Eye watering car repair

[Dark Black]

I'm sceptical about their diagnosis. They showed me some flow chart they'd followed & how they'd arrived at their conclusion. Didn't look like they'd done anything mechanical to achieve this.

A flow chart... for car mechanics... I must remember to tell my mate (who runs his own garage) this.. he'll wet himself laughing..

Avoid main dealers at all costs and (as others have said) go to a good independent, with proper old school mechanics who know how to fault find and fix things.

Good luck

[rl4engc]

If you wanted to do a bit of tinkering, you can buy (I think they're called ODBC-II) devices that you plug in and an app on your phone will show you the exact diagnosis code, look this code up (Rav4 owners club type forums will help) and it will tell you the cause.

Or as others have said if you can find/know a good independent who's honest they'll do this for you.

I tend to go in in scruffy clothes, and have an air of "If it's like £2-300 or summat then fair enough, if it's gonna cost £1000 or summat daft I might as well get shut.." so they know you're not going to be spending loads. I've got an old Toyota and the only time I go to the main dealer is if I have to buy a genuine Toyota part.

[mdhd]

I love my indy garage (so far), you tell them to do extra bits with MOT and they will tell you to sod off. Will only do minimum. Example: Brakes needed replacement, Halfords said brake pads and discs needed changing. They said, you "just" need brakepads for the front, and don't even think about buying pads for the rear. I said, "yes sir!".

[SueEllen]

90k 2008. Probably worth about £4k.

Once your car is worth less than 10K take it to an independent garage. If you don't know one ask people around you. Most people will only happily refer you on if they trust the garage.

[SueEllen]

I love my indy garage (so far), you tell them to do extra bits with MOT and they will tell you to sod off. Will only do minimum. Example: Brakes needed replacement, Halfords said brake pads and discs needed changing. They said, you "just" need brakepads for the front, and don't even think about buying pads for the rear. I said, "yes sir!".

Mine is exactly the same.

They even give me the mileage on each tyre. Oddly they don't need to advertise unlike a couple of the other garages.........

[northernladuk]

Mine is exactly the same.

They even give me the mileage on each tyre. Oddly they don't need to advertise unlike a couple of the other garages.........

FLC went to the same garage and asked for the mileage and a quote for everyone of his tyres. Looked him up and down and advised him they don't the time to provide that...

Muahahahahha boom boom... Geddit.. His tyres!! Damn I'm good.

[FatLazyContractor]

FLC went to the same garage and asked for the mileage and a quote for everyone of his tyres. Looked him up and down and advised him they don't the time to provide that...

Muahahahahha boom boom... Geddit.. His tyres!! Damn I'm good.

A real contractor never visits garages. The area manager for Pirelli Yorkshire sent a lady mechanic to quote and sort my tyres. All while I was smoking a cigar in my canopy watching her do the job

I took a pic for you lesser NCOTBAC souls

[TestMangler]

The injectors themselves would cost about £800 roughly, so seems excessive, but they'll be charging dealer prices for parts and dealer labour.

[Gumbo Robot]

The injectors themselves would cost about £800 roughly, so seems excessive, but they'll be charging dealer prices for parts and dealer labour.

Yep, 2 days labour needed.

[Troll]

They even give me the mileage on each tyre.

You sure they didn't give you the tread depth dear?