Dropped my car off this afternoon at local independent for an MOT, and since I would be tied up at the airport 1/4 mile up the road until 10pm, I arranged for them to return the car to the airport and drop off the keys at the security gate.
Phone call an hour later to say it failed on the driveshaft gaiters (both sides cracked... hmm) and that it'll be £150 to fix - if that's not completely excessive I don't know what is!), and I reiterated my request that the keys are left with security.
10pm this evening and I found the car snug in the car park. Except security don't have the keys, and say no one has dropped anything off. I had an enjoyable walk home working out how best to dispose of the body of the garage owner, and fortunately someone I knew very kindly gave me a lift most of the way.
Got to be in at 6.30am tomorrow and with no car it's a helluva walk. Words cannot describe how annoyed I am, especially since I'm going to be forced to pay another £53 for an MOT if I take the car elsewhere.
|
Silly question, but you did check on top of / behind / under all four wheels for the keys, didn't you?
Standard places for the motor trade to leave keys in such circumstances. Or above sunvisor / in door pocket, glovebox or ashtray / down the side of the seat / under floor mat if left unlocked.
HTH.
Dave TD.
|
|
|
|
So much for you saying on 22nd March "I just throw my keys at the local independent and tell him to call me ..........." !!
|
David,
It's always bad news when a plan goes belly up, but the old 6 Pees go a long way to preventing this kind of thing. Proper Planning Prevents pink fluffy dice Poor Performance.
With the benefit of hindsight... Where was your Spare Key? I'll wager you leave it with the car at the garage in future and keep the master with you.
Regards,
John R
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 28/03/2009 at 17:37
|
L'Escargot - perhaps a little less sanctimonious dredging up of previous posts wouldn't go amiss? I was stuck in Oxford this weekend unexpectedly so couldn't use my normal Devon-based garage, which I trust implicitly.
Unfortunately, I have some grovelling to do. Turns out that the security chaps put the keys away in a locked cabinet and didn't tell the next shift. D'oh.
On a related note, does anyone know roughly how much one might expect to pay for replacement CV gaiters? I assumed it would be a quick job, but then it struck me that quite a lot of dismantling might be involved. Garage has quoted £150, which did seem quite steep to me.
|
Parts? £10 to £15
Labour - 1 hour x 2 sides.. or could be 2 hours per side... x 2
Seems Ok ish to me (as I don't know what car it is...)
Edited by madf on 28/03/2009 at 16:24
|
DH, you are possibly overlooking the fact you had the car fixed in Oxford, i should imagine the hourly rate is probably a fair bit higher than good old Devonshire indy.
The price sounds fairish to me also, depending on what the car is.
ISTR some garages using universal gaiters a few years ago that were glued together once fitted, always seemed a bodge to me and quite how you manage a permanent and quality repair with all that grease about i could never fathom.
Are they still in use, if so do they last more than 5 minutes?
|
ISTR some garages using universal gaiters a few years ago that were glued together once fitted always seemed a bodge to me and quite how you manage a permanent and quality repair with all that grease about i could never fathom. Are they still in use if so do they last more than 5 minutes?
Yes they are still in use, and we are now up to 10minutes!
|
for what its worth i still use gluey boots if the car is awkward to strip down or looks like everything will fall to bits as soon as you attack it
and the price sounds fair for a garage in oxford in comparison to the poorest part of the country according to ther govt stats (no offence mind as the wife is partial to a bit of that scrumpy stuff)
|
I thought the trade were favouring the ones that stretch over the joint, inside out, with the help of a cone.
I've done four in the last twelve months, but haven't been brave enough to try these stretchy ones yet.
|
My wench was quoted £90 to £100 to fit a Cv gaitor to a Micra.
She came down to see me and one of my tame mechanics took about 10 minutes to change it. A lot of cars need very little effort to change them.
|
I now have two new gaiters but am £207 lighter, apparently it was quite difficult to change... 2.5 hours on the bill.
To top it off, I drove away and the ABS and Traction Control warning lights blinked on, so presumably they disturbed summat important down there when they did the work. Booked back in tomorrow with them, hope they don't try to charge me for this too.
On the bright side, it passed the MOT *before* the ABS light came on...
|
|
D'oh - I meant to say that the warning lights came on with the ignition and didn't go out, and since they gave me a pass certificate at least I can prove it didn't have them on before it went in.
|
Bellboy>>for what its worth i still use gluey boots if the car is awkward to strip down or
>>looks like everything will fall to bits as soon as you attack it
Cos they only have to last until the punter has driven off your forecourt, eh, bellboy?
|
|
Don't take it personal Bellboy !
|
|
L'Escargot - perhaps a little less sanctimonious dredging up of previous posts wouldn't go amiss?
:-D
|
|
|
|
|
