[ivesy]

Hi, I'm after some advice regards a health report I got from Halfords today from my 12 Reg Note 1.5dci with 90k miles.

They've said:

Ball joint has slight play. Solution, renew the lower suspension wishbone arm (front axle - left side) quote £176.53​

Front wheel alignment after suspension repair. Quote £31.99​

Bush on suspension arm has detached from its bonding. Solution, renew the lower suspension wishbone arm (front axle-right side) quote £102.22​

Battery specific gravity low. Solution renew battery £135​

Total: £445.74​

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I'm sure I can shop around but do these prices seem reasonable and also the cars coming up 10 years old. Is this the start of continuingly shelling out for costly repairs and maybe time to get a newer car?​

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Any help or advice is appreciated​

 

[DIG-S]

Never go to Halfords for this type of work. All they want to do is sell unnecessary parts etc, its how they make thier money and mechanics get commission on all parts fitted boosting their wage.

Take it to a proper garage and get them to check it over.

The only health Halfords are interested in is the health of their profit.

 

[ivesy]

Yeah I'm going to try a local garage to compare thanks

 

[Baxlin]

Shouldn’t the front wheel alignment be part and parcel of the ‘suspension repair’?

 

[ivesy]

aye I was wondering that!

 

[ivesy]

Took it to a local garage today and paid £198.92 for both arms and quoted £85 for the battery. Told to keep the battery until winter then get it changed then. So total would be £283.92 against £445.74. Ans I was impressed I called at 9.30am today and I was able to pick it up at 11.30am and they were quite busy. Hopefully we've found a garage we can trust at long last! After my good news I came back to earth with a bum when the wife told me her car (same make, model and year) has developed a noticeable oil leak!

Her story is she took her car to the same Halfords in February for service and MOT and got a call from them to say they were having problems with the oil sump. They said the screw section was cracked and they were worried if they took it off then when putting it on might cause a leak.....they said a new sum was needed costing around £350 ouch. 2 months later the very leak we were warned about if we did nothing has happened! She's rang them and been told not to worry etc and they'll have a look tomorrow. When I mentioned this to the garage I was at today they said you can get repair packs which they would've tried first. Which is just rubbing salt in.

 

[Sineu]

Halfords do have the nickname of HalFrauds for a reason.
Stick to the garage you found, they sound much better.

 

[DIG-S]

Her story is she took her car to the same Halfords in February for service and MOT and got a call from them to say they were having problems with the oil sump. They said the screw section was cracked and they were worried if they took it off then when putting it on might cause a leak.....they said a new sum was needed costing around £350 ouch.

Roughly translated what happened is a clueless herbert either cross threaded or over tightened the sump plug and damaged the thread in the sump. And now they expect you to pay for their incompetence.

 

[ivesy]

yep that's about the top and bottom of it! It's when stuff like this goes on I wish I knew a little more about car repair and maintenance. Hopefully we've found a garage we can trust, it's only taken 30 years.....