If you do get an independent garage to look at it and he decides to change the ballast resistor make sure he uses an approved one.

If you want to know why, search for "Vauxhall Zafira fan fires"

If the fan motor is 'shot' and money is an issue ask the independent if they will source a used one.

Unfortunately - joys of motoring on a 78k mile 6 year old car. Because cars don't age visibly these days like they used to, people forget that things under the surface wear out.

The only way to keep bills down is to shop around and find a good local mechanic who you trust not to rip,you off.

 

You have a point. Our car is 6 years old.  Looks like new.  So far although with only 44K on the clock, no problems other than rear discs that have been changed. At the first signs of a problem developing, the car will be changed. However I do note that many Yetis have been retained and kept for high mileages, so there's hope...

Does the heater blower work on full speed, usually switch position 4?

If it does it's the resistor that has blown and that is a fraction of the price of a motor.

It sounds like they saw you coming :(

Worth noting if the vehicle has Climatronic it doesn't have a series resistor.

If it's any help I found this description about the alarm fault in an online Octavia manual:

 

All static and sporadic faults are stored in the fault memory: A fault is detected as static if it exists for at least 2 seconds. If the fault is then no longer present, it is stored as a sporadic (temporary) fault. “/SP” appears on the right of the display.   After switching on the ignition, all the faults which exist are set to sporadic and are not stored as static faults unless they continue to exist after completing the check.   If a sporadic fault no longer occurs during 50 driving cycles (ignition on for at least 5 minutes, road speed > 30 km/h), it is erased.

 

Jim

Might be wide of the mark but a number of people at work have had fan blower failures on a number of VAG cars. A VW Toureg, a VW Touran, a SEAT Leon and a MkII Skoda Octavia.

 

In each case a replacement of the whole fan unit was required, but on all four cars it was a very easy job. The parts price varied from £130 to £170 inc. VAT (Eurocarparts) but were all fitted by their owners. One or two of the cars required removal of the glovebox (can't remember which) but once access was gained the fan was very easy to remove and replace.

I've changed the ballast resistor on a Corss and Astra in the past. As Vauxhall(Opel)is essential Germany, chances are ballast (variable) resisters are made by the same company.

I remember years ago having a Scenic that had a terrifying list of faults which I couldn't afford to repair in one go. I got the most important ones done first and shopped around for the other faults and saved a few quid.