RRG Toyota gave my MiL this report from a standard service for a 2009 Yaris with <30k miles. She’s now panicking and booking test drives as she’s been convinced her car is about to fall to bits, or cost £2k to keep going. She obviously knows nothing about cars or what the list means, and it seems the garage is taking full advantage of this and has quite happily offered her ‘a really good deal’ on a new car. I can’t really express how angry this makes me within the rules of this forum. I reckon it can be fixed up for less than £500 if you did everything on the list, and half the stuff they mention doesn’t even need doing. Just hope I can talk some sense into her before she signs. 👿

B****y hell!!

That is a bit mental. 🙁

They try this sort of thing on everyone.

I had a 3.2 Audi TT about 10 years ago – within about 1600 miles from new I had a puncture in the side wall of the front tyre.

They tried to recommend I changed all 4 tyres!

The sad thing is more vulnerable people will tend to believe them 🙁

😯 😯 😯 😯

Thats a disgrace. Name and shame..

Name and shame..

Quite happily – it’s RRG Toyota in either Rochdale or Bury – not sure which branch at the moment.

I especially like how the battery failed a test and needs replacing.

Does the battery start the car? Test passed.

Still – if she had an Audi the cost would have been three or four times that.

I won’t go into (again) my experience with that set of shysters.

EDIT: ‘Would benefit from fuel treatment’? WT actual F! Are they taking it for a **** Spa Day?

That’s as bad as people who go door to door scamming pensioners

Thats a disgrace. Name and shame..

Is it? If all of those things are true its a virtual death trap. However, I send it to an trusted Indy with that check list and ask if it were true still, plus THIER price for rectifying anything dangerous or needed for MOT.

ok for example 3mm left on the rear brake shoes. For a car which has done 30k miles in the last 8 years, that 3mm will probably last another 5 years! But 3mm doesn’t sound like very much so better change them right?

what a bunch of utter ****

this sort of thing boils my piss. See also rip-off “standard” tariffs for power that your average pensioner probably thinks is a fair deal.

Might be something to do with having several aging relatives who are ripe for this sort of thing. I don’t mind spending a bit extra for convenience and peace of mind but there’s reasonable and there’s dishonestly taking advantage.

I reckon 2 new tyres and a wheel alignment would sort it, so £120ish.

Is it?

I think so, £110 for a front brake check?

And would benefit from under body protection too!

Shame them!

What a bunch of utter, utter, bastards.

She obviously knows nothing about cars or what the list means, and it seems the garage is taking full advantage of this and has quite happily offered her ‘a really good deal’ on a new car.

Someone in the service dept of a main dealer trying to flog you a car. Makes it pretty obvious their thought process when running through the checklist. 🙄

Does the battery start the car? Test passed.

Tricky one that. The one in my car woudl start the car as long as you hadn’t left it for a week and it wasn’t too cold.

Had battery tested and it wasn;t holding charge and had reduced capacity so I had it replaced.

My eyes are on stalks for the cost but as I see it;

1) disks and pads – with 18000 mile service intervals I can see why they’d recommend replacement, they’re all a ‘bit low’ and wouldn’t last. If mil does low mileage it might not be a problem.
2) warnings on MOT – I’d ask ‘how much’ which is basically what that list is and then decide to leave it or not.
3) tyres, sound like they’re all a bit low and could do with changing.

I can see how people get sucked in to a massive spend but the garage giving prices for MOT notes isn;t unreasonable is it?

[edit]

£110 for a front brake check?

I read that as they’d done the check and the price was for a replacement set of disks fitted, as an example?

Tell her you’ll get all that done for half the price and you’ll also take her out for tea.

Classic main dealer behaviour.

I needed a new key for a 1999 MkIV golf which needed to be booked into Martin’s VW to ‘log on’ to the central computer system.

Got the car back with a similar size list, even bigger price tag. Told them ‘Thanks’.

