Wife's Corsa in for service & MOT - HOW MUCH???

[HereBeMonsters]

OK, so I probably shouldn't have gone to a main dealer, but the car has a full Vauxhall service history, and there's one right by my work.
It's a 2000 W reg Corsa B 1.2 16v, one of the last Corsa Bs. Less than £50k miles on the clock. Garaged most of its life.

Car has been sat for a couple of months, but drove to the test (27 miles) absolutely fine. Was fine before it was laid up (garaged, I might add). Was only taken off the road as MOT fell during our honeymoon.
Anyway, garage called, here's their breakdown:

Front suspension spring snapped. Pattern replacements (x2): £240 (Vauxhall ones were twice that).
One handbrake cable frayed to excess: £98
One headlamp clip broken: £120 (for a headlamp clip!!! wtf!!)
"some sort of issue with brakes. Will need a full strip down to find out what.": £150-400.

I guess these are all prices including fitting, but still. FFS. A quick scout of some online parts suppliers and ebay finds me:

4x replacement springs (stiffer and will lower by 20mm): £59 (Jamex)
Handbrake cable: £13 (Vauxhall part)
Headlamp clip: £3 (Vauxhall part)

And I really have no idea what they're on about with the brakes. They felt fine to me, only had new pads and discs a year ago.

Anyone else found Vauxhall dealers to be a massive rip-off? And anyone know of a Vauxhall specialist who won't charge an arm and a leg to get this done, somewhere in the Southampton/Winchester area?

[Munter]

It's a Corsa. You don't need a VX specialist, just about any good local garage should be able to sort all that.

[HereBeMonsters]

Munter said:

It's a Corsa. You don't need a VX specialist, just about any good local garage should be able to sort all that.

I guess, but I thought there may be some Vauxhall specific issues regarding this headlamp clip they're on about. I'll get the dealer place to show it to me this afternoon when I go to pick it up. If they're actually trying to charge me £130 for a £3 clip I'm going to Trading Standards...

[neiljohnson]

The clip in question is likely to be a small plastic white one that clips into the front panel we fail virtually every corsa that comes through the door on them as they break when the bonnet is slammed. Its a 10 min job to fit only needing the headlight unbolting (1 bolt) and the new clip pushing into place. We keep them in stock (buy packs of 10) and charge £10 fitted per clip. You can check if they are broken by opening the bonnet and gently lifting the headlight upwards. £150 is way over the top for supply & fitting as is £240 for a pair of coil springs.
Hth Neil.

[HereBeMonsters]

neiljohnson said:

The clip in question is likely to be a small plastic white one that clips into the front panel we fail virtually every corsa that comes through the door on them as they break when the bonnet is slammed. Its a 10 min job to fit only needing the headlight unbolting (1 bolt) and the new clip pushing into place. We keep them in stock (buy packs of 10) and charge £10 fitted per clip. You can check if they are broken by opening the bonnet and gently lifting the headlight upwards. £150 is way over the top for supply & fitting as is £240 for a pair of coil springs.
Hth Neil.

Cheers for the reply. When I picked it up I got one of the technicians to show me what needed doing. Apparently this clip has broken at the mounting point on the headlamp itself. Lamp has been loose since car was in a minor shunt 2 years ago, so how it passed last year's MOT I don't know...
Anyway, techie agreed that a £15 headlamp from a scrappy would do the same as their £120 quote. Showed me how to fit a new lamp as well.
Then he showed me the rear handbrake. I would hardly say it's frayed to excess, but it is a bit, where it goes through the trailing arm. £15 for the part, 20 minute job he reckons for me and a mate. I guess I should do it as I have had a handbrake fail on me in the past (Fiat Cinq) when I was on a very steep hill at traffic lights! Anyway, their quote was £100 to fix this.

Only thing I'm not sure I can do is new springs. I've ordered a set of these Jamex ones off ebay. It could do with something stiffer to be honest, and as it's one of the last models it seems to ride high like they all do. A 20mm drop will be fine I think, but not sure how to fit them. I guess I can go to a local independent place to get them to do it for me?

So basically their quote to fix was near on £470. If I did all the work myself it would cost £87. It's daylight bloody robbery.

[neiljohnson]

Where i work would work out about £100 to fit your own springs but this would include a wheel alignment which i would strongly recommend you get done after the springs are fitted, the rears are super easy jack car up take lower shock bolt out and the old spring will come out with a tug. Fronts a bit more tricky as you need a spring compressor to remove them. If your unsure best to get someone who is a bit more clued up to help. Both are easily done though.

