Car Repairs?

[inafix]

Hi guys, my sons vw golf developed a problem,a warning light appeared on the dashboard and so he sent it off to a vw garage to diagnose the fault and to fix it.It as now been with the garage for over a month now and they have unsuccessfuly been able to find the fault and in the meantime racking quite a hefty bill up.I think it is 1k-1500k but he wont tell me! Do you think we could haggle over the price, I mean they are supposed to be experts but just keep trying and fitting different parts to it.Your advice would be very welcome.

[rnchugg]

would help to know what light came on

[scotman]

I always thought that warning lights were for fairly specific faults. What does the owners manual say?
Is it a VW agency garage? If it is a call to VW HQ might help things move a bit faster.

[TWR]

If the fault is still there you do not pay the Bill its as simple as that, do not take this to heart, what made you take it to a VW Dealer? I should think everyone is aware of the prices they charge! you are paying for the overheads of the garage, if you describe the are of the light some on here will put you right, I think the garage is taking the pizzzz, I could have rebuilt a GHV engine in the time they have tried to find the fault, did they inform you what parts they were fitting before they fitted them? It sound like the garage used the elimination game here at your cost, if you get hazzel from this garage contact your local Trading Standards, But DO NOT PAY ANYTHING.

[TWR]

HGV Engine

[AlBags]

Is this the MIL light? (ECU check light)
Is this with a Main, Aftermarket dealer, or local garage?

[welshlibranr]

I agree with TWR, if your car is not repaired, then don't pay a thing until the probelm is diagnosed and sorted, I would not agree to pay the parts that they fitted while they tried to fix it either, they were obviously unnecessary!........not your fault that I they can't diagnose the fault, they're supposed to be the experts!.......

[Andyvon]

Has your son agreed to all this work and new parts over the last month Inafix?

If the garage has fitted lots of new parts then they should have notified your son before doing the work and before the bill became notably high. If your son then agreed to the work each time then he won't have too much of a leg to stand on. However, if the garage fitted the new parts without notifying your son then he has an argument not to pay such a high bill.

I would say your son shouldn't pay the full amount as the garage haven't found the fault but if your son agreed to all the work then he may have to.

[inafix]

Hi guys,thanks for the input,I think it was an engine management light that came on, he went to pick it up the weekend when they said it was fixed but when he arrived there they said they had took it on a test drive and its not right.This is a main dealer in Lancaster.Its something to do with the power out-put,I'm not sure!I think they are billing him for the hours worked on it.Now the 'master' tecnichian is on the case..

[gingejbee]

Perhaps, next time, take it to an independent specialist. I have a choice of three who specialise in VW Group cars (VW, Audi, Seat,Skoda). The one I use does a better service at a much lower cost than the franchised dealer.

[Cooperjf364]

Just for your information, i had a Citroën Xantia, which develop a ABS warning light, I went to my local garage and asked them to check it for me. But how much would it cost?, the answer I was given at the time was £44.00 to put on the diagnostic machine, so i ask them to go ahead, that wasn't the end of it, they put it on there machine, but it was not given out any codes to tell them what was wrong. They told me that they had a young lady which had the same fault and they start to replace the sensors. So i asked them if i need to replace the sensors how much would this cost me, reply was that the front wheel sensors was £74.00 each and £28.00 for fitting, and the rear sensors was £79.00 each and £28.00 for fitting, if this dose not work then i would have to replace the ECU unit at a cost of £258.00, as you can see that the cost go's up and up this is not including VAT which is added at the end. My comment is find yourself a car mechanic and paid him and tip him and he would be a lot cheaper, make sure he will give you a guarantee.