Subscribe now and choose from over 30 free gifts worth up to £49 - Plus get £25 to spend in our shop
MoT day today and the car needs a little work, which I expected. I've just been quoted:
£350 to replace both CV boots (the boots mind, not the CV joint)
£130 to replace rear brake pads
I'm struck dumb, seems waaaaaayyy OTT. Who's wrong, me or them?
It's a 5 year old VW Passat
think yourself lucky its not a 10mm scratch
HOW MUCH???
FFS get yourself off to a little independant garage!
Brake pads (If disc) are very easy to do yourself too.
lol @ bruneep!
sounds pricey. main dealer?
DIY it
slightly ot ... whats with folks cv boots going ? #
my old bosses seemed to go once a year , on all his vehicles ....
ive never gone through one in about 100k miles in older high milage vehicles - M M and W(been in family since new and never had a cv boot) plated cars - do some cars not have these boots or are some more suceptible than others ?
If its a main dealer sounds about right.
are some more suceptible than others ?
I think that's it. I've only ever had one go in all my 20-odd years of owning cars. Did that one myself.
Been going to this garage since we moevd to the area, they've been fine up until now. Under new ownership though, so I wonder...
I've got a price from a place around the corner - £200 cheaper, the difference being labour, so I've asked them to match it or I go there instead. Waiting to hear back...!
An independent garage is likely to be loads cheaper, have you tried shopping around?
Or DIY. I did mine on my VW transporter van and apart from having to buy a kind of funnel thing to get the boot off/on it was relatively straightforward for a mechanical novice like me.
****in' ell they are having a laugh - got a pair of genuine Skoda boots (the plastic not rubber type) fitted yesterday - the grand sum of £120.00 all in.
+1 for DIY...replaced cv joint and boot on me suzuki swift not too much trouble
can order online real cheap + haynes manual = sorted
(apart from the mahoosive oil stain...and realising the other side was burgered too!)
Think mine on my Seat was around £120ish.
Had my front pads done at the cost of £60
You'll pass the MOT if there is no visible split in the existing boot - gaffer tape it up if you're proper short of cash.
If not universal ones can be had for around a tenner a pair, and if you're handy with tools shouldn't take more than a couple of hours per side.
When I was into trackdays and 1/4mile racing my Civic & CRX used to munch CV boots and CV joints, got changing them down to a fine art and could do a shaft/rebuild a joint in under 45 minutes, boots took a little little longer due to having to split the shaft down to get them off.
OP Kwikfit fit them for £60 each.
Find an independant garrage. The CV boot itself, depending on the car should only be £10-£15. It should only be an hour or so's work. So £60-£80 should be around the right price. That being said we had our Corsa done for £60 both sides just before Christmas
A few years ago replaced a front c.v. boot on my Rover with a universal 'split' one fron my local friendly motor factors.Cost about £5 iirc.
The advantage with the split one is that you don't need to strip owt down,just cut off the old one & its clips,pack some grease in the joint,wrap the new one round the c.v. joint,superglue(!) the join on the boot,new clip on each end,job done.
Was dubious about using this type at first,but car passed its MOT a week later,then about 6 months later,when I changed the front brake pads,I had a good inspection of the 'new' boot,& it was all good,no splits,cracks or leaks.
We just use a special funnel and a microwave, heat the new boot up in the micro, take out and slide over funnel, jobs done!
Buy a Quinton And Hazel Duraboot of the correct fitment from your local motorfactors, cut the top 6" off a 1 litre pop bottle, bucket of hot water turn the boot inside out, rub a little fairy liquid on the inner (that will be the outer once you have slid it on) or silicon spray place the homemade cone over the stub end of the driveshaft, pull the hot siliconed boot over turn back on itself once on hey presto job done.
As for the VW price quoted they are taking the pee, I had full set of rear discs and pads for that money fitted by them and the driveshaft booot should only be about £90 including labour. Try ringing other dealers to see how much you are getting ripped off and quote it back to those that are trying to rob you.
As for Kwik Fit they will fit a set of rears guaranteed for life (as long as you own the car) for about £70. When they are worn out go back to them and they replace them for free ad-infinitum!
VW boot kit for my 51 tdi was about £26, did it myself in about an hour.
You won't replace the rear pads yourself unless you've got a screw-press to get the pistons back in.
The boots cost a few quid.
Another example of the MOT test station drumming up work.
I found a local MOT test station that does not carry out any work or reccommend anyone, they only do MOT's. Car has passed 2 years in a row and the wife's car as well, prior to that they both always seemed to have a fault that the garage could sort for suitable funds.....yeah right.
I reckon all MOT's should be carried out by MOT only places, save us all unecessary bills.
Kwikfit fit them for £60 each.
How much does it cost to fix the bodge job KF do at a proper garage?
as amechanic id just like to say dont underestimate cv and the work involved.getting it all apart (esp in this weather) can be the main problem and you can end up spliing gearbox oil etc if not careful.
also dont get pattern cv boots, there crap and never entertain those splitboot type things.waste of money and dont last 5 mins.look for a local indepedant garage.
brake pads are easily dooable.it in dought do a bit of googling.