Took the car to my tame mechanic for MoT and service. None of the items from VW came up as advisory. I gave him the list from VW when I picked the car up and he just said it was typical main dealer behaviour, your car is fine.

Audi main dealer told me I had a power steering pump leak that would cost £1000 to fix as they had to take the front of the car off to get to it (RS4).

My indy garage guy took a look – it was where a bit of oil had been spilt last time it was filled. Cost? £0.

Does the battery start the car? Test passed.

Tricky one that. The one in my car woudl start the car as long as you hadn’t left it for a week and it wasn’t too cold.
Fair enough, but surely she hasn’t had an issue with the car not starting until now – if she doesn’t know anything about cars she’d have already changed the battery the first time it didn’t start the car. If it hasn’t yet failed to start the car then it can’t be coming to the end of its life just yet.

That looks like a comprehensive list of checks, and to be a little lenient towards the dealer they’re probably pushing for New Car sales (considering your MiL’s cars Age and now their condition report) and willing to push forward options to her..
Obvz.
Quite what the dealer will make of it when someone like yourself picks up on a lot of what they’ve produced is another matter, but I reckon they’ll stick by it without hesitation.
You’ll be mad enough to call the dealer in question right? For sure you ought to clarify the dealers position on the condition of the vehicle and their proposal for a part exchange and the deal from it.
Obvz.
As a matter of course you should question the cost. Take it up with the Head of “Blah/Guff/Spannering”
Obvz.
But it’s an invoice and will need to be settled, so you’ll need to head on over yourself and question it.
Obvz.
Then, for piece of mind take it to an Independent Toyota garage for its’ remedial work and to get it through an MOT and then ask them to check the main dealers list AFTER the independent has completed their own analysis and work schedule.
obvz.

It’s times like this anger sets in because of the feeling of a family member being “ripped off” yet in reality until you’ve got those items checked and verified by another source it’s just a Dealer doing what they do best and thats to lay it all on thick and fast and expect someone maybe less attuned to how large Dealerships work.

the garage giving prices for MOT notes isn;t unreasonable is it?

I don’t think so either. They have a checklist to go through and a process to follow. If they then pass the details to someone who doesn’t know their ball joint from their flange gasket then you can’t blame the garage (for standard main dealer behavior). Perhaps there was a conversation between service department and MiL that we’re not aware of.

Audi main dealer told me I had a power steering pump leak that would cost £1000 to fix as they had to take the front of the car off to get to it (RS4).

My indy garage guy took a look – it was where a bit of oil had been spilt last time it was filled. Cost? £0.
Ooooff! They tried to charge me £1700 for a faulty water level sensor (it tripped once and never again) and a further £400 for a faulty filler cap locking mechanism. However it locked and unlocked as expected, but they told me the computer was flagging up a fault so it needed replacing.

And my business partner was quoted £1,000 to replace a front grille after some of the finish started to delaminate. He took it to be resprayed instead at a cost of £100.

Never again will I deal with an Audi main dealer.

Is it? If all of those things are true its a virtual death trap. However, I send it to an trusted Indy with that check list and ask if it were true still, plus THIER price for rectifying anything dangerous or needed for MOT.

But to many people the main stealer are the people to be trusted and listened too, not some wee back street place that’s obvs out to rip you off*

*in their minds

That’s an extraordinary list, love the alarmist colour coding especially the red against 2 tyres which are MOT advisories so still legal*. The fuel filler pipe is a little pricy too.

My car needs a new reluctor ring, £18 parts and about an hour labour at the garage round the corner. BMW don’t replace the ring, their smallest part to fix the problem is the driveshaft. I’m not taking the car there!

* or maybe they’re advisng they won’t pass, in which case fair enough.

