Safety Check - $2k + quote for what?

[OzriderXR8]

I took the car for a 'Safety Check' at a popular suspension company, I figured I don't have a hoist and it wouldn't hurt to find out what needed attention as I just bought the car and I am working through what needs doing.

They come back with a substantial list of issues. A quote with labour of well over $2k.

I'm working through the list and no surprise, most of the stuff on their list is perfect. I'll be checking the rest of the back end over the weekend but expect there to be no issues there either.

No wonder I have little trust in workshops etc. (I know it's a franchise and not all workshops are dodgy.)



(posted in Workshop area as well http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...23#post5624923)

[Pedro]

Am I missing something here ... most of the items are "not required", so what's your point?

[simon varley]

I assume that's OP's comments

[fordomatic]

Oldest trick in the book, catches a lot of people out

[b0son]

Do they still claim the car is too dangerous to drive and refuse to let the customer have the keys until the work is done?

[Dr Terry]

It wouldn't take too much figuring to work out who the " popular suspension company" actually is. I believe that we all know who it is.

Dr Terry

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

It wouldn't take too much figuring to work out who the " popular suspension company" actually is. I believe that we all know who it is.

Dr Terry

I think the term 'well known suspension co' would be more suitable

[Yellow_Festiva]

So, are you saying the work needed is all... bull?

[last fairlane]

I had the same problem with a "popular" suspension franchise about looseness in the front end of my AU fairmont a quick look and I was given a quote of over $2000 I said yeah right I got it fixed locally for $200 labour and a $300 reco rack
they must have thought I was an 18 year old girl just get a second opinion
John

[cro142]

Ha Ha

Yes I know the suspension company you refer to.

This racket is just their business model - all the franchises do it, and have been doing so for many years.

An inspection will ALWAYS generate a repair quote of around $2K to $3K.
Some dummies will pay up, others will say "What's REALLY URGENT, and settle for a (say) $500 to $800 job. The franchise is happy to oblige!

I think that to avoid fraud charges, they would say to the Office of Fair Trading that we set our repair criteria at "If it's not as good brand new, it needs replacing" - as we have high standards you know!

Stay away.

[OzriderXR8]

Originally Posted by Pedro

Am I missing something here ... most of the items are "not required", so what's your point?

I think you've missed everything.....

Notes are mine, the list and estimated costs are theirs.

[AGH]

Originally Posted by OzriderXR8

I think you've missed everything.....

Notes are mine, the list and estimated costs are theirs.

No disrespect mate but until you said the 'notes' were yours I would have had to agree with Pedro's comment.

[BPXR6T]

I bet I know exactly who this is, they did the same to me. Had a ticking noise I couldn't figure out so dropped it into the "experts" to looks over. I get back 2hrs later to a $1500 quote. Everything they told me was stuffed was perfect, the car only had a rwc a few months prior. Ticking noise ended up being one of the crappy recaps the car came with.

[M&Ms]

Let me guess, pedders?
I took my car there (Granville) about a shudder when braking, they came back with a quote saying everything is stuffed an it will cost 4 grand to fix ... everything from four shocks to brake pads which had less than 1000 km on them! The moron deserved a punch to the face, but i paid him his $28 and left. Took the car to Jim Hunter Suspension in Blacktown, identified a couple of issues with front sway bar bushes, $300 or so later, car drives like new. It's been almost 10,000 km since, and no issues. I even asked Jim Hunter to double check my shocks, he put the car on some test rig, and said they're almost like new, and are even better condition than the car's odometer suggests!
Stick with the smaller guys, who are more experienced and passionate about cars and their work, who actually care about their Customers, and stay away from the big franchises who woo you with their $28 obligation free safety checks, and then hope some fool falls for their B.S....

[Blue Shadow]

Ive seen alot of "smaller guys" that are really shonky too, its not just the franchises although they are shonks, they are not the only ones

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

They been doing this since the 80's I remember taking my first car there when the brake pads went and they came back with a $1400 quote and I was earning $200 per week at the time.

I was devastated and told my father, who took me to Repco where we bought some new $19 brake pads, two hours later they were changed and the car was fine for another 12 months till I moved on to a better one.

About that time I started doing 98% of all my own mechanical work, and have never had a problem with any car that I service and work on.

[OzriderXR8]

Here you go, I've modified it it make it clearer.

