Help de-code this receipt for work done!

[Roberrrrt]

So, as described in my welcome thread, I've recently inherited our lasses car which is a 2002 lupo 1.0 manual. She recently broke down and was towed to a local garage where they carried out a fair bit of work and left her with a circa £600 bill which she paid.

They advised that this is quite a common problem, but could end up being a money pit. I wasn't present when they explained the issue to her, so I'm after a bit of help in understanding what the problem was and what they've done to sort it.

I've reproduced the receipt below so you can see what they did:

Remove and refit EGR valve £152.95 part and 1.5hrs labour (£75)

Spark plugs remove & renew £20.32 parts and 0.9hrs labour (£45)

Remove and refit crank sensor £77.78 part and 1hr labour (£50)

Carry out diagnostic checks £45

(plus a couple of other bits like door check strap & bulbs plus VAT)

Any advice very welcome!!

Rob

[Defcon5]

EGR valve replacement takes 15 mins, as does changing the plugs. Not sure where the crank sensor is but I would suggest its a 20 min job at most.

I don't think I would be going back to that garage again tbh. Where was it?

[Roberrrrt]

EGR valve replacement takes 15 mins, as does changing the plugs. Not sure where the crank sensor is but I would suggest its a 20 min job at most.

I don't think I would be going back to that garage again tbh. Where was it?

Looks like they stereotyped the female customer and charged too much.

Strange because theyre part of the good garage scheme. KNM Motors in Morley.

[m1cr08472]

£45 labour to replace 4 spark plugs and they claim it took 50 minutes.

I could do that blind folded in less then 50 minutes and I don't even know wtf I'm doing. I bet they didn't even need replacing just give em a good clean and put em back in.

My EGR valves gone but I haven't replaced it, still passed an mot, she runs a bit ruff but I'm not bothered about that my cars a shed anyway.

I don't know where the crank senser is on a lupo but I replaced one on a chrsyler voyager in 5 minutes.

Garage near me did a diagnostic check on my car for free, that's how I know the EGR valves gone.

[Roberrrrt]

Marvellous. Sounds like she got robbed blind. Won't use them again then.

Any recommendations for leeds based garages that are good?

[Owen33]

The whole job could have been done in half an hour - an hour from even a really poor mechanic and can't justify how any of the replaced parts would require towing?

I'd imagine there the sort that managed to do a terrible job even with the price charged.

[wicchris]

Hi i work at a Bosch service centre i would say they have gone off book time but 0.9 for spark plugs is abit strong i will have a look on our auto data for you but i feel in the real world there is no more than 2 hours work max.

[TArosa]

reason i took up fixing **** in the first place... cant trust mechanics anymore :/

[lupoluke]

The only thing I can see there that would cause a beak down is crank sensor, they are located sort of under the starter, and they can be a bit of a bitch if you don't remove starter but it wouldn't take more than an hour.

Plugs would be a 10 minute job for a monkey and egr wouldn't be much longer.

I wouldn't use them again tbh

[bowers155]

So, as described in my welcome thread, I've recently inherited our lasses car which is a 2002 lupo 1.0 manual. She recently broke down and was towed to a local garage where they carried out a fair bit of work and left her with a circa £600 bill which she paid.

They advised that this is quite a common problem, but could end up being a money pit. I wasn't present when they explained the issue to her, so I'm after a bit of help in understanding what the problem was and what they've done to sort it.

I've reproduced the receipt below so you can see what they did:

Remove and refit EGR valve £152.95 part and 1.5hrs labour (£75)

Spark plugs remove & renew £20.32 parts and 0.9hrs labour (£45)

Remove and refit crank sensor £77.78 part and 1hr labour (£50)

Carry out diagnostic checks £45

(plus a couple of other bits like door check strap & bulbs plus VAT)

Any advice very welcome!!

Rob

i worked at a garage before i got made redundant damn economical climate

for my own jobs i brought in would be in this price range.

Remove and refit EGR valve £102 part and 0.20 labour (£8)

Spark plugs remove & renew £16ish parts and 0.10hrs labour (£4)

Remove and refit crank sensor £68 part and 0.40 labour (£16)

Carry out diagnostic checks £30

That was for me then i may car 20-30 quid on top for my boss' cut like? = 264

That was me though ? i was young and in it for the experience and i used to get all the part less than trade and do it for fun because i enjoyed doing it. yours amounted 420+

[grazo22]

Never dont egr valve so couldn't comment.

Plug would be a 15 min job and I would expect iridium plugs for about £25, at a push and using copper slip on all threads.

Crank sensor is horrible and took me about 1.5 hours at the weekend as the intake manifold, starter motor has to come off. Diagnostics are a wallet rape if it's more than a fiver but £30 could be worse. Atleast it's not over £100 like BM. Sensor is about £45

I would try a deal and get it all done for £120.

You can get a cambelt done for £100 labour!!!!

[Scottscotland]

So, as described in my welcome thread, I've recently inherited our lasses car which is a 2002 lupo 1.0 manual. She recently broke down and was towed to a local garage where they carried out a fair bit of work and left her with a circa £600 bill which she paid.

They advised that this is quite a common problem, but could end up being a money pit. I wasn't present when they explained the issue to her, so I'm after a bit of help in understanding what the problem was and what they've done to sort it.

I've reproduced the receipt below so you can see what they did:

Remove and refit EGR valve £152.95 part and 1.5hrs labour (£75)

Spark plugs remove & renew £20.32 parts and 0.9hrs labour (£45)

Remove and refit crank sensor £77.78 part and 1hr labour (£50)

Carry out diagnostic checks £45

(plus a couple of other bits like door check strap & bulbs plus VAT)

Any advice very welcome!!

Rob

phone your local vw dealers and ask them for a price to do the same work and then phone them and ask them why they are charging more than the dealers for the work ,tell them you are not happy and are going to call your local paper and pay to have your bill published with why are you charging me more the the main dealers on it.(bet that will work.)also i would have a good look and see if they used any new parts

[jamiea7x]

i concur with this bloke^^^,

[Skezza]

50 minutes to change a set of spark plugs? Either they're a bunch of incompetent retarded inbred morons who learnt their trade from a kids TV show........

or they are lying. I wonder which one.

I agree that you should ask them to justify their pricing. In fact, you should ask them to go into detail why it took 50 minutes... Most good garages will happily justify the time taken. I imagine these guys will struggle to do so, considering changing a set of spark plugs is novice work.

Also £45 for 'diagnostic checks' is utterly disgraceful. Their diagnostic checks will run along the lines of sticking a VAGCOM on it, reading off (and maybe clearing) the codes and driving it down the road and back. My mechanic doesn't charge me for 'diagnostic checks' (as in running a VAGCOM on it) when doing ANY kind of work on my car, however if you went in and specifically asked him to run a VAGCOM on your car, I can't see him charging more than 5-10 pounds.

Edited November 8, 2012 by Skezza

[Roberrrrt]

Thanks for all the replies guys, wish I'd had time to go take it in for her.

Lesson learned. They are part of the 'good garage' scheme - worth writing to them?

Apart from all that, I've been reading around on here, and I suspect the pedal box needs doing on this lupo - anyone recommend a place in or around Leeds that would do a good job?

Cheers

[Roberrrrt]

I suspect the pedal box needs doing on this lupo - anyone recommend a place in or around Leeds that would do a good job?

BTT - anybody got any recommended garages please?

[Silver!]

I use a good VW Specialist, but it may be a bit of a trek for you.