I am in the wrong business, and so are you lot

[expat]

Most people won't go the extra mile, and also get all obsessed about dealer stamps. If it costs you a couple of thousand pounds more to get the dealer stamp, do you really gain enough in resale to make it worth it?

Human nature, most people won't accept that they have just lost a lot of money in one sudden crunch, no matter what they do next. Sadly, the car can be fixed but the financial stuation is fooked, you only get to choose which way it is fooked. Still, life's like that, as they say at Australian stag parties.

[Charles Foster Kane]

I am shocked. My VW Touran broke down with a hooky alternator.

Bill for repair

£690.00

£100.00 per hour for labour!

£100.00 for diagnostics which "they had to do" as the battery was flat as it would be.

£100 for a new battery.

"never mind" said the service rep, "you get a 2 year warranty on it"

Yeah great, it goes back to the leasing company tomorrow!

Recruitment consultant being shafted.... I think that's called karma.

[oracleslave]

Recruitment consultant being shafted.... I think that's called karma.

http://forums.contractoruk.com/busin...e-thieves.html

[JaybeeInCUK]

Was the original price for new parts?

I had the gearbox go on my S2000 (don't tell me S2000s never break). It was going to be £4000 from Honda (I didn't even ask if that was inc VAT or not), but I also used that partsgateway place and got a nearly new one for £450, plus about the same for an independent to fit.

Most people won't go the extra mile, and also get all obsessed about dealer stamps. If it costs you a couple of thousand pounds more to get the dealer stamp, do you really gain enough in resale to make it worth it?

The dealer stamp means very little to me unless it's a BM/Jag or other elite marque, for the rest of us it's yet another "benefit" the industry uses to legally fleece customers. In fact, I've heard some horror stories about some main dealerships fobbing customers off on shoddy repair work.

To answer your first question, no, mine was a 2nd hand box, from another Saab with much the same miles as my existing one, but you never can tell. The grease monkey made some shrieking noises about the box looking "very, very old", but then many Saabs go 200K miles without anything going wrong, so it's a chance I'm willing to take for the saving I made.

[DimPrawn]

What do Swindon millionaire tycoons drive these days if not a porsche or an Audi?

My triple garage contains:

BMW M Roadster (S54 Engine)
BMW 320d (6 months old)
Ford Galaxy

All spare cash is sitting in my war fund waiting for the bottom of the property decline.

[oracleslave]

My triple garage contains:

BMW M Roadster (S54 Engine)
BMW 320d (6 months old)
Ford Galaxy

All spare cash is sitting in my war fund waiting for the bottom of the property decline.

Like the Ford Galaxy Pity about the dice though.

[Clippy]

This is why I stopped buying VWs. They aren't appreciably more reliable, but they are expensive to repair. People claim that British cars were shoddy and unreliable, but everywhere there seem to be stories like this about the supposedly well engineered German ones.

Must admit, I agree.

VW are still trading on an image from years ago of bulletproof reliability.

I get all my work done from a VW qualified grease monkey who does the work at home at weekends at half my VW dealers price.

[BrilloPad]

I am told that these days the Japanese are most reliable. Is this correct?

We have a Toyoya garage near us - I might take a look sometime.

[Another Dodgy Agent]

My triple garage contains:

BMW M Roadster (S54 Engine)
BMW 320d (6 months old)
Ford Galaxy

All spare cash is sitting in my war fund waiting for the bottom of the property decline.

Nice collection, speaking as a fellow BMW owner:

BMW Z4 3.0 (wife)
BMW E46 M3 (cos I just can't grow up!)
Vauxhall Astra (borrowed off daughter when we are on shopping expeditions)

[beaker]

They're in the wrong business too...

A commercial barrister earns up to £500 an hour...