To think that the garage are at fault? Anyone know anything?

[Biggadyboo]

Just had campervan M.O.T. ed and serviced before leaving for holiday today. £500 service plus parts and labour, £1300 bill.

within 10 minutes of driving today the van started making a loud thumping noise and a loud squeak.

called AA who said that the brake pads were well worn and had glazed over and that the hand brake was too tight and that this was causing the noise.

am I being unreasonable to think that the £500 should have included this?

I’m abiT of a novice about mechanics, what should a £500 service include?

lost a days holiday and the AA guy is reccomending that we need to put the van in the have the brakes stripped down and brake pads replaced

anyone know anything?

Is it habitation as well?

Is it a main dealer?

Are you in London?

Google says £200-400 and I looked on a few garage websites and they’re all sitting between £200 and £400.
Looks like you might be using rogues. Unless your van is a massive American style RV or something.

Not a massive amount of miles.

no habitation check.

as much as I hate to admit it, I leave it to my husband to arrange it so I don’t know what it includes. but I know it’s not a habitation check

as far as my husband is concerned it was a annual service to keep van in good nick. .

You need to pay for brake pads separately to the service and mot but I am very surprised the mot and service didn't pick it as it's been picked by on my car when I had a service and mot. Brake pads aren't cheap sadly!

Then unless central London - which seems to have its own pricing - then it is very expensive, I would be interested in what they have changed to justify that price and how it is the same price every year.
Sprinters have intervals, so depending on mileage will depend on what needs doing so not possible to be £500 every year.

This should have been picked up and you should have been made aware. They wouldn't have tightened your handbrake if they haven't put it on the invoice which means it was completely missed.

If you have pumped water and sanitation you should have a habitation check as well.

If it helps for context, I get a basic service every year here in the UK for my little Mazda 2 and it costs £150. Also ipamingst other things it includes a visual brake pads check so I imagine it would have been similar for most other places. I would check your paperwork to confirm what was included and if as I imagine brakes should have been definitely bring it to their attention and get some sort of compensation. It’s dangerous above anything else not to properly maintain vehicles.

Not London or anywhere particularly expensive

habitation check done separately

just a local garage.

£500 a year just for service

Yes, we all know you need to pay for any parts the MoT picks up as needing replaced. The point here isn’t the cost of brake pads, it’s the fact that they weren’t even picked up during the MoT. That van should have failed its MoT and the OP would have been told the cost of new brakes. She wasn’t because they didn’t check them. They didn’t do the MoT; just ticked the boxes.

A service is the same price. The price for the service is the price for the service. It will be the same every year unless prices go up. You then pay for any parts separately. OP isn’t talking about the cost of any replacement parts needed, she is talking about the charge for the service which will be the same every time.

You’re stating that merely on the say so of an AA patrol who notoriously mis-diagnose issues. If the pads were severely worn they’d have been picked up as part of the visual MOT check and then again at the service. You can bet your bottom dollar that any garage is going to recommend any additional work they can find for the extra ££.

It won’t always be the same if it’s like a car - I don’t know much about servicing them but I can speak about cars where the service won’t be the same cost every year
as an example for one I quoted last week
minor service - about £450
major service - about £590
one where the brake hoses are changed - around £780

then you’ve got cars which have a cambelt etc

No it isn't.

A car doesn't need a full service every year, unless it is doing excessive mileage. All brands have service intervals but on average it is two small services for every full.

So in general (brand specific) a small service would be Oil and Pollen/cabin filter.

A full would be Oil, Pollen, Air and Fuel filter.

Often a small service doesn't include removal of the wheels, but it would include looking at the condition of the brakes.

So the price is different depending on what service is required.

If it is £500 not including filters then they have been ripped off. I think they have been ripped off anyway.

My garage charged me £300 for annual service recently- oil change, filters & brake pads checked and labour. That’s on a transit van. Worked out by the volume of oil needed. My mechanic also always tells me about work that’s coming up- they check the brakes and suspension and stuff like that while it’s in for its MOT and service. I would certainly be going back to your garage rather pissed off to be honest! It doesn’t sound like they’ve done much at all for £500.

So for a £500 yearly service should the garage have

• cleaned and stripped the brakes ?
• advised that the brakes needed to be stripped and cleaned?
• advised that the brake pads were worn?

The van was not making a noise before it went into garage. Now it is banging and squeaking and AA man says brake pads worn and handbrake overtightened. Should that be the case?

My garage always checks the brakes on a service, even a small service - your garage is either incompetent or ripping you off big time.

As I said, the brakes pads would have been fine. The hand brake is checked for the mot. If it was a bit loose they have tightened it, but made a mistake by over tightening which has then caused the brakes to be stuck on while you are driving. This has made them too hot and that has caused the damage. Take it back to the garage and they should remedy it as its their mistake.

Thank you! So what I say to the garage?

pretty pissed off we’ve missed a days holiday :-(

You can not know this to be correct

The van didn't fail it's MOT on the handbrake, therefore it is unlikely they would have tightened it. If it had failed on the handbrake they would have said so and charged more. Go in with this and they will say the OP could have pulled the handbrake on tight and forgotten to let it off.

I'm not sticking up for the garage - the prices speak for themselves but you can't go in with this, speak to them, but I would get a second opinion at another garage- see if you can get any recommendations from friends.

Minor service wouldn't include brakes or handbrake. In fact I don't think I've ever had them done as part of a service, although I've never had more than an oil, filters and spark plugs change, costs about £120 with MOT included.

I would expect them to tell me when consumables like the brake pads and discs need replacing though, as brakes are tested as part of the MOT.

Gah!

we’ve used this garage for a few years because a different one we felt were dishonest and disinterested

just can’t seem to find anyone who is trustworthy. We don’t know that much about mechanics, so are vulnerable I guess

pretty fed up that we did the right thing and paid to get the van serviced before holiday and because of that we can’t go. As I said, there was no squeak or bang atall before the van went in garage

DH just told me that they actually charged us an extra £155 for tightening handbrake as it was loose

Not cleaned and stripped but brakes should have been checked visually
give me two seconds and I’ll see if I can find the list of what was done on my car…. He did the handbrake free

Before anybody gets too wound up. Do appreciate that the oil alone for a sprinter van will be around £150 retail from a garage. Be around 7.5l if I remember correctly and working the figure at circa £20 a litre.

The going rate for work will be based on it being a commercial vehicle. So does require heavier tools as well as to go on a heavier ramp.

That said, I'd say they have done a botch job on the brakes to pass the test. Then charges a ridiculous fee for the work. Adjusted the cables up, rather than freeing off or replacing the mechanism that brings the handbrake on. Depending on year, probably a brake drum serves the handbrake.

So they (over) tightened it and you can see this on the invoice- does that make it easier for you to go back and say look, you have f*cked up and lost us a day’s leave each and costs of aborted travel, you need to make good for free and now, not next week?

Or not?

Here, full service and mot. With a very reliable and honest garage (I work for a dealership so I am fussy!)