Expensive MOT or not?

[Obie]

Hi all, I'm fairly new to this country and I'm just wondering if my mother is being over charged at a local garage for her MOT with services and work done.
Just hoping someone here has better knowledge about this than me. cheers.

So the costs are as follows;

- change oil,oil filter and air filter : £250 (presuming just labour)
- oil filter : £8
- air filter : £13
- engine oil : £25
- shock absorber : £64
- st bearing : £17 (cant make out the name properly, may be stryl or stryt bearing?
- lick or link am? : £24
- front brake pads and discs : £98
- bulb : £1
- anti-freeze : £8
- screen wash : £1.75
- MOT : £54.85

So the total comes up to 510 and with tax the grand total is £666.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don't know the pricing of these items but what most concerns me is the £250 labour part at the top?
Any hows thanks in advance

Cheers

Bradley.

[kalniel]

The MOT at £54.85 is still 15p cheaper than the maximum allowed to be charged so no, she's not being overcharged for the MOT.

Otherwise, part costs look more than reasonable, but labour quite expensive - depends whose doing it though.

[cptwhite_uk]

MOT in Sheffield is normally around £35. Labour is probably around £50 / hr ...so 5 hours labour.

Given the front brake pads and discs, and shock absorber have been replaced it seems a little on the high side but not out of the normal pricing I'd expect.

Labour time is probably a little excessive, did they get your approval to do all the replacements before proceeding?

[cheesemp]

Its a little expensive but not exceptional for a small garage. As a comparison Halfords will do an MOT and service for £150~£200 depending on engine size but this doesn't include any repairs but does include oil and filters... Adding in new brakes and shock absorber would take it up at least another £250~£300. Big question as cptwhite_uk mentioned was, was it authorised? They should have phoned you and told you it failed the MOT and it would cost X pounds to fix. If that was agreed to you've got little choice but to pay. Might be worth hunting around next time?

[Bagnaj97]

Without knowing exactly what was done it's hard to say, but from the looks of things I'd guess it's a high but not absurd price...

Interim Service (lack of fuel filter or spark plugs suggests it's not a full service)
MOT
Front disks+pads
Something suspension related (shock, strut bearing, link arm)

[Saracen]

Most of that appears to be servicing costs, which are NOT part of the MOT.

The MOT is fixed cost, or rather, fixed maximum. It doesn't include all those items.

Some things, like bearings, link arm, brakes, etc MIGHT be necessary for an MOT pass but aren't part of the test itelf, and shouldn't be done with prior authorisation.


Servicing costs vary hugely, and ypu didn't specify the car. For example, my wife's VW Polo comes in a smidge cheaper than my BNW M3 for servicing. Hell, the Polo service is less than one tyre on the M3.

The value for money of servicing varies hugely, and some disreputable places use the MOT to drum up servicing work. I had one (main dealer) fail a car, many years ago, on about 15 items and quote me over £2000 for repair work. I drove it out of that dealer to a small garage a friend recommended, and 5 minutes down the road and, on retest, it passed first time. That garage, on being shown the main dealers failure certificate wanted me to take BOTH certficates to a regional Department of Transport Test centre and complain.



These days, I use a small specialist garage (lots of BMW experience) for ALL my MOTs. I get him to do a 'pre-MOT check' which is fluids, light bulbs and beam alignment, tyre pressures, wiper blades, etc, and he charges me the standard MOT fee, plus any parts like wiper blades, oil, etc. He takes the car to a 3rd oarty MOT tester that ONLY does MOTs. They don't do any repair/servicing work.

Often, I get a service done too. Very rarely does anything need doing as a result of the MOT. I think, maybe twice, costing maybe £20-£30, over about 20 years.

The Polo has yet to top about £250 for the service, plus MOT, and even then, only for a 'big' service. The M3 has come in a £600 or so, I think once, but even that rarely costs that much (excluding tyres).

That cost of yours seems potentially reasonable, depending on the car, PROVIDED all the things quoted as being done really were done, and PROVIDED they really were necessary.

So IMHO, that bill MIGHT be fair, or might not. After the event, it's hard to tell.

[Zak33]

what's the car?

Shock Absorbers and disks, oil quantity etc are all different for every car.

I'd never change ONE shock absorber, but I'm anal about things that stop me bouncing off the road ;-)

front pads and discs for £98 is a good price on any car, so long as they're not made of cream cheese

[mycarsavw]

How many other garages are in the area?

+1 on changing both shocks at the same time too.

[Obie]

Wow thanks for the massive response here gents.

- Ok so the car is a Renault Laguna 2001 model.
- last year the MOT with work done was over £500 (2015) and the year before that it came up to just over £600 (2014). (all at the same garage)
- Yes Kalniel sorry I meant for the grand price and individual work done, not the MOT per se.
- Ok and she has said that they phoned her and told her what needed replacing but couldn't give her a price so she agreed anyway because she has to get to work.

Feel free to ask any more questions, and once again thank you.

[Zak33]

600 quid per year for full servicing and MOT on a French car that old is FINE...

honestly...it;'s OK

[Zak33]

calculate it....

go buy a new car same size....£20k plus

loose £10 k in first 18 months.....still spend £200- £400 per year on servicing

I admit to quite liking the old petrol Laguna's

[Zak33]

- last year the MOT with work done was over £500 (2015) and the year before that it came up to just over £600 (2014). (all at the same garage)

it's not an MOT with work bud...it's a service mot and work

If you just MOT'd it and didn't change oil etc... it would blow up.

Be clear.. cars need servicing and parts replacing IN ADDITION to MOT's

[Obie]

it's not an MOT with work bud...it's a service mot and work

If you just MOT'd it and didn't change oil etc... it would blow up.

Be clear.. cars need servicing and parts replacing IN ADDITION to MOT's

thanks for your replies. I'll let her know it's all fine

Yes I understand that they need servicing, when I put 'work done' I was implying service included.

[Obie]

There are another two in a 4 mile radius. next is about 10 or 11 miles.

[DanceswithUnix]

Things fail on a car that old, sounds about right to me.

Edit: £1.75 for screen wash, I think that says a lot. Main dealers have charged me a tenner just to fill the washer bottle. If they were going to fleece her, it would be over more than £1.75 Bulb for a quid? Halfords would charge something like a fiver for a bulb and another fiver to fit it.

[Obie]

Things fail on a car that old, sounds about right to me.

Edit: £1.75 for screen wash, I think that says a lot. Main dealers have charged me a tenner just to fill the washer bottle. If they were going to fleece her, it would be over more than £1.75 Bulb for a quid? Halfords would charge something like a fiver for a bulb and another fiver to fit it.

Cheers mate. How do I now close this thread or will a mod do it?