My Auris had a problem a while back with suspension creaking on cornering. The dealership lubricated the suspension bushes at the last service a few months back and it has cured that noise for now. But very soon after that it developed a new noise - an intermitted rattle / knocking noise from somewhere underneath (sounds muffled and is a bit hard to pinpoint). No idea whether it's related to the previous issue or not, and it only occurs very briefly (a few seconds) maybe once or twice in a journey, but I'm not happy just ignoring it. I'm assuming it's probably something suspension-related and needs to go up on a ramp and be properly inspected (by someone who knows what they're doing :).

Unfortunately the car's warranty expired just when that last service was done, so... any views on what a reasonable charge would be for investigating this kind of problem, and maybe tightening up X or Y as required? All the dealership can tell me is that their labour charge is £78/hr but of course we've no idea how long it will take to diagnose or fix. I'm currently in two minds over whether to let them work on it or just take it to a local independent... there's a good one not far away, going by recommendations, but to be fair the Toyota dealership has generally been pretty good too, and they don't charge for a loan car. One local place has quoted £72/hr (incl VAT) plus £5 for loan car (which seems perfectly reasonable) but who knows how the actual repair costs might compare, so interested to get views if anyone can offer them.