[wulos]

Have you taken the car anywhere else to get a second opinion? Whilst I don't doubt your own abilities, perhaps the mechanic involved was erring on the side of caution?
I'm sure that if he said that everything was fine, and the car was inspected by the police/RTA/TMS etc and they found something marginal, he would much prefer to have pointed out potential issues in writing.
Put yourself in his shoes. car comes in, owner asks for a full inspection as he has recently purchased the car, and knows that there are a few issues, that require attention(has just bought the car, perhaps limited knowledge of its maintenance history). After a roadtest you discover steering feels a bit "iffy", do you risk your reputation / livelihood(read licence) on a bare minimum quote that you are not entirely sure would rectify the issue, or explain in writing that there may be factors that you haven't yet ruled out?

[Brazen]

How old, how many km is the car?

If this is the AUII XR8 you recently bought? That would make it 15 years old and in other threads you said it's had years of neglect?

Wouldn't surprise me if that quote is a good indication of what needs to be done to get it in tip top shape.

[OzriderXR8]

Originally Posted by wulos

Have you taken the car anywhere else to get a second opinion? Whilst I don't doubt your own abilities, perhaps the mechanic involved was erring on the side of caution?
I'm sure that if he said that everything was fine, and the car was inspected by the police/RTA/TMS etc and they found something marginal, he would much prefer to have pointed out potential issues in writing.
Put yourself in his shoes. car comes in, owner asks for a full inspection as he has recently purchased the car, and knows that there are a few issues, that require attention(has just bought the car, perhaps limited knowledge of its maintenance history). After a roadtest you discover steering feels a bit "iffy", do you risk your reputation / livelihood(read licence) on a bare minimum quote that you are not entirely sure would rectify the issue, or explain in writing that there may be factors that you haven't yet ruled out?

I would expect that level of expertise when paying for an inspection, I took it to them so they could tell me of any immediate or potential issues.

To be told items need to be replaced that when physically removed for inspection show no signs of wear or damage is just plain wrong. He even commented on his test drive that everything appeared tight.

As an example, the passenger side wheel hub and bearing was reported as urgently requiring attention as there was play in the assembly, it turned out to be perfect. When I removed the front sway bar bushes they look brand new as do other bushes on the car, the steering rack was reported as 'completely stuffed' yet had no leaks and the only issue I could find was a split boot and play in the left side rack end.

The car had only been roadworthied a couple of months earlier by another 'reputable' mechanic and has only done around 1000klms since. He didn't even pick up the split boots and rack end play.

[Makovic]

That's got to be Pedders - once again taking the ****SS.

[csv8]

I had a quote done by a reputable firm..then by a local suspension specialist. Both quotes stated nearly the same repairs . But local suspension firm was $1,000 cheaper. Went with them, BF now handles better. After 9 years and 150k kms I expected wear. Diff bushes need doing again, going with Super Pro, when I have the money..They are just over $1000k fitted...

[wulos]

I would be more concerned about the stuff missed on the original roadworthy inspection.

From the sound of things, both yourself and the suspension specialist (perhaps even the mechanic that did the original roadworthy inspection) have felt something suspect on the front left corner. Kudo's to you on following up by taking it in a second time within 1000km - many wouldn't.

Anyone that's been around cars for a whiles knows that some issues can be a royal pain to isolate down to a single component - especially when based upon a single road test / visual inspection. Sometimes it can take a more thorough(more labour intensive / expensive) pull down / rebuild to find. Sometimes it can be a combination of minor wear / alignment in multiple components that present the same symptoms.
Comes down to a personal preference. Do you say nothing, or say too much?

From the sounds of things you are getting ahead of the issues, and can enjoy your new ride..

[cro142]

Originally Posted by wulos

I would be more concerned about the stuff missed on the original roadworthy inspection.

From the sound of things, both yourself and the suspension specialist (perhaps even the mechanic that did the original roadworthy inspection) have felt something suspect on the front left corner. Kudo's to you on following up by taking it in a second time within 1000km - many wouldn't.

Anyone that's been around cars for a whiles knows that some issues can be a royal pain to isolate down to a single component - especially when based upon a single road test / visual inspection. Sometimes it can take a more thorough(more labour intensive / expensive) pull down / rebuild to find. Sometimes it can be a combination of minor wear / alignment in multiple components that present the same symptoms.
Comes down to a personal preference. Do you say nothing, or say too much?

From the sounds of things you are getting ahead of the issues, and can enjoy your new ride..

Maybe so, but the point about this thread is that the company in question has a long-term reputation of overestimating the repairs required, to the point of fraud.

Go somewhere else and start again.

[mechanic]

Originally Posted by b0son

Do they still claim the car is too dangerous to drive and refuse to let the customer have the keys until the work is done?