My Passat was about £150/side for CV boots at a local independent too. Apparently half the suspension needs to be dismantled to get at it. You can get boots that glue together cheaply but they're rubbish.
You're being ripped off with the brakes, parts are £25 for VW dealer and £10 for fitting. Front brakes are more expensive at about £50 with the wear sensor.
yep as flaperon says passatts are a sod to do,ball joints seize easily and they are prone to pinch bolts snapping.
Labour charge quoted does seem a bit high though 😯
where in herts are you. i would come to you do it on the drive for half that.
How much does it cost to fix the bodge job KF do at a proper garage?
Dunno. It was done almost a year ago and if it splits/degrades before they will replace it free of charge at the next MOT (12month guarantee).
Similar thing happened to me quote for cv boots was £250 so i asked at another garage and was quoted £75.
Check the parts list on the quote - the £250 garage were trying to charge me for parts that came with the cv boot!
It amuses me how people on here think getting work done - not just on cars - should cost peanuts. In this case, yes the boots are only a cheap item but to replace them you still need to remove the CV joint from the shaft, so that’s removal, strip and refit. And it’s both sides. With prices for a reasonable main dealer at £75-£100 (probably more) per hour it soon adds up. As for the pads, I was paying that sort of money (if not more) 5 years back on my Passat, so cheaper in real terms, according to the government.
Herts? If you’re after parts try [url= http://www.murraysdirect.co.uk/ ]Murrays in Hatfield[/url], very knowledgeable. There is (was, may be gone now but check) a VW chap behind the Total garage on the A414 at Colney Heath. Ask in Murrays for a local VW man.
It amuses me how people on here think getting work done - not just on cars - should cost peanuts.
A competent mechanic can carry out work very quickly. They dont need to step back, figure out, look. Worked out what needs to be undone and where. Then struggle with a big spanner for an hour saying 'it was seized on mate'. 😉
My old car (previous version Corsa) was apparently bad for CV boot, first I learned of it was a maindealer service just after Warranty had expired £150 they wanted, after that it was small local garage for all work on the car, £60-70 is about right...
As for the OP's Passat well VW Main dealers are never cheap...
How much does it cost to fix the bodge job KF do at a proper garage?Dunno. It was done almost a year ago and if it splits/degrades before they will replace it free of charge at the next MOT (12month guarantee).
What will happen is you will go in, they will say they will replace the boots for free but only if you get all of this work done that needs done. New quote for £400 ish. You get the work done there. Two weeks later your out of pocket another £200 as they have fitted the wrong track rod ends and put the springs in upside down.
Kwickfit will rob you ****ing blind and wreck your car at the same time.
David.
christ you can just replace the whole drive shaft for 150 if you DIY it.
What will happen is you will go in, they will say they will replace the boots for free but only if you get all of this work done that needs done. New quote for £400 ish. You get the work done there. Two weeks later your out of pocket another £200 as they have fitted the wrong track rod ends and put the springs in upside down.Kwickfit will rob you ****ing blind and wreck your car at the same time.
I'm not that gullible though. I would only trust one particular garage to touch anything truly mechanical on my car and its a 50mile round trip but worth it.
A competent mechanic can carry out work very quickly. They dont need to step back, figure out, look. Worked out what needs to be undone and where. Then struggle with a big spanner for an hour saying 'it was seized on mate'.
Exactly and that sort of knowledge/expertise/training costs. The dealer will have a time listing for each job and the mechanic has to work to that. Plus, hopefully all the special tools if required. The bloke under the arches doesn't.
I'm not that gullible though
Yeah - I'm not anymore - I trusted them thinking that a big company wouldn't look to rip people off. Fool that I was.
Exactly and that sort of knowledge/expertise/training costs. T
Righht. So Im paying to train someone using my car as a case study? or do they only have a few customers a week to make their economy of scales work? Do they only take on brand new/raw recruits with no previous experience?
Am I still paying out for this initial outlay of the 'University of mechanics' training? 😉
I dont think the mechanics are seeing the bulk of the hourly rate either in their paypacket. Its industry-known that alot of dealerships make healthy profits on the workshop/parts side of their business.
So Im paying to train someone using my car as a case study?
In general no as what is missing these days are proper apprenticeships, where this would, under supervision, may have been the case.
But on the other hand yes, professionals in any industry would/should have gone through some sort of training and that is what you are paying for, to employ a professional. Would you expect to walk into any form of employment without the relevant skill set? It's all investment by someone.
I agree that the mechanic at the dealership won't see the majority of the charge and you will pay more at a MD. Again that's the difference between employed and self-employed tradesmen, there is always someone taking a bigger cut.
The dealer will have a time listing for each job and the mechanic has to work to that
Us at Subaru also have list and book times...
6hrs or there abouts for a clutch and flywheel i think we charge. (book time)
I do it in 1.45mins slow!
whats fair about that?
I work now in a MD for 7 years and i think its a joke, but who am i to tell my employer that he is a robbing bar steward. 😉