now......................... |
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I have never heard of anybody actually getting one of those fixed price service and MOT,s at the advertised price.
Its just a way for them to get your car into the workshop and find things that need doing. If it was me, I would have told them to do the service, do the MOT and hand back the car with service all done and MOT failure sheet. |
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I feel your pain...MOT last week cost me £425...and that was with just 2 issues to fix...parts and labour guv !
As it turned out the owner of the garage happened to be a fellow shooter in the same club as myself...but that unfortunately didnt lead to any discount.... 
Next up is the car tax and service for the wife's car...
Don't they know I've got a bunch of hungry firearms to feed ! |
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All the garages are trying it on at the moment for servicing. A friend went in for a new key for his BMW and they did a 'courtesy' check while he was waiting and announced he immediately need 500+ quid of work as it wasn't safe to drive.
He then told them to stuff it and went to another BMW dealer who found no problems at all. |
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YOu should buy a quality car… Yeah, this German one is rubbish, I'll buy Japanese next time, maybe Korean................ Good call… Japanese cars come much higher up the Customer Satisfaction surveys than German cars and have lower costs of ownership. What car is it you own? |
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Now to piss you all off
I took my 2001 Seat Alhambra into Kwik-Fit for full service n MOT price £199 cost to me £199. Said brakes would need replacing shortly (the light had flickered) new rear shoes and fitting £69 Also pointed out that clamp for Fuel Filter needed replacing (done with 2 zip-ties) _ said if I ordered the par £7.32 from my local dealer they would fit it free ! result one happy customer  (Battle Bowler on) PMSL
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YOu should buy a quality car… Yeah, this German one is rubbish, I'll buy Japanese next time, maybe Korean................ Good call… Japanese cars come much higher up the Customer Satisfaction surveys than German cars and have lower costs of ownership. What car is it you own? Vauxhall Zafira badged but if you look at the plates it was built by Opel...........The designs quite clever if boring, but it's a family car, what do you expect?. Marriage killed my interest in cars when I turned my 3.0S Zakspeed Capri into a dining room............(sob)
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YOu should buy a quality car… Yeah, this German one is rubbish, I'll buy Japanese next time, maybe Korean................ Good call… Japanese cars come much higher up the Customer Satisfaction surveys than German cars and have lower costs of ownership. What car is it you own? Vauxhall Zafira badged but if you look at the plates it was built by Opel...........The designs quite clever if boring, but it's a family car, what do you expect?. Marriage killed my interest in cars when I turned my 3.0S Zakspeed Capri into a dining room............(sob)
Vauxhall… yuck! My brother kept buying Astras that ate him out of house and home with constant repairs as their built cheap and nasty… Eventually the penny dropped that my cars never seemed to be in the dealer other than for it's annual service despite running up lots of miles… He's now bought a Honda too, as reliable as a swiss watch. FWIW: My last Honda, a HR-V : 9 years old, only routine service parts replaced until the grearbox failed at 80K miles and 9 years old. Hionda replaced the box free of charge…'It shouldn't have failed' said the man as they picked it up at their expense. Current Honda, a CR-V: 5 years old. Just routine servicing. Alarm and Sat-Nav started playing up late last year, both replaced FOC by Honda. Sat Nav is a £1,500 option built in one. |
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YOu should buy a quality car… Yeah, this German one is rubbish, I'll buy Japanese next time, maybe Korean................ Good call… Japanese cars come much higher up the Customer Satisfaction surveys than German cars and have lower costs of ownership. What car is it you own? Vauxhall Zafira badged but if you look at the plates it was built by Opel...........The designs quite clever if boring, but it's a family car, what do you expect?. Marriage killed my interest in cars when I turned my 3.0S Zakspeed Capri into a dining room............(sob)
Vauxhall… yuck! My brother kept buying Astras that ate him out of house and home with constant repairs as their built cheap and nasty… Eventually the penny dropped that my cars never seemed to be in the dealer other than for it's annual service despite running up lots of miles… He's now bought a Honda too, as reliable as a swiss watch. FWIW: My last Honda, a HR-V : 9 years old, only routine service parts replaced until the grearbox failed at 80K miles and 9 years old. Hionda replaced the box free of charge…'It shouldn't have failed' said the man as they picked it up at their expense. Current Honda, a CR-V: 5 years old. Just routine servicing. Alarm and Sat-Nav started playing up late last year, both replaced FOC by Honda. Sat Nav is a £1,500 option built in one. Nice service. Yep this was my first, and probably last Vauxhall. We've only ever spent money on two cars. The first was a Ford Mondeo that went up in flames at J14 on the M5 on New Year's Eve 1998  The second is this Zafira which although a good family car when everything's hunky dory, has been 'kin expensive . Oh, and Vauxhall's Mastercare plan is shit, more like Masterbate(rs). I had far too many things go wrong in the first year and had to raise holy hell to get them sorted....
