Am i being ripped of at dealers

[andy905]

Engine warning light came on the other day and i was close to the dealers so i just took it in. About 14 months ago the same happeneed. It was a coil pack that needed replaceing. It had the exact same symptons this time and i told them so. Last time i payed about £30 for this fixing. I payed 25% and reno payed 75% but i was in warranty then.

They rang me up and spoke to my mother as i was out. They said something about it was going to cost 1 hours labour to diagnose the problem an hours to fix the car and then the cost of the coils. They charge £60 an hour labour- high i no but im not argueing with this. Final cost is something like £240. My mother just told them to do it. She then thought maybe she shouldnt have done that and rang my mobile. I immediatly rang them to find out exactly what was happening and they said theyd get someone to ring me back. They didnt ring me back. I rang again and the works been done now. I asked if it was covered as it was a reaccuring fault. They said no. I asked why last time the total came to £120 and now its double that. The guys words where "it was getting done on behalf of renault and they pay rock bottom prices, you dont" made me chuckle but i get what he means. He also said it was probably a different coil last time. Now a coil pack as they have called it sounds to me like they are replacing a few coils. Is their more then one coil pack?

Bottom line is is £240 way too expensive for replacing a coil pack?

 

[MATT BLACK]

rip off mate - a coil pack is £49.20 part number 8200084401 - and a monkey could diagnose that - it takes 10 minutes to fit one - i could do it for less than £100.

figures based on a 1.2 16v

 

[andy905]

thought so-its a 1.6 16v though

 

[Scots_Clio]

Id ask them how many they have replaced. It sounds as thought they have replaced more than one for that price. I had 4 coil packs replaced on the wifes 1.4 16v megane for £180 but this was not renault - it was my local friendly garage. Coil packs are about £40 each. Was advised that you are better off replacing them all at one go coz when one goes then more than likely the others will be affected as well - something to do with the way the wiring is configured as its one wire shared between 2 coils?

 

[_Kenny_]

I had something like this done and it cost £100 - but half the cost was paid by the garage as a goodwill gesture as I had just recently got the car and this fault wasnt covered under warranty. This was done at renault livingston.

 

[clio__chris]

1 of my coils went on my 1.6 a while back

there is 1 coil per cylinder on the 1.6 16v and the price the AA put on it was about £49 (guess that exl VAT)

takes about 2 minutes to fix (including find the right socket) just pop one out and another in

 

[andy905]

Im going to ring a few other renault garages in my area. If they quote me less im not going to let it go. Warning to everyone DONT GO TO RENAULT HUDDERSFIELD

 

[steveV6]

When we had our Scenic, a coil went and was replaced, FOC, by the Renault dealer. About 10 months later another coil went and this was also replaced along with the last 2 coils (that were ok at the time, just procaution on the dealers part), this was also a warranty job and covered under the first 3 year warranty, so free of charge. I would argue the fact, all be it a little late, that the first time they changed a coil, they charged you at all!! This is a known fault on alot of the Clio/Megane/Scenic engines and I would be telling them to stuff the bill up there arses if I were you.

Just by coincidence, our Scenic was also a 1.6 16v unit although I dont think this fault is exclusive to them.

 

[andy905]

Just an update. I was being ripped off.

I rang 2 other dealers close by and got quotes for it doing. 1 said £45 plus the cost of the part so less then £95 in total the other said no more then £59 plus the cost of the part so about £100 in total and i had j3neds quote of no more then £100.

I went in saturday to pick it up but no one from the service department was there so i paid as i needed the car but i did dispute the cost and said i would be back. Someone was meant to ring me too to talk me through the costs but no one did.

So i went in today. They stuck to their guns at first saying it did take 2 hours and the diagnosis test actually takes longer then an hour(read j3neds quote about monkeys). So i said why can 2 other dealers do it so much cheaper. That threw them a bit. He was starting to dither at this point.

I then said asked why the other coils wherent replaced when the first was done. He said "one went so we only replaced one" he then did an anology saying if one wheel bearing went we dont simply replace the other. I said id been told by friends that if one goes its likely the others will will follow and that id spoke to other people who had them all replaced under warranty. He said renault wouldnt allow that.

He then pretty much said thats the cost you agreed to it so its my fault really. I then explained the situation about i never did agree to it and if he was going to get technical i was too and im sure the laws on my side-i didnt like this arguement but i had to use it.

In the end we agreed that id get a partial refund which brought the price down to £140. So ive still been done but i got some back.

Moral is always ring around before you get work done, dont even bother going to renault huddersfield, and dont let your mum answer the phone.

Can anyone suggest anything else i could do. I bet they do this sort of thing all the time and i think i should report them