Mechanic costs?

[A54929292]

My car failed its MOT due to a smoking exhaust. A garage in the next town said they could clear out the exhaust and/or turn the DPS filter off and that would fix it.
They took it to their garage, did the work and it didn’t work. They said there’s something wrong with the engine and it would cost more than the car is worth to fix.
they want me to pay £700 for the work they did over a day and the car needs to be scrapped.

Is this fair?

What did they quote you for the work?? It seems a lot of money.

Oh and to add my car failed its mot on something silly - airbag light malfunction. Took it to a garage who took forever to even look at it and then a second garage failed it on huge amounts.... take it to an mot only centre not a garage and get a 2nd opinion! Don't let the current garage scrap it for you!

£70 for towing, £400 for removing the DPS which is done on a computer and two glow plugs plus labour

It depends on the work involved, and what they quoted you before they started the work.

Garages around here are £40-£50 an hour for labour. The main dealer is £120 per hour.

I needed a new EGR valve, the Vauxhall dealer quoted a minimum of £1200. A local garage did it for £500.

Always get 2-3 quotes from different garages before getting anything done.

Unfortunately if they did the work, they still need paying for it.

I am guessing it's a diesel if it has a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter]?

If so, the recirculating system can be a minefield of diagnostics which many mechanics don't understand (unfortunately and unbelievably). It depends on what is wrong with the DPF, and more importantly, what caused the issue. Many mechanics think that cleaning the DPF is sufficient and do not look for the root cause.

You are stuck a bit as you are dependent on the garage knowing what they are doing and charging you fairly. Since they have done something, they should be paid, however they have not fixed the fault.

I would ask for a breakdown of the work they have done, and the diagnostics they have undertaken, the conclusion they have come to and the reason for that conclusion.

At least then you will be in a better position to decide what to do.

How old is the car.

As PP above, I'm assuming it's the DPF. £400 for them to remove, clean and replace the DPF (assuming they've actually done it) doesn't sound too bad in isolation. The DPF filters diesel gases in the exhaust - if you do long journeys the engine heats it up and burns away all the crud, but if you only do short journeys it can get blocked and cause problems.

Unfortunately (again as PP above), many mechanics will just assume that the DPF being blocked is the issue and jump straight to that, when it could be any number of other things (sensors, belts, etc.).

A guy that I work with recently had an issue with his car losing power when driving and paid £450 for DPF cleaning that the garage recommended, when it was actually something wrong with the turbo - that a different garage diagnosed and charged him £600 for 😱

9 year old Toyota

Did you get a quote in advance for the work they did that day?

I think the problem with modern diesels is they have so much extra gubbins in them. Dual mass flywheels. DPF filters. Turbos.

DPF filters are really bad if you do lots of short runs can get clogged easily. Turbos will self destruct if they aren't oiled properly and wear because they run at high speeds.

It's a shame you spent the money on the DPF, but a 10 year old diesel is a minefield so I would probably be happy to get rid of it. If it wasn't this then it would probably be something else expensive going pop a couple of years down the line.

I had a cheap ford diesel and it served me well, cheap running costs, tax was £20 a year and the miles per gallon was great. But when you hit that wear point I think you really need to get rid.

Hopefully it will have been a cheap runner to date and you need to look at the costs in the context of that rather than the eol costs.

Are you aware removing the DPF is illegal and would be a MOT fail?

It sounds like they have decided the DPF was blocked and then cleaned it hoping that they were right. Do you know what diagnostics they did? Also what was the wording of the failure?

Usually best to let the garage that failed it fix it, or get them to service first then MOT that way any problems are picked up before the MOT and you can decide if it's worth fixing.

It’s much better to MOT first then service. No point paying for a service only to then find it’s beyond economic repair after an MOT.