Wondered if anyone fancied weighing in on my recent dealer MOT experience:
Took my car to Honda dealer for MOT on an offer. Failed on weak handbrake (<50% strength). I'm not a mechanic so bear that in mind, but I knew the handbrake was bad beforehand so this was not made up. They quoted me £60 or something to diagnose the cause. I agreed.
Got a phone call saying the problem was the rear calipers, quoted me for new calipers. I asked if this would definitely fix the problem and they said yes. I asked if the problem could be the handbrake cables and they said no it's the calipers. More than I wanted to spend but I agreed.
Phone call next day saying calipers didn't fix the problem and the car needed new cables. Now looking at doubling my bill to get new cables to pass MOT. They chucked in a few extras for me and agreed not to charge for MOT or diagnosis, and somehow I ended up agreeing. The total was now pretty damn high. Parts were matching prices I could see online, but the labour charges virtually doubled the total price.
Now, I know dealers are expensive and if they'd been upfront and I still agreed to go with them, that's on me. But I don't feel they were upfront. I agreed to pay for a diagnosis that turned out to be wrong which then strung me along for more money. I'm still not 100% clear what was wrong with the calipers, and when I asked to get them back the rep said 'let me call you back as it might be a part that Honda take and recycle' - what on earth, the old calipers are my property! That one made me feel they were trying it on. I got the calipers back afterwards but haven't inspected them yet. The foot brake was fine before, just the handbrake was weak.
Anyway I paid the bill to get my car back, via credit card, but I do feel pretty annoyed. Then again maybe it really needed all the work and I'm just paying extra for Honda labour... Grateful for any thoughts.
Took my car to Honda dealer for MOT on an offer. Failed on weak handbrake (<50% strength). I'm not a mechanic so bear that in mind, but I knew the handbrake was bad beforehand so this was not made up. They quoted me £60 or something to diagnose the cause. I agreed.
Got a phone call saying the problem was the rear calipers, quoted me for new calipers. I asked if this would definitely fix the problem and they said yes. I asked if the problem could be the handbrake cables and they said no it's the calipers. More than I wanted to spend but I agreed.
Phone call next day saying calipers didn't fix the problem and the car needed new cables. Now looking at doubling my bill to get new cables to pass MOT. They chucked in a few extras for me and agreed not to charge for MOT or diagnosis, and somehow I ended up agreeing. The total was now pretty damn high. Parts were matching prices I could see online, but the labour charges virtually doubled the total price.
Now, I know dealers are expensive and if they'd been upfront and I still agreed to go with them, that's on me. But I don't feel they were upfront. I agreed to pay for a diagnosis that turned out to be wrong which then strung me along for more money. I'm still not 100% clear what was wrong with the calipers, and when I asked to get them back the rep said 'let me call you back as it might be a part that Honda take and recycle' - what on earth, the old calipers are my property! That one made me feel they were trying it on. I got the calipers back afterwards but haven't inspected them yet. The foot brake was fine before, just the handbrake was weak.
Anyway I paid the bill to get my car back, via credit card, but I do feel pretty annoyed. Then again maybe it really needed all the work and I'm just paying extra for Honda labour... Grateful for any thoughts.
