Unfortunately, probably yes, but I would certainly ask them for a complete breakdown of what they did for £225 if you don't already have it. You did give then the OK to proceed with the £225 further check so it might be difficult to dispute it now.

Lesson here is to avoid places like Halfords and certainly avoid main dealers.

Out of interest, I wonder how much the garage at the end of the road charged you for the repair?

You could always go back to the main dealer, tell them what the garage at the end of your road did to fix your car and what it cost, and ask for a refund of the £225! I very much doubt whether you would get one but it never hurts to ask.

Thank goodness you had the sense not to ask the main dealer to fix it!

£225 is easily arrived at if someone has spent a couple of hours tinkering about at a main dealer, whether you got value for that money is debatable, but it would have been just the same for any man as it's been for you.

Honda diagnosed a faulty airbag passenger side of daughters car, going to be well over £1000 fitted, my little sparky chap rewired it for £35.

The joys of modern cars and why they have such a limited life expectancy.

What i would suggest is, if he hasn't done so already, to get the mechanic who fixed it (who sounds a gem) to smear some sort of waterpoofing over the offending ECU connections and maybe seal it all inside a plastic bag to prevent a reoccurence.