Was the garage trying to take advantage?
Discussion
A good friend of mine lives some distance away, so we don't hook up very often, but last week end I took the day out to go and see her.
She runs her own business and as a company run about she drives 03 plate Renault Clio, which she mentioned was having problems and was needing some attention which would be expensive. My jaw dropped when she said the garage said over a £1000. While my friend is business savy in her chosen field, cars are not her strong point. All she knows is that she turns the key, it goes. She knew the car wasn't really worth the repair costs quoted, but did not relish the idea of a) The expense of leasing or buying a newer vehicle. b) Trying to chose one from the range of cars out there. She liked HER Clio.
Said I'd take a look. She said the garage had told her the head gasket had gone, and that the Cat was knackered. It started fine, but then after a few mins, would suffer a loss of power and start missing and bucking. There was a plug of mayo under the oil filler, and true enough, after a moment, it started to run rough. She said it had been like this for about 8 weeks.
I guess it helped to have a bit of back ground knowledge on the life this car had. Up until around 6 months ago, it had a daily round trip to her office of about 60 miles. Then she moved offices to just a mile or so away, and if ever she needed to do a longer trip would get out the Mitsubishi as it was more comfortable. You may see where I am going with this. Told her to give me the keys, and we went for a 2 hour drive at my pace, not hers, down the motorway and added some silly mileage. Got back, engine nice and hot, no mayo, and running quite sweet.
Tail was that the car didn't have a blown head gasket or a knackered cat as the garage had said. It just needed a good long hard run to burn the crud off and get the fluids flowing again. I can see how the symptoms might have been mistaken for those faults, but my friend said the guy who looked it over didn't ask anything on how the car was driven, so had he been hoping she would just book the car in I wonder?
Incidentally, I left my friend with instruction to give the car a spirited lengthy drive now and again to keep it sweet.
She runs her own business and as a company run about she drives 03 plate Renault Clio, which she mentioned was having problems and was needing some attention which would be expensive. My jaw dropped when she said the garage said over a £1000. While my friend is business savy in her chosen field, cars are not her strong point. All she knows is that she turns the key, it goes. She knew the car wasn't really worth the repair costs quoted, but did not relish the idea of a) The expense of leasing or buying a newer vehicle. b) Trying to chose one from the range of cars out there. She liked HER Clio.
Said I'd take a look. She said the garage had told her the head gasket had gone, and that the Cat was knackered. It started fine, but then after a few mins, would suffer a loss of power and start missing and bucking. There was a plug of mayo under the oil filler, and true enough, after a moment, it started to run rough. She said it had been like this for about 8 weeks.
I guess it helped to have a bit of back ground knowledge on the life this car had. Up until around 6 months ago, it had a daily round trip to her office of about 60 miles. Then she moved offices to just a mile or so away, and if ever she needed to do a longer trip would get out the Mitsubishi as it was more comfortable. You may see where I am going with this. Told her to give me the keys, and we went for a 2 hour drive at my pace, not hers, down the motorway and added some silly mileage. Got back, engine nice and hot, no mayo, and running quite sweet.
Tail was that the car didn't have a blown head gasket or a knackered cat as the garage had said. It just needed a good long hard run to burn the crud off and get the fluids flowing again. I can see how the symptoms might have been mistaken for those faults, but my friend said the guy who looked it over didn't ask anything on how the car was driven, so had he been hoping she would just book the car in I wonder?
Incidentally, I left my friend with instruction to give the car a spirited lengthy drive now and again to keep it sweet.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/f...
Seems that's another woman that thought garages were quoting more as she was a woman.
Seems that's another woman that thought garages were quoting more as she was a woman.
carinaman said:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/f...
Seems that's another woman that thought garages were quoting more as she was a woman.
Heaven forbid that women would exploit other women... Women Empowering Women pyramid scheme Old, I know, but the principle has been established.Seems that's another woman that thought garages were quoting more as she was a woman.
Almost exactly the same problem with wife's Mazda 6. Having had a year of 4 miles to work and back journeys and nothing else inbetween, hardly enough to get warm and never taken over 2500 rpm, it developed a misfire. Gummy oil filler cap plus serious hesitation, it was diagnosed (albeit verbally) with a head gasket issue.
I then took it to work for 2 days, 38 mile round trip just shy of the valve bounce and apart from developing an odd smell upon arriving at work, it cured the issue.
Like children, thrashing to within an inch of their lives sometimes does the trick. Allegedly, so I'm told. Ahem.
I then took it to work for 2 days, 38 mile round trip just shy of the valve bounce and apart from developing an odd smell upon arriving at work, it cured the issue.
Like children, thrashing to within an inch of their lives sometimes does the trick. Allegedly, so I'm told. Ahem.
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