Best car I had was an old Toyota Corolla Estate that I had as a stop gap after my fiery Ford experience. Four years of nothing but consumables and never failed an MOT.........only chopped it in because it had 140 000+ and was old, it still ran fine....
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Mitsubishi Pajero ( Jap version of Shogun ) 1995 model, got it at 60k and put 40k on it over past 3 years - never lets me down.
Old technology so even I can do the fuel, air and oil filters etc. Not attractive to thieves so dont have to worry too much where I park it. And outstanding off road, again not having to worry too much as I would if I took a shiny new one off road. I will drive it til it dies - can see no other reason to replace it. Oh and veg oil is coming down in price so getting cheaper to run 
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Mitsubishi Pajero ( Jap version of Shogun ) 1995 model, got it at 60k and put 40k on it over past 3 years - never lets me down. Old technology so even I can do the fuel, air and oil filters etc. Not attractive to thieves so dont have to worry too much where I park it. And outstanding off road, again not having to worry too much as I would if I took a shiny new one off road. I will drive it til it dies - can see no other reason to replace it. Oh and veg oil is coming down in price so getting cheaper to run It will probably outlive you… They're effectively indestructable. 
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Mitsubishi Pajero ( Jap version of Shogun ) 1995 model, got it at 60k and put 40k on it over past 3 years - never lets me down. Old technology so even I can do the fuel, air and oil filters etc. Not attractive to thieves so dont have to worry too much where I park it. And outstanding off road, again not having to worry too much as I would if I took a shiny new one off road. I will drive it til it dies - can see no other reason to replace it. Oh and veg oil is coming down in price so getting cheaper to run It will probably outlive you… They're effectively indestructable. Possibly although I once earned the nickname chi chi due to my ability to fuck pandas.
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Mitsubishi Pajero ( Jap version of Shogun ) 1995 model, got it at 60k and put 40k on it over past 3 years - never lets me down. Old technology so even I can do the fuel, air and oil filters etc. Not attractive to thieves so dont have to worry too much where I park it. And outstanding off road, again not having to worry too much as I would if I took a shiny new one off road. I will drive it til it dies - can see no other reason to replace it. Oh and veg oil is coming down in price so getting cheaper to run It will probably outlive you… They're effectively indestructable. Possibly although I once earned the nickname chi chi due to my ability to fuck pandas.
I fucked up a Prius last year… 4x4 vs Prious = FAIL of epic proportions. 
I have a cracked bumper, it took the Prious dealer and all his fine men, 10 days to put Humpty Prious back together again |
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Mitsubishi Pajero ( Jap version of Shogun ) 1995 model, got it at 60k and put 40k on it over past 3 years - never lets me down. Old technology so even I can do the fuel, air and oil filters etc. Not attractive to thieves so dont have to worry too much where I park it. And outstanding off road, again not having to worry too much as I would if I took a shiny new one off road. I will drive it til it dies - can see no other reason to replace it. Oh and veg oil is coming down in price so getting cheaper to run It will probably outlive you… They're effectively indestructable. Possibly although I once earned the nickname chi chi due to my ability to fuck pandas.
