160 pounds to change a battery
Discussion
A friend of mine was just charged 160 pounds to diagnose and change a dead battery after car failed to start.
I am not even sure if the battery was dead in the first place.
She called a mobile repair mechanic on a Sunday after her car failed to start ( no AA cover )
He arrived and tried to start with a booster pack ( one of the large fast charge mobile batteries )
This failed, and he then insisted on a diagnostic check ( OB2 reader connected, no codes found )
He then jump started the car with leads from his running van to her car. The car then made a 20 min journey and restarted by itself. He came back later that fitted a new battery.
Breakdown of charges :
69 pounds for battery.
20 pounds callout charge.
70 pounds labour for a diagnosis check and replacement of battery ( held in by 2 long bolts, nothing removed to gain access.)
To me this guy seems to be making a meal of a very simple job, that could be diagnosed and fixed very simply.
I am not even sure if the battery was dead in the first place.
She called a mobile repair mechanic on a Sunday after her car failed to start ( no AA cover )
He arrived and tried to start with a booster pack ( one of the large fast charge mobile batteries )
This failed, and he then insisted on a diagnostic check ( OB2 reader connected, no codes found )
He then jump started the car with leads from his running van to her car. The car then made a 20 min journey and restarted by itself. He came back later that fitted a new battery.
Breakdown of charges :
69 pounds for battery.
20 pounds callout charge.
70 pounds labour for a diagnosis check and replacement of battery ( held in by 2 long bolts, nothing removed to gain access.)
To me this guy seems to be making a meal of a very simple job, that could be diagnosed and fixed very simply.
Seems fairly reasonable to me.
There may be other reasons he needed to do the diagnostic check, most garages will charge £80 just for that alone.
Callout mechanics will be pricier than the garages, they have to make their money to cover the cost of fuel, insurance etc etc etc..
Probably a good idea for her to get breakdown cover if she is not happy to pay the going rates.
I paid £70 extra on my insurance policy to get UK wide cover and homestart.
There may be other reasons he needed to do the diagnostic check, most garages will charge £80 just for that alone.
Callout mechanics will be pricier than the garages, they have to make their money to cover the cost of fuel, insurance etc etc etc..
Probably a good idea for her to get breakdown cover if she is not happy to pay the going rates.
I paid £70 extra on my insurance policy to get UK wide cover and homestart.
I just paid £66 for a Bosch battery for the alhabmra off ebay, which was very cheap. Delivered too. At the other end of the spectrum a Halfruads battery was £110. So the quoted price was not too bad delivered and fitted I suspect. Your friend obviously suspected another problem hence the mobile mechanic?
ExPat2B said:
a very simple job, that could be diagnosed and fixed very simply.
Clearly not (from the owner's perspective) otherwise she'd have got herself down to Halfords for a new battery.She chose to employ someone to come to her on a Sunday to diagnose and fix the problem (which they did). Presumably the associated cost was discussed at some point beforehand.
I do agree though that it would have been more sensible to first test & replace the battery. Only if the problem still manifested itself would I bother with further diagnostics. Having said that, the owner probably wouldn't have been best pleased if she'd paid for someone to replace & fit the battery only for it to be dead again the next day because of some underlying fault.
Edited by Risotto on Wednesday 27th October 12:52
I don't have breakdown cover and given that I haven't broken down in 10 years I'd say I'm probably financially up from it. I wouldn't complain about that kind of fee if I did break down, though. Carrot said:
hornetrider said:
Kinky said:
A911DOM said:
Otherwise, considering its a callout, it could have been more expensive than that!!!
And on a Sunday too.OP what would you think its fair to do it on a Sunday?
Carrot said:
Seems fairly reasonable to me.
There may be other reasons he needed to do the diagnostic check, most garages will charge £80 just for that alone.
Mobile phones are now getting the software that will allow us to do our own car diagnostics, for free There may be other reasons he needed to do the diagnostic check, most garages will charge £80 just for that alone.
"No need to do that, mr mechanic, the fault code is 132, just fix it and i will keep the extra £80 thanks
"Hedders said:
Carrot said:
Seems fairly reasonable to me.
There may be other reasons he needed to do the diagnostic check, most garages will charge £80 just for that alone.
Mobile phones are now getting the software that will allow us to do our own car diagnostics, for free There may be other reasons he needed to do the diagnostic check, most garages will charge £80 just for that alone.
"No need to do that, mr mechanic, the fault code is 132, just fix it and i will keep the extra £80 thanks
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