While I had the instrument panel out to deal with other matters, I took the opportunity to replace a couple of dead bulbs. Here are the local prices for a 509T instrument panel bulb with holder:-
Local factor -- 82p each (if bought in quantity of 5).
Halfords -- £1.99 each (in blister pack)
Renault main agent -- £4.12 each (loose).
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ah but for every person like yourself who will change the bulb themselves there are dozens of others who put the car in for a service and say can you change a couple of bulbs that are dead on the dash too.
So they will charge £4.12 for the bulb plus twenty minutes worth of fitting for it too. Why do they do it? because they can get away with it!
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"Why do they do it? because they can get away with it!"
Because so much of their business is from the company car driver who doesn't care how much it costs - just puts it on the card/account.
About 20% of the business of a city main agent will be from private punters.
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Not always true.
My Vx key appeared to require new battery - took it to parts dept of local Vx dealer who opened it and out a folded piece of paper in - for free! Works a treat again.
While I was there I asked the price of yellow indicator bulbs. Four of them worked out at just over a fiver which was over £2 cheaper than Halfords...
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I'm always surprised how "cheap" some Vauxhall parts are. Wiper blades, batteries, oil & oil filters are an example and that is before the Trade Club discount. Some are horrendously expensive of course!
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So they will charge £4.12 for the bulb plus twenty minutes worth of fitting for it too. Why do they do it? because they can get away with it!
Except for the BMW dealer whose forecourt I drove onto once in order to get a bulb changed.
I hadn't even sat down by the time they welcomed me and asked if I was visiting for the headlight bulb; they had seen me drive on with only one working. Charged me £4.50 for the bulb, took the keys and walked out of the door to fit it FOC.
Now, I was in a suit that day, ready for a meeting later. Assuming that I could find the bulb somewhere for £1, the extra £3.50 is a very good price for:
- the time spent locating the trade source for the £1 bulb
- the 10 minutes it would take me to work out how to fit the bulb, and then fit it
- the time to find somewhere to wash hands etc prior to my meeting
- the time spent actually washing them, and
- the risk of getting the suit dirty at a time when I need it to be clean.
Now, other people's priorities might be different. And, on a different day, so might mine. And that is why we have a choice of where we go. If you want to pick up a bulb cheaply and fit it yourself, that's fine - steer clear of main dealers!
But the price I paid for that work on that day was well worth it.
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I was stunned recently when i popped into my local Ford dealer expecting to pay £20 for a center cap for my Mondeo alloy wheel when the partsman asked me for £2.60!
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Ford charged me £3 something for a new bonnet release catch for the Fiesta. A spares place I phoned was over £6, plus P&P.
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Yes, have to agree with the Vauxhall dealers, if I go to any of the motor factors the prices are invariably more, and the part often turns out to be incorrect which can be terrible when halfway through chaning brake pads or such like. Those chrome silver Philips indicator bulbs are cheap at Vauxhall too, and I just got 4 x 5l bottles of 5w30 longlife synthetic oil for £46 inc VAT!.
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I used to have a Rover 416 (great car, absolutely loved it until the head gasket went, then sold it quick) but changing the front light bulbs was virtually impossible.
I remember taking it to the Rover dealer on a Saturday morning. Sorry, can't help, they say, stock taking today. So off I went to Halfords, got the bulb and went back to Rover for them to fit (this was before the days when you could get Halfords to do it for you).
They made me wait for an hour, then the mechanic showed me how to change the bulb - took him 30 seconds.
Went back to settle up - that'll be £12 + VAT - for 0.2 of an hour. I say no way did it take 12 mins to fit. Sorry, sir, standard charge. I refused to pay that much, and eventually paid for 0.1 hour.
I was so annoyed as I had basically wasted the whole morning, and it was also embarrassing - I should be able to change a bulb after all!
So went home and wrote a long letter of complaint. The upshot was that they said they would give me free labour on my next service. Just so happened the next service was the cambelt change and should have cost £300 - 400, but I ended up paying less than £100.
So, all in all, I came away happy - and it taught me the lesson that, if you're not happy with the service, even at a main dealer, it pays to write a measured letter of complaint. They usually respond and, in my case, my difficulty in changing a bulb saved me £200+.
I went back to the Rover dealer recently to ask if they would sell me a used Rover 75 at 50% of the screen price. They told me to get lost and said they would be selling their existing stock at the marked prices (dream on!) and then changing to be a Hyundai dealer.
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And how often when they change the bulb did the job need doing? Charging for an unncessary job is an easy way to make a small profit, and I wonder in such cases how often the bulb is actually replaced? I used to take my Micra to dealer X for servicing and each time at least one bulb 'needed replacing'. Not so at dealer Y. And in 3 years I don't think my Ka has needed even one replacement bulb. It doesn't surprise me that recent surveys have slated the standards at garages.
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Only wish our local Vauxhall dealer was so good. You can wait for anything up to an hour to be served - yes an hour!! When you do get served the parts are more expensive and have a shorter lifespan than those purchased from a local motor factors.
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I noticed that the rear caliper was sticking on my Mondeo so ran it round to the local dealers to ask them to have a look and release it. The man I spoke to didn't even bother to have a look, but went away for 5 minutes and came back saying that it would cost £474 to fix. He said a new caliper, brake pads, discs and cable assembly were required...Thanks, but no thanks.
Problem is fixed now, by the way.
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