Cars: Fixing/servicing

I have the rego. I just thought it was odd that they would ask for it. In Oz I'd just hand over the car and say ' part x is fucked, can ya fix it?'.
I didn't want to hand it over for no reason just for a quote. Don't want to suddenly get spammed by car dealerships or insurance or some shit.

For the last few weeks I've been bothered by a hollow metallic "ting!" sound from what appeared to be somewhere under the gearstick of my little Fiat. It only seemed to happen on accelerating and speedbumps. I assumed it was perhaps a clamp or some sort of exhaust fixing that had come loose down there and was hanging off and occasionally tapping on the exhaust. It didn't sound structural or serious but was really annoying me. I went to a local garage and asked for opinion but he fobbed me off to Kwik Fit. I asked my father in law (an engineer, ex-amateur sidecar racer and keen mechanic), but he was none the wiser. Loathe to pay for a mechanic for what I assumed would be a pretty simple fix, I gave up a weekend to drive out to my parent's house to use the inspection pit in my dad's garage.

I got the car in, opened up the pit (for the first time in years) and climbed in. Couldn't find anything. My dad shook and wobbled the car and the exhaust but we couldn't hear anything. Then my dad got in the pit... and immediately realized that he couldn't get back out which was embarrassing for both of us. After I'd got the ladder and helped him up, we took it for a drive round the block so I could show him the noise which, of course, failed to appear on demand.

In my frustration I ended up throwing the little go-kart of a car car about and accelerating hard at speedbumps until I finally managed a "ting!". "There! hear that? " I said. The look on my dad's face must have triggered something in me because I immediately knew what a fucking moron I was being.

My only saving grace in this is that I finally figured out what it was about half a second before he told me. I pulled over, got out and flipped up the seat to retrieve the half-empty can of anti-freeze rolling about under there.

I like to think the unspoken deal here is that if he doesn't dine out this particular story of of my idiocy, I won't tell everyone he's too weak and old to climb out of a hole in the ground. So far the stand off seems to working.

I provided the year, make, model, spec, engine type. They say..

"You have asked us for a quotation for repairs to your vehicle where there are various options with regards the parts , the registration gives us all the details on the vehicle including the chassis number which helps us to correctly identify the correct parts.
If you would still like me to quote you I will need the registration of the vehicle."

WTF are the "options on parts?" Are you taking it to the dealership where it was bought from? Have you (highly unlikely, I know) changed the registration from the original supplied with the car? Thought not. They'll want the reg number to "pencil you in" and subsequently badger you with affiliates etc.

All you need to give them is the chassis number - this will tell them exactly what the car is. They'll come out with some bollocks about "company policy" etc, but it's a crock of shit.

take your money elsewhere?

This.

That's what I was worried about. Glad I held off. Thanks

Some mob wants to charge 20% extra for paying by card. Is that even legal?

But they quote a price and then penalise you if you use card because they have to pay tax? WTF?

Also, they reckon the fuel pump is fine even though the car has stopped twice requiring AA help. Both AA guys saying the fuel pump probably needs replacing.

Fucking shysters

PM me but this lot already have the car so it's probably pointless now.

Credit card fees to be banned in crackdown on surcharges

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards/8974365/Credit-card-fees-to-be-banned-in-crackdown-on-surcharges.html

Did this happen?

They're not charging a fee (not to them).
They're offering to do it for 20% less if you pay in cash, so they won't hve to charge you for VAT. This is not a legal practise.

Except the original price quoted was the cheaper price and no mention of any bullshit "discount" was made if CC wasn't used.

They've offered you the cheaper one first cos you're from the deep deep south?

My missus has been doing all this. If it was me, they'd have had a fucking spanner inserted in them already.

could be they're just nobs?

Maybe. A nice man recommended them to us though.

Maybe this is just normal behaviour. I would've expected a discount off the quoted price for cash not a penalty for paying with card. That's how Aussie tax dodgers operate. Backwards Britain

If the car breaks down because they didn't fix the fuel pump like we asked them to I'm totally reporting them to HMRC..

Ha. get a receipt!

I've told her that. I want a list of things that were checked/replaced/etc too.

A bit of a long shot, but...

Does anyone in South London have a timing strobe I could borrow this weekend?

Maybe @Dammit or @BRM

Machine Mart is open on Sundays! I have one now. If anyone needs to borrow one, PM me!

Sorry, just saw this.

Right, I know sod all about cars and fixing them and I have a problem.

The driver's side wing mirror on my 2012 Mk7 VW Passat Bluemotion got damaged while I was on holiday. Basically the cover bit, that goes above the indicator band has disappeared.

I thought I'd done well in ordering a replacement and the paint and lacquer and getting the latter two onto the former. Went to fit it on this morning and realised that I had totally the wrong bit. Probably Mk6- it's like a whole mirror surround and back, rather than just the top bit.

Now I cannot for the life of me figure out how to buy the piece I need. It does not seem to exist on a the internet.

Where should I look?

Please help.

you could try a breakers site, i've had good luck with those before. they email you a load of quotes from breakers that have the part and you pick the one you want.

Sounds good. Any recommended ones? Or just the name of one, that I can start with?

yeah yeah UTFS

A site like "REALOEM" which is for BMWs and MINIs will help. It has exploded diagrams of all part groups for all cars. I'll see if I can find you a link.