I fucked up a Prius last year… 4x4 vs Prious = FAIL of epic proportions.
I have a cracked bumper, it took the Prious dealer and all his fine men, 10 days to put Humpty Prious back together again LOL - my last accident was me in Range Rover ( 1992 vintage one ) versus hoodie in Astra. Staggered crossroads confused the bejesus out of him. We ended up in a head on. My vehicle came to rest half way up his bonnet. I reversed off, no damage. But his ? Engine pushed out of place, oil and coolant everwhere, every panel at front crushed, windscreen cracked, roof warped and he had a pain in his headache because he was far too cool for a seatbelt. He then demanded cash to pay for his car as apparently he had spent a fortune "doing it up innit". I declined and said I would let insurance decide. He pointed out that he does not have insurance and calls his friends up on phone to come and sort me out. So, I call up my friends who arrived quicker because they use blues and twos. So, end result - no comeback whatsoever for me or my insurance. Hoodie - lost car, had to pay Police to tow it. Had to pay fine for no insurance + 6 points. Oh and he was a learner driver too - he tried to pretend that his supervising driver had left the scene due to shock and his "L" plates fell off, but they did not fall for that one.
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He then demanded cash to pay for his car as apparently he had spent a fortune "doing it up innit". I declined and said I would let insurance decide. He pointed out that he does not have insurance and calls his friends up on phone to come and sort me out. So, I call up my friends who arrived quicker because they use blues and twos. 
Now that is epic FAIL! 
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New rear no. plate f/o/s indicator u/s r/o/s brake light u/s oil leak corroded (slightly) brake pipe new discs/pads on the rear new tyres on the rear r/o/s handbrake cable broken f/o/s coil spring! broken r/n/s coil spring, so basically replace them all! Remind us all what's your day job
I was at the main agent garage today. nice young lady took my key, put in the gizmo and it printed out the VIN, the mileage and how many miles the service was overdue. Didn't know the key stored all that!!! Also got a written quote for the service which included what they charge for the oil. £70 for 4.5 litres 5 litres of the same grade from a well known retailer costs less than half that so a diy service is on the cards.
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New rear no. plate f/o/s indicator u/s r/o/s brake light u/s oil leak corroded (slightly) brake pipe new discs/pads on the rear new tyres on the rear r/o/s handbrake cable broken f/o/s coil spring! broken r/n/s coil spring, so basically replace them all! Remind us all what's your day job
I was at the main agent garage today. nice young lady took my key, put in the gizmo and it printed out the VIN, the mileage and how many miles the service was overdue. Didn't know the key stored all that!!! Also got a written quote for the service which included what they charge for the oil. £70 for 4.5 litres 5 litres of the same grade from a well known retailer costs less than half that so a diy service is on the cards.Well I'm not a frigging mechanic ...only one tyre was low enough to require replacement, the other was ok but worn. I always replace them in pairs. The shock for me was the coil springs. I've seen plenty of broken ones on rally cars and the like but never you average family car. One had snapped within a couple of inches at the top , the other the complete bottom two coils!!
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Mitsubishi Pajero ( Jap version of Shogun ) 1995 model, got it at 60k and put 40k on it over past 3 years - never lets me down. Old technology so even I can do the fuel, air and oil filters etc. Not attractive to thieves so dont have to worry too much where I park it. And outstanding off road, again not having to worry too much as I would if I took a shiny new one off road. I will drive it til it dies - can see no other reason to replace it. Oh and veg oil is coming down in price so getting cheaper to run It will probably outlive you… They're effectively indestructable. Possibly although I once earned the nickname chi chi due to my ability to fuck pandas.
I fucked up a Prius last year… 4x4 vs Prious = FAIL of epic proportions.