You mean people still use main dealers for service/repairs/mot outside of warranty…

You mean people still use main dealers for service/repairs/mot outside of warranty…

See above ^^^

But to many people the main stealer are the people to be trusted and listened too, not some wee back street place that’s obvs out to rip you off

So I’m someone who doesn’t know a huge amount about cars and tends to take their car to the local dealer (free MOT when they an annual service and a loaner car each time, so fairly cost effective) but when we actually had a problem (coil pack needed replacing) the dealer wanted over £400 but a friendly mechanic did it for £200 so I’m fully aware of how much potential they have to take the piss.

Could someone step through that list and to educate muppets like me what needs doing and what is them taking the piss (overcharging, replacing early, etc)?

Front discs and pads come to £43.17 inc vat at brakeparts.co.uk, fitting shouldn’t be as much as an hour in labour.

They try this sort of thing on everyone.

I had a 3.2 Audi TT about 10 years ago – within about 1600 miles from new I had a puncture in the side wall of the front tyre.

They tried to recommend I changed all 4 tyres!

The sad thing is more vulnerable people will tend to believe them

They will say that, they used to say (and there was some data to back it up) that with their ‘Quattro’ cars that you had to change all 4 tyres at the same time or it would wear out the drivetrain and even kill the gearbox, but even on 4WD cars the tyres don’t wear at the same rate anyway so there’s more than a bit of wiggle room in the system.

Most importantly though ‘Quattro’ stopped being a ‘thing’ years and years ago, long before your TT 10 years ago and was just a catch-all name for all their 4WD cars and they used different systems on different models bought in from different suppliers. The TT, but pretty much a Golf in a fancy body used a Haldex system which is more tolerable to mis-matched tyre depths than the bigger Audis

we did this last month didnt we ?

Could someone step through that list and to educate muppets like me what needs doing and what is them taking the piss (overcharging, replacing early, etc)?

I’ve added it all up and it’s £450 in parts from Eurocarparts or similar. Probably best part of a day for me to sort it all – and I’m nowhere near being a mechanic. Only bit I’m not sure on is how to access the fuel filler pipe so that might be messy and difficult, but then again, probably not too bad.

My main gripe is all the stuff like ‘would benefit from…’. It might benefit from a solid gold gearstick knob being fitted, but that doesn’t mean it needs doing!

Aren’t the government going to trial alternate roundabouts reversing directions to keep tyre wear even? Should be fun on the Dearne Valley Parkway. 😉

trail_rat – Member
we did this last month didnt we ?

Since when has that mattered in this forum?

I’ve added it all up and it’s £450 in parts from Eurocarparts or similar. Probably best part of a day for me to sort it all – and I’m nowhere near being a mechanic. Only bit I’m not sure on is how to access the fuel filler pipe so that might be messy and difficult, but then again, probably not too bad.

Is she planning to run the 09 Yaris into the ground or sell it on in a couple of years? Much of the stuff on that list either doesn’t need doing at all (heat shield etc) or will need doing at some point in the future (brake pads), possibly not before she sells it. I’d certainly be getting a second opinion on stuff like the fuel filler pipe, and perhaps even the suspension issue, just to confirm whether replacement is needed sooner rather than later.

EDIT: Ah, I see your spreadsheet, which is sensible.

Is she planning to run the 09 Yaris into the ground or sell it on in a couple of years? Much of the stuff on that list either doesn’t need doing at all (heat shield etc) or will need doing at some point in the future (brake pads), possibly not before she sells it. I’d certainly be getting a second opinion on stuff like the fuel filler pipe.

TBH we’ll probably be given this Yaris either now (if she buys a new one) or in a few years time – we still have her old 2001 Yaris from last time she upgraded and it’s been brilliantly reliable and has done >150k! I’ll do the brakes and suspension arms now regardless of who’s keeping it, and the other bits as they become necessary.

Mowgli: interesting thanks 🙂

sit back relax and wait for that phone call on the first frost of the year when the yaris wont start …..

I’d take the risk for £90 but that’s just me.

+ its a Yaris. I’m sure you don’t need to service them. There’ll be cockroaches driving those and Avensis’ around when the holocaust comes.