High cost of Car maintenance

[BUSGO]

Put Mrs B's Vectra in for required maintenance today.

Car has 150,000 ks on it.
She won't be complaining about my tyres in future.

1 X timing belt kit, fitted $1200.
1 X set of rear brake rotors and pads fitted $600.
1 X 10k service $186.


Still to come - possible replacement rear shockies.

Final tally tomorrow - I can't wait.

[Taubusa]

Time to trade it in

[VNSVLE]

Sounds to me like the S.O.B's ripped you blind!! There is no way that work could have cost that much!!

[BUSGO]

Well I have the itemised receipt to show where the money went but guess what?

The bastard stopped on the way home with an engine fault light on the dash.
Back she goes tomorrow for another attempt.

[VNSVLE]

If you dont mind can i ask where the money went??

[BUSGO]

I'll flash up the costs when they stop rolling in.
It would be good to get a second opinion from an unbiased Holden mechanic on this.

In any case the car is still under warranty from the dealer where we bought it and get it serviced regularly but they are not Holden dealers and can't determine a fault code.
Hence, I took it back to the Holden dealers to get it sorted.

I knew that this car would be expensive for parts when they were needed but when fully maintained by the book, these faults should not happen if the services are done properly.

[Mutha]

Just recently had the same things, front brakes,major service, timing belt plus 2 new front Tyres $1400.

What a waist of good money for a very boring car.

[TimF]

Busgo - I feel your pain with servicing these vehicles as I have a 2001 2.2L Vectra with 130,000 on the clock and a Holden By Design (LOL) kit.. Had the car since 50K.

These Opel Vectras are fantastic to drive but I wouldn't own another one. The thing might as well have European badges on it if I'm going to pay such bullsh!t servicing costs. Can't buy them new anyway, they've been replaced by the much cheaper/sh!ttier Epica (daewoo made is it?)

Also, for the last couple of years I have been forced by Holden to change the oil & filter myself. Holden put out a service bulletin telling dealers to put a grade of oil in the vehicle which is not described in the handbook. That's all well and good, except my Vectra suddenly chewed a litre of oil in 1000klms.

Yet, when using the oil as described in the hanbook the stick-reading does not change at all in between services.

[BUSGO]

Our's is a 2003 ZC V6 3.2L.
It is an awesome car to drive and my wife hammers it back and forward to Sydney in supreme comfort so we are happy to live with a few extra costs.

The outcome of our problem is that it had a faulty Crank Angle Sensor which could have been replaced while the timing belt was being done.
They are fitting a new sensor today with free labor but the sensor is another $300.00.

So all up for a service, new timing belt kit, crank sensor and rear brake callipers and pads it has cost us $2,203.00.

We will be keeping it for another 40,000 ks or so I think.

[Heidi1]

GREAT SNAPPING DUCKS THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY!!

My car cost me $50. SURE, it pulls left when you brake, and it has a rather encouraging red light on the dash with an exclamation mark in the middle that I assume means, 'WELL DONE ON THE $50 CAR!', but I also have a Hayabusa so $50 is about all I'm prepared to spend.

Oh, and not all the doors open.

[BUSGO]

You're a crackup Heidi.



(PUN INTENDED)

[BUSGO]

Well, it appears that the issue is sorted.
Here is the tally.

Scheduled 10k service $169.00. - Couldn't determine fault code.
Visit to Holden dealer to determine and fix fault code.
Read and clear code $ 75.63 labour. (ripoff)
Replace rear brake rotors and pads $141.81 labour.
Replace timing belt, tensioner and idler pulleys $472.70 labour.
Genuine GM PARTS.
Set brake pads x 2 $127.53. (ripoff)
Rear rotor x 2 $315.90. (ripoff)
Set timing belt and tensioner kit $596.70.
Crank sensor $275 including free fitting - 2 hrs labour.

[Rev]

My daughter puts her 97 VT commy in for service...........it's pristine,only 90,000 k's. She gives the holden dealer grease monkey my mob number so monk can ring me if there's any issues.

2 hours later ring ring yeah mate your ignition leads are buggered we are gonna put new ones on & quoted some ridiculous price. I said no fuckin way sunshine they are perfect & the car runs perfect ........so he says.........yeah but they snapped when we took them off. I said well if they did it's your fault for not using the correct technique so.......put them on again & I'll drive it home on 5 cylinders.........which I did I fly down to repco & get a quality set of leads for next to bugger all & fit them myself.
These maggots are ripoff artistes par excellence & if you have no mechanical know how you are at their mercy.fuggen low lifes.

Then the distributor goes out on my old mx6, it stops about every kilometer then fires up again. I get a quote from a "reputable" mazda dealer to replace module & ignitor coil. Yeah mate all up $250 fitted. OK go ahead, can't be bothered stuffing around myself for that price. 2 hours later ring ring yeah mate gotta replace whole distributor so now it's $1200 all up I say....leave it alone I'm coming to get it, which I did, took it to another non mazda bloke I know who fitted a reco dizzy with new electronics, bearings & dizzy cap for $450...........$750 LESS than mazda & it's not missed a beat since............car servicing......it's racketeering, pure & simple

[DjPete]

Try Lube Mobile.
I have used them 4 times now on the Hyundai 4wd.
Very good prices and if you want you can watch what the buggers do!
Same warranty as going to a dealer too.

Similar to Ultra Tune who I used to work for (shut up!) but they come to you.
They did pads all round last time and price was very reasonable.
I have compared prices with the dealer and their prices win every time.
And I don't have to worry about getting back home or any of that bullsh!t.

[jessie928]

they are an expensive car to maintain.

but you can but one ( auction) for 3 grand!

JEs