I have a cracked bumper, it took the Prious dealer and all his fine men, 10 days to put Humpty Prious back together again LOL - my last accident was me in Range Rover ( 1992 vintage one ) versus hoodie in Astra. Staggered crossroads confused the bejesus out of him. We ended up in a head on. My vehicle came to rest half way up his bonnet. I reversed off, no damage. But his ? Engine pushed out of place, oil and coolant everwhere, every panel at front crushed, windscreen cracked, roof warped and he had a pain in his headache because he was far too cool for a seatbelt. He then demanded cash to pay for his car as apparently he had spent a fortune "doing it up innit". I declined and said I would let insurance decide. He pointed out that he does not have insurance and calls his friends up on phone to come and sort me out. So, I call up my friends who arrived quicker because they use blues and twos. So, end result - no comeback whatsoever for me or my insurance. Hoodie - lost car, had to pay Police to tow it. Had to pay fine for no insurance + 6 points. Oh and he was a learner driver too - he tried to pretend that his supervising driver had left the scene due to shock and his "L" plates fell off, but they did not fall for that one.
And justice prevails........
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LOL - my last accident was me in Range Rover ( 1992 vintage one ) versus hoodie in Astra. Staggered crossroads confused the bejesus out of him. We ended up in a head on. My vehicle came to rest half way up his bonnet. I reversed off, no damage. But his ? Engine pushed out of place, oil and coolant everwhere, every panel at front crushed, windscreen cracked, roof warped and he had a pain in his headache because he was far too cool for a seatbelt. He then demanded cash to pay for his car as apparently he had spent a fortune "doing it up innit". I declined and said I would let insurance decide. He pointed out that he does not have insurance and calls his friends up on phone to come and sort me out. So, I call up my friends who arrived quicker because they use blues and twos. So, end result - no comeback whatsoever for me or my insurance. Hoodie - lost car, had to pay Police to tow it. Had to pay fine for no insurance + 6 points. Oh and he was a learner driver too - he tried to pretend that his supervising driver had left the scene due to shock and his "L" plates fell off, but they did not fall for that one.
Love it
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All the garages are trying it on at the moment for servicing. A friend went in for a new key for his BMW and they did a 'courtesy' check while he was waiting and announced he immediately need 500+ quid of work as it wasn't safe to drive. He then told them to stuff it and went to another BMW dealer who found no problems at all. My wife's Honda is serviced by a main dealer and the last two services they have tried to charge for two litres more oil that the car can hold - each time I have called them and enquired whether they have put too much oil in and potentially damaged the engine or have just overcharged me. After a short bit of waffle, I ask again, and after some more waffle ask again. Each time they refunded the oil cost after eventually admitting "an error". Robbing ba%st%rds! |
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YOu should buy a quality car… Yeah, this German one is rubbish, I'll buy Japanese next time, maybe Korean................ Good call… +1 on that! Japanese cars come much higher up the Customer Satisfaction surveys than German cars and have lower costs of ownership. What car is it you own? Presently running two Subaru Legacy Estates. Good in the snow, adequate ground clearance for the forest tracks where I go stalking, good capacity for dogs, rifles, range bag, furniture, paving slabs and the monthly Tesco big bill expeditions. (although not usually all at the same time.) I have owned Legacies for about 15 years, these are my third and fourth. They are very reliable, apart from the usual tyres, brakes and exhausts the only repairs have been one radiator due to a stone through it and one front drive shaft CV joint about 4 months after the boot split and threw all the grease out. A fuel pipe was chewed through by mice a couple of winters ago, resulting in £40 of unleaded being deposited in a 10 mile stream along the road, but that was hardly a fault of the car. The exhausts are expensive, one has to be replaced tonight and will be about £500 but that is about 7 years and 90K miles old. How does that compare with other makes? Servicing is by a local independent guy because the main dealer in Aberdeen wants £70 an hour for some spotty apprentice to change oil and filters.
I would like more ground clearance but otherwise no plans to buy anything else, although I have long fancied an older Shogun/Pajero as shooting transport. |
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As an end to this tragic tale I have just completed my six monthly ritual of clearing all the accumulated shit out of the throttle body (no doubt a result of poor design) so it won't try and kill me as I try and negotiate a junction or a roundabout. So it's just tax at the end of the monthand aside from any other catastrophic failure I should be good until the next major service, just in time for Christmas..................
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