How not to do Bangernomics

[M005]

The Disco was a bargain, is fairly solid and went through it's MOT with only a few advisories. Even the fact that the last 18" of exhaust was missing wasn't an issue.

The intention was that it was to be an 'as cheap as possible' offroader, which wouldn't cost much over a year or two.

All was going swimmingly, I have even been holding back from buying loads of accessories as I wanted to treat it as a pure toy, almost disposable.

It needed a few bits doing; boot door didn't lock, NSF window needed a new regulator and despite having comprehensive history, it hadn't been looked at in 18 months / 5k miles.

So my mistake was to ask my LR specialist who I've been doing business with for 10yrs, to give it a basic service, replace filters, check oils in diffs / gearboxes, sort out the door lock & window and tighten wheel bearings / replace anti roll bar bushes as advised by the MOT. Just the basics.

On picking it up he mentioned the all new exhaust system he'd fitted Aparently the other one was illegal.

So now I have a bill for 50% of the value of the vehicle

Shoudl have just done an engine oil & filter change myself and left the rest, as with 12 months MOT it would then have been 'free' motoring. But my problem is I like my vehicles to be 100% mechanically.

Lesson learnt

[Retroanaconda]

Reading it, sounds like he did the work without asking first?

I'd personally take issue with that...

[M005]

He certainly did the exhaust without asking, and at £120 +VAT it's a big part of the bill.

I should have know from mine & Bushman's past experiences, that he does things 100%, when sometimes you don't want 100%, so I should have explicitly told him not to do the exhaust.

I asked him to take it off when I went to pick it up and to put the old one back on, but was told the old one wouldn't go back on and it was illegal anyway. But if it was illegal, then it wouldn't have got it's MOT????

[Bowie69]

Even if it was illegal, it's not prerogative to fix it without asking.

As the old one won't go back on, pay the bill, minus labour and parts for the new exhaust, if he takes issue with that tell him 'see you in court' and walk away.

[Night Train]

Even my garage who knows that I will have everything done that needs doing will ask first, even if they have ordered the parts in advance to save time.

What if you had already booked it in somewhere else to have the exhaust done or had bought an expensive, SS large bore with twin stacks to fit yourself?

[smo]

Tell your garage to go swivel, they have no authority to do the work, their opinion is just that and doesnt give them the right to do work and charge for it without permission.

So, demand they swap them back, or assume its a gift and pay for the work you authorised and definately do not pay for the exhaust, or labour relating to it.

[Milemarker Type S]

As above- regardless of their opinion they cannot do the work without you first saying yes to it... I would suggest speaking to the manager and advising that you do not intend to pay for the exhaust or the fitting costs. If they then decide to remove the new one then they should return it to its original state- the mention of you intending to speak to trading standards if they do not resolve the matter fairly usually helps somewhat!

[errol209]

And the last 18" of exhaust missing isn't illegal, provided it doesn't make too much noise? You gassing yourself might have been, but they should have asked anyway - even Kwik-fit ring up to ask!

[GBMUD]

If it is who I think it is Mark, it goes to show my long held belief that he is a cnut. Tries to pass off **itpart rubbish as OE. The other one, a couple of miles closer to you Mark, sells Allmakes stuff at genuine prices - and has also lost my business as a result.

Chris

[simonr]

That's totally unacceptable. Whether the exhaust is illegal or not is none of his business.

I would not, and have in the past not accepted it. Remove it from the truck (and refit the old one) or remove it from the bill!

Si

[M005]

Chris: You are right, at a loss as to who else to use locally though, but will be doing the work myself from now on.

The rear box was missing from the exhaust, although it didn't sound any louder than it should and the MOT guy (old school mechanic & long time LR owner) said as it wasn't the silencer that was missing it was OK.

I told him I wanted a bare bones service and the few bits doings and made it explicitly clear it needed to be as cheap as possible. After all this, to find he had put the exhaust on without calling first was what annoyed me the most.

Lesson learnt from all this, but don't have the time to spend hours fettling the Disco, hence having to pay someone else to do it.

It's been getting a fair bit of use, more than I expected, but will have to make sure I get out & about and use it properly now it's costing me money.

[Lara]

I think 120 for a new exhaust and fitted is quite reasonable!

You say you like things to be perfect!

Fair enough he should have asked, but you haven't done badly out of it and he certainly hasn't ripped you off!

I say he was trying to do his job to a good standard that he knows you need.

Lara

[M005]

Lara; despite my moanings, I knew by taking it there he would go through it with a fine tooth comb and tell me everything that was wrong, because he does a 110% job. In the past with my LR's I have wanted a 110% job and have been more than happy with his work.

The fact that he didn't tell me anything over and above what I already new, i.e. confirmed that I had bought a good, solid vehicle with no hidden issues, was pleasing to hear.

Having said all that, as I've outlined above, I had intended for the Disco to be more of a bangernomics approach, rather than main vehicle reliability, but if it gives me a couple of years of trouble free offroading I don't suppose I can complain too much.

Interestingly enough, I've just seen a few pics of a side exit exhaust on a Disco, and they had removed the rear box and angles the pipe through the rear wing, this is effectivelyt he same as mine was, just without the extension.