" Refuse to let the customer have the keys " !!!! Best of luck with that little scenario.
I've seen that done plenty of times when the bill hasn't been paid but not in a situation as described.

[Bearman]

Wulos makes a very good point. My experience of this particular franchise was an eye watering quote in spite of being told this front end was in good nick for this car and mileage (BA XR6 @ 200,000km).

The guy highlighted what he considered urgent, OK for now but needs to be done later and items you could leave until something else in that area needs to be done.

Each individual component had its own labour cost which blew the quote out. Obviously several components could be replaced in one area with one labour cost so if you got the job lot done the total labour cost would be pretty much halved which made the actual cost not as scary as the quote. Still, it was expensive so the decision was made to trade the car instead.

I went away from there believing they quote for everything that is not as new perfect more for liability reasons as Wulos has mentioned.

[Mr Brooksy]

I'm not surprised, but on the other hand I am. I'll explain.

I'm not surprised as many franchises of many kinds have a policy to over sell anything and everything, why do we think there are the small cheap things within reaching distance of kids at supermarket checkouts etc? You kind of just expect it.

My experience with this particular franchise (admittedly a few years ago now and very rarely even then) has been one of appreciation. I've spoken to a few franchises that I wouldn't even bother driving to for an opinion of the weather let alone my car. But the ones I've actually gone to have been very good.

One such experience was a trip from Newcastle to Adelaide. Got my local mechanic to fit Nolothane bushes in the rear of a BA V8 Ghia just before the trip. Everything felt fine for the few days before the big trip... Till I whacked on a trailer fully laiden with audio visual equipment. And drove off (rookie mistake).

Only took 45mins of very weird driving for me to stop at the nearest privately owned local suspension specialist. They went over it with a fine tooth comb for 2 hours (another team of guys on the trailer to check that too), and found... Nothing. Their best professional guess was tyre pressures. Do you know how many times one can stop and change pressures at every petrol station from Sydney to Adelaide?! By the Hay plains I was sick to death of getting no where. So with the specialists reassurance ringing in my ears (there's no mechanical issue with car or trailer), I coped with an unpredictable rear end the rest of the way. Nerves frayed, the initial onset of a severe case of gastro I went to the first local Pedders franchise I could find in a city I knew nothing about. In 15 mins they had me under the car showing me that the rear cradle hadn't been tightened properly and from what they could tell, a few bolts were missing (no sign of deformation so likely not even put in). They fixed it gave me some vouchers and charged me for the $21 safety check. That's it. The drive back to Newcastle, while having the worst trip home ever thanks to my then friend Gastro, was perfect on the mechanical front. The rear of the car felt great... I should know, my rear was sensitive to any movement that trip ;)

Point is, yes I generally don't trust big companies as a rule, you have to go in expecting the worst and yet don't assume the independent local guy isn't the same now days. WHEN you find the realy good guys, stick with em through thick and thin. Even if they are big franchises.

Take it to multiple places for quotes, advice, chin wagging, whatever, for nothing more than to find the right guys you feel are down to earth and reliable enough to touch your car. You'll peeve off some places cause they'll feel you're a tyre kicker. No worries, they don't want tge work enough to show some humanity and customer service.

[OzriderXR8]

Originally Posted by Brazen

How old, how many km is the car?

If this is the AUII XR8 you recently bought? That would make it 15 years old and in other threads you said it's had years of neglect?

Yep, that's what I figured as well, ironically most of the suspension is aftermarket Pedders. It's not the original as the car has been lowered all round.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by OzriderXR8

I would expect that level of expertise when paying for an inspection, I took it to them so they could tell me of any immediate or potential issues.

To be told items need to be replaced that when physically removed for inspection show no signs of wear or damage is just plain wrong. He even commented on his test drive that everything appeared tight.

As an example, the passenger side wheel hub and bearing was reported as urgently requiring attention as there was play in the assembly, it turned out to be perfect. When I removed the front sway bar bushes they look brand new as do other bushes on the car, the steering rack was reported as 'completely stuffed' yet had no leaks and the only issue I could find was a split boot and play in the left side rack end.

The car had only been roadworthied a couple of months earlier by another 'reputable' mechanic and has only done around 1000klms since. He didn't even pick up the split boots and rack end play.

The car was RWC by a reputable machanic then you persist with a check 1000k's later then complain of defects given, obviously you know there is problems & did not like what was quoted.

[OzriderXR8]

Originally Posted by trublu

The car was RWC by a reputable machanic then you persist with a check 1000k's later then complain of defects given, obviously you know there is problems & did not like what was quoted.

Wow, what can I say...