Talk about Rip off Britain
Just looked up the cost of the cambelt and water pump change for my 130 TDI passat in France.
Total cost = ?877 (including TTC(VAT)) at the local VW dealer in the Charente!!
Checked with Gilbert Lawton in Manchester, they quoted £395 plus £30 for the water pump including VAT.
No prizes for guessing where it will get done!
{subject header amended to give a clue as to what the discussion is}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 23/06/2009 at 13:38
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Had mine done at Midland VW in Cannock a couple of months ago
Looking at the invoice, New cambelt and tensioner fully fitted £287 all in;
New waterpump and coolant £46 all in
OEM parts used
Not as far from the channel ports as Manchester :>)
As always
Mark
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The car (sales) market in countries like France and Spain is so different to UK's, with seemingly so few used car dealers - wonder if it's the same situation with few smaller, indy garages. If so then presumably most owners use main agents.
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£299 for cambelt, tensioners, aux belts, water pump and coolant in east central Scotland.
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£329 all in @ Stoke Audi, incl. wash and vacuum.
www.audiservicing.com/files/cambelt.php
Edited by Hamsafar on 23/06/2009 at 14:57
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Total cost = ?877 (including TTC(VAT)) at the local VW dealer in the Charente!!
That's a surprise as it's long been said that if you live in S England, it's cheaper to get your car serviced in France. Not just French maked either, I've see it suggested for Mercedes.#
The exchange doesn't help now, but there's no reason it should be more in ? than in £. Perhaps checking the price at other garages in France might be interesting?
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maybe because the car quoted is a bit of a pain to do so it was priced accordingly at the french dealer?
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My neighbour was quoted 1220 euros recently by the main dealer in Limoges (next departement to Charente) to change the cambelt and service his six-year-old Volvo S80 2.5 diesel.
He sold it.
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Last December I was quoted 800+? to change a clutch in a 1.2 Zetec 16v Fiesta by a Ford main dealer in Nimes. (I enquired just to get a marker price, and to establish the part nos).
I approached a small independent close to the airport, initially he quoted me 3.5hrs at (IIRC) about 39?/hr + cost of parts, but could not source the parts in France at a reasonable price. So on my next flight I delivered a complete LUK clutch kit sourced from the UK. Total cost of job about 275 ?. (Also saved myself 4 weeks parking at 70?).
Even Citroen parts are more expensive in France - it appears that the aftermarket pattern spares prices are high - or is it that it is not as easy to negotiate on prices?
p
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Negotiate isn't a word with a French equivalent. They just don't understand what it even means. It's a cultural thing.
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