[bazking69]

The clips are just over £1, a common thing and an easy fix. Even if a lug on the headlamp is broke, that'll be no more than £50 for a genuine lamp, probably half that from SEL, and a 15 minute job.
The springs will be no more than even £130 plus VAT for a pair genuine.
It sounds like someone is trying it on to me.

[Jonboy_t]

There is a guy in Southampton, down by where Meridien TV used to be, called Ray Lewis. He is a really old guy and works out of a lock up, but damn is he good!!

My old dear had a 1 litre Corsa for about 4 years until a few months back and she never took it anywhere other than him. I think in total, her bills for about 5 or 6 trips to see Ray cost her no more than £300-£400, and she did have some relatively major work done!

Failing that, a mate of mine runs his own business from home. He used to work as a mechanic for some of the major Southampton Vauxhall dealerships, so he know's his stuff and he has diagnosed things on my Vauxhalls in 5 minutes that main dealers couldn't diagnose after major inspections! I think his website is www.performancejunkies.co.uk or something similar.

Hope this helps?!!

[HereBeMonsters]

Jonboy_t said:

There is a guy in Southampton, down by where Meridien TV used to be, called Ray Lewis. He is a really old guy and works out of a lock up, but damn is he good!!

My old dear had a 1 litre Corsa for about 4 years until a few months back and she never took it anywhere other than him. I think in total, her bills for about 5 or 6 trips to see Ray cost her no more than £300-£400, and she did have some relatively major work done!

Failing that, a mate of mine runs his own business from home. He used to work as a mechanic for some of the major Southampton Vauxhall dealerships, so he know's his stuff and he has diagnosed things on my Vauxhalls in 5 minutes that main dealers couldn't diagnose after major inspections! I think his website is www.performancejunkies.co.uk or something similar.

Hope this helps?!!

Cheers for that mate, may be just what I'm after. I've bought all the parts myself (total cost - £82) but the Haynes manual never turned up, and I'm not sure I've got the time or the inclination to do it myself now. Not sure a 1.2 Corsa is going to be a "performance junkie" but I'll have a look at the website.

Thanks.

[HereBeMonsters]

Jonboy_t said:

There is a guy in Southampton, down by where Meridien TV used to be, called Ray Lewis. He is a really old guy and works out of a lock up, but damn is he good!!

My old dear had a 1 litre Corsa for about 4 years until a few months back and she never took it anywhere other than him. I think in total, her bills for about 5 or 6 trips to see Ray cost her no more than £300-£400, and she did have some relatively major work done!

Failing that, a mate of mine runs his own business from home. He used to work as a mechanic for some of the major Southampton Vauxhall dealerships, so he know's his stuff and he has diagnosed things on my Vauxhalls in 5 minutes that main dealers couldn't diagnose after major inspections! I think his website is www.performancejunkies.co.uk or something similar.

Hope this helps?!!

Thanks mate, sent Performance Junkies an email, bounced back as no such address. His website has @hotmail.com and @hotmail.co.uk email addresses on it, not sure which is which.

Also, have you got a number for this Ray Lewis chap? I called the one I found via Google, and it was some random person at home.

Cheers.

[Jonboy_t]

I've just asked my mate what his proper email address is, he's just had his second little one so might take a while to get back to me, but I'll let you know as soon as.

I haven't got any details for Ray, I'll have a work with the old dear and see if she's still got anything for him and let you knwo about that too!

[Jonboy_t]

Just spoken to Pete (performance junkies). He has got your emails but since having the baby he's not had much time to reply to anything but he said he will get back to you in the next couple of days if that's OK?

I'll try and find Rays details tonight for you and pop them on here tomorrow.

Cheers
John

[HereBeMonsters]

Jonboy_t said:

Just spoken to Pete (performance junkies). He has got your emails but since having the baby he's not had much time to reply to anything but he said he will get back to you in the next couple of days if that's OK?

Cheers, if he can do it, that'd be great.

[Jonboy_t]

I spoke to the old lady last night and she seems to think poor old Ray might be dead.

Bit of a stter.

[HereBeMonsters]

Jonboy_t said:

I spoke to the old lady last night and she seems to think poor old Ray might be dead.

Bit of a stter.

Ah, well that would explain why he won't return my calls.

[callyman]

The best aftermarket and genuine VX parts dealer has to be www.autovaux.co.uk
They really know what they are talking about and can even source discontinued parts from germany.
Have used them many many times and they have never let me down. They also give me 20% discount as im in a vboa recognised calibra club.