And I thought railway modelling was expensive!

[darkscot]

My stepdaughter has a relatively new Vauxhall Corsa and this week the horn stopped working. Tried the obvious things like fuse, loose wire etc but found nothing. So decided to put it into the local garage and asked then to to a quick service while they were at it. They found that both front suspension springs were broken and one of the ABS pumps was broken, apparently the latter is a known fault on Corsas.

Anyway, long story short it cost £1017.64 to fix! Excluding the horn which they sorted for free.

[IanS]

It's still better than the heartbreak of a hospitalisation (or worse) because of an accident caused by the suspension or brakes failing.

[Mountain Goat]

Choose a different model. Corsas tend to be a budget car. Yes I know budget is expensive when new.

I tried a little Vauxhall years ago and then a medium sized Volvo (The smallest model they did and they were in different worlds if one compares the driving experience ad quality of the things, though modern Volvos have lost their edge. Get a secondhand C30 which to me was the last decent Volvo, and you will have a car that is quality made and gives very little trouble. (Unfortunately Volvo was taken over a few times so parts which used to be cheap are now expensive, but they do normally last. New Volvos have all changed so I can't say they have anything attractive like they did in the past).
I have an old little Mitsubishi with a diesel engine and though it has needed a fair few new parts due to its age as the suspension rubbers etc needed changing etc, it has been amazing to be honest. Its lovely Mercades 4 cylinder diesel engine (The internet says 3 cylinder but they are not. The petrol versions are 3 cylinder as my brother has one), and the engine just chugs away with plenty of torque so what I have spent in parts I have saved in fuel.
The only downside is that with cars today they design them to last 25 years or more and yet if they reach 15 years old they stop producing the parts. Vauxhall stop producing replacement parts for anything over ten years old which tells you they don't expect them to last which is the worst thing to do for the enviroment as 82% of an internal combustion cars pollution is during its lifetime is during the manufacturing process, and electric cars are ten times more polluting to manufacture, so they don't care about the enviroment. They care about making and selling more cars.

That bill you have been charged is well in excess of what one would expect. Springs are £25 to £40 each on most cars and the ABS pump is going to be less then £250. Fitting springs is normally an easy job even if one has to remove the wipers and the mechanisms to reach the top of them to do it on smaller more crampt cars.
I would have expected the very most with a service to be around £650 for that. Are you sure they did not replace half the engine while doing it?

I must say these days, even if I had a good income so I had the money, I would keep off new or nearly new cars. Wait until they are about 6 years old or older (10 years is better) to get to know their common faults so you can avoid any issues. Even the best manufacturers don't always get it right and it takes time to sort the wheat from the chaff.

[Hound Dog]

You got off lightly - trying having a daughter with a horse and 7.5T horse box - then you will experience real bills !

[RAF96]

If you want expensive parts then go for a VAG car, Skoda, Audi, VW. Great cars but you do not want them to go wrong as parts are crazy prices, hence why I have taken out an extended warranty - all in maintenance plan. VAG are world leaders in duff software, way ahead of the notorious Citroen and Land Rover electronic problems.

[Mountain Goat]

If you want expensive parts then go for a VAG car, Skoda, Audi, VW. Great cars but you do not want them to go wrong as parts are crazy prices, hence why I have taken out an extended warranty - all in maintenance plan. VAG are world leaders in duff software, way ahead of the notorious Citroen and Land Rover electronic problems.

I have had two Audis. Mixed feelings. Ordinary everyday parts one can go to a VW/Audi specialist and they are the cheapest car parts I have ever purchased. Oil filter £2.39 etc. But anything to do with body work or lamps etc and it is main dealer only and they are stupidly expensive. Engine parts are a bit dear but they usually last. I part exchanged my last Audi rather then pay out bills for its next MOT solely because it was boring to drive. Lovely car.

[darkscot]

It's still better than the heartbreak of a hospitalisation (or worse) because of an accident caused by the suspension or brakes failing.

Very true!

[darkscot]

That bill you have been charged is well in excess of what one would expect. Springs are £25 to £40 each on most cars and the ABS pump is going to be less then £250. Fitting springs is normally an easy job even if one has to remove the wipers and the mechanisms to reach the top of them to do it on smaller more crampt cars.
I would have expected the very most with a service to be around £650 for that. Are you sure they did not replace half the engine while doing it?

Thankfully it is not me paying the bill, we have helped out a bit but it is her car and her responsibility. Thankfully she originally got it at a very good(?) price a few months ago as she bought it from a friend. I think most of the cost was down to labour charges. The springs cost about £30 each but labour was about £150 each. She was offered a rebuilt ABS pump for £250, but that would take 2-3 days to arrive which would then take it into the weekend and she needed the care ASAP. So she went for a new pump at about £450 plus about 5 hours labour.

[bulleidboy]

I drive a Volvo XC70 (2010) which I bought in 2016 as a low mileage (50k) and one lady owner. The most important thing to me was that it had a full service history. I try to drill into my sons that cars need maintaining regularly (annually), if not, the bills will mount up as all of a sudden there a number of things that require attention. I think running my car does work out cheaper than the model railway

[RAF96]

Full service history means different things to different makes.
...talking many years ago now...
Mate 1 had a Toyota Avensis and they would do all sorts of extra work when it was in for service f.o.c. Known problem Sir so we have carried out A, B, C.
Mate 2 had a Renault 11 TXLetc. Not a single problem in the five years he had it on extended warranty but the very next service he got slammed for a £1500 bill (lot of money in those days) because X, Y and Z had failed. Big question is when had they failed.
Me - always arguing with the Volvo dealer about if something was covered by warranty. One was bodywork rusted through on a 360 less than 3-years old - you didn’t specify the extra inner sill treatment Sir. Two was a failed starter motor within a year from new. You have done a lot of miles Sir so you must have worn it out - wrong - I had a long commute and the car got started twice a day, so the starter was barely used. Both cases had to be referred back to HQ before they sorted them for free.
I stick with main dealer servicing until the warranty period is out, although nowadays you can go independent if they use genuine parts.