Hi.

Just had an MOT which failed due to excessive wear on both front suspension arm's. Got a quote from them after which was £580. This seems a tad overpriced. 

Just posting on here for a 2nd opinion I guess.

Thanks in Advance 

If you know the price of parts, the labour and vat then maybe overpriced, maybe not.    You could always do it yourself if you have the tools, the know how and a place to do it. Then it is just your labour at what ever you consider your time is valued at.    Ps.  If the car stays with them is there no retest charged for?

Edited 12 September, 20223 yr by roottoot

The price includes VAT.

They said the parts alone were £140 each so the labour must be £300.

Unfortunately I don't have the equipment or skills to it myself.

50 minutes ago, Treekle32 said:

The price includes VAT.

They said the parts alone were £140 each so the labour must be £300.

Unfortunately I don't have the equipment or skills to it myself.

 

It's insanely overpriced, take it somewhere else.

Frankly an MOT fee is the least of your worries when the gouging is that bad.

The parts are very cheap and it's about an hours work, you're being greased up for a monkey and I seriously doubt you need new suspension arms, I bet its just the bushes.

58 minutes ago, Treekle32 said:

The price includes VAT.

They said the parts alone were £140 each so the labour must be £300.

Unfortunately I don't have the equipment or skills to it myself.

 

£140 + 140 = 280 and if you mean the control arms they can be a bit of a bugger to do, but even if they're not it's got to be aligned afterwards.

You could buy the fully bushed control arms, and access to EKTA and DIY, but you have to make sure you're using new bolts and doing everything up to the correct torque.

 

FWIW, where is the wear, as they usually wear out bushes not the arms.

I'd almost be tempted to go to another MOT centre and get them to check what exactly is worn.

 

If it's all 4 bushes, then it is likely cheaper to buy the arms and swap them, than take the control arms out, do all the bushes and put it all back.

 

The retest fee is really neither here nor there. Just money.

 

So you save money possibly by finding someone else to do the work so that it will pass back where it failed.

Or maybe just do the work and another MOT where it passes. 

 

Life is so simple if you have a place that regularly does your work for you and are not ripping you off.

I just had a look at ECP:

 

https://www.eurocarparts.com/suspension-arm-and-suspension-joints

 

I've guessed at a fabia 2012 1.4, but if you put in your reg plate it will give you the right part under suspension arm and suspension joints.

I selected lemforder, who are a high quality part and they're showing at a fictional £109 each, with a discount down to £75, which is a more normal price.

 

I'd suggest looking it up in detail, that they are taking the proverbial on parts prices and therfore I would check they are not using genuine skoda parts.

(I'm assuming you're not going to a main dealer - if you are find a good indy).

 

TBH, at this point, I'll get off the fence and say try another MOT centre, who are not trying to shaft you and just pay for a second MOT if needed.

If a Monte Carlo Tech it will be a 1.2 TSI or 1.6 TDI. 

Oh right, well I got completely the wrong one.

 

The only thing I can think of is that they're using genuine parts, or they are doing the control arms, the ball joints/track rod ends and all new bolts at the same time.

The latter isn't that unreasonable as I've seen a fair few rusted bolts shear when undoing them and the ball joints at the ends of the control arms are pretty exposed. Certainly last time i had bushes done I was presented with one that had gone, so just did both to save future costs.

 

You really do need a parts break down or a second price.

Thanks guys. Its a 1.6 TDI.

Reg OV63PCO 

Had a look myself, and yeah none £140 each.

I'll give them a call get them to send me a price breakdown. 

44 minutes ago, Treekle32 said:

Thanks guys. Its a 1.6 TDI.

Reg OV63PCO 

Had a look myself, and yeah none £140 each.

I'll give them a call get them to send me a price breakdown. 

 

There's no point, it's a blatant gouge, they'll bluff it out for arfur grand, just take it somewhere else like a VW independent specialist.

Got the quote.

 

  I've booked it in with an independent I've used previously for Thursday. I'll then take it back to guys who did the MOT for a retest

20 hours ago, Treekle32 said:

The price includes VAT.

They said the parts alone were £140 each so the labour must be £300.

Unfortunately I don't have the equipment or skills to it myself.

I payed £52 for 2 new Wishbones with bushes and ball joints on ebay not too long ago. Checked in a motorfactors before I did and they were a bit more but not a lot.

Didn't mind getting cheap ones as I was putting my own rear bush in anyway.

It's not a hard job, if you can't do It yourself it shouldn't cost much for a mechanic to do especially if they keep the ball joints on the knuckle 

If it's just the rear "console" bush, they're available as a separate part to the wishbone, very inexpensive and not particularly time consuming to change if the cars in the air. Whether you want to change the whole wishbone/arm depends a bit on the state of the inner bush and the arm as a whole.