FabSwingers.com forum: Ford

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Just been quoted £208 by ford to change a bonnet release cable, what's it made of, bloody gold!!!!!

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By *unky monkeyMan
over a year ago

in the night garden

I don't know but that would certainly explain the extortionate price!

It's mad that they would chose a precious metal for car parts though, but that's Ford for you. Cunts.

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By *edangel_2013Woman
over a year ago

southend

I was quoted £534 by Ford to change my rear view mirror, put a new door light sensor in and replace the air pipe near my exhaust manifold.

I went to the scrap yard got the new parts I needed for £5.60 and did it myself.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Why would you take it to a main dealer?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Just been quoted £208 by ford to change a bonnet release cable, what's it made of, bloody gold!!!!!

Sounds like they are ripping you off, most Fords don't even have a cable these days, what model is it?

Start by getting the price for the part, can you repair the cable by sliding a new inner through the old one and making the ends as appropriate? that could save a lot of work. Or is the charge £190 to open the bonnet £8 for the cable and £10 fitting?

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By *riskygazMan
over a year ago

birmingham

main dealers always give crazy prices, have a look your self it might be quite an easy job to do, or go to a local dealer and get a price of them for it.

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By *ichaelangelaCouple
over a year ago

notts

as a mechanic once told me.

if i charge you £100 to adjust a screw on your car, its only £1 to adjust the screw, but £99 for knowing which screw to adjust.

he didnt get the job

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Has the cable snapped with the bonnet closed? If it has, then the price is fair as it is a major job to get the bonnet open before the cable can be changed because manufacturers do not make it easy to open the bonnet without using the release handle for security reasons.

If the cable still works or has snapped with the bonnet still open then it sounds quite expensive.

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By *edangel_2013Woman
over a year ago

southend

"Why would you take it to a main dealer?"

Because when I took it to a local garage he wanted to charge me £704 for the same thing.

Think he saw female and just picked a figure out of thin air to be honest!!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Just been quoted £208 by ford to change a bonnet release cable, what's it made of, bloody gold!!!!!

High main dealer labour costs and also £42 is also VAT take a chunk out of that. Its not an item you need to be done by a main dealer to maintain any warranty so find a cheaper garage who can do it or alternately buy the part and fit it yourself.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It depends what model of ford it is and where the cable goes to in the vehicle,

If you think your being over priced, go & buy the part yourself & then try & fit it

It's not as easy as you think

Main dealers do have very high labour prices though to be fair

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Routing a bonnet release cable can be an utter pig and more time consuming than you might think. The part itself is quite cheap, you're mainly paying labour costs and a dash of VAT. Having said that it's not a £200+ job, the bonnet is surprisingly easy to open if you know what you're doing.

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By *inaTitzTV/TS
over a year ago

Titz Towers, North Notts

I'm glad I know a reliable honest chap. I took my jalopy to him, as I thought the clutch was going. He drove it up the street and back, told me there was nowt wrong with it and I could keep my money.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

As an old mechanic, I have changed a few bonnet release cables. Some are straight forward & relatively simple, some are complete arseholes to do. You mostly have to end up, upside down in the footwell, trying to feed the cable through a tight grommet in the bulkhead while going dizzy from the flow of blood to the head. I did my BMW bonnet cable 2 months ago. Now that was a complete pain. Why go to an extortionate main dealer, try smaller garages. But then, if people think its an easy job, you can always try doing it yourself & then call a mechanic when you get stuck & it all goes wrong.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I would not recommend a main dealer for those jobs with charges in excess of £100 per hour

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By *anxfrankMan
over a year ago

isle of man

You all know what ford stands for.

Fix or repair daily.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I would not recommend a main dealer for those jobs with charges in excess of £100 per hour"

£100 per hour where the do you live like ??????????????

A bit of exaggerating there like

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Routing a bonnet release cable can be an utter pig and more time consuming than you might think. The part itself is quite cheap, you're mainly paying labour costs and a dash of VAT. Having said that it's not a £200+ job, the bonnet is surprisingly easy to open if you know what you're doing."

Being in the trade myself for the past 20 years, & knowing quite a lot about this situation I'd barely say most are surprisingly easy to open !

I'd love to know which ones you think are !!!!!!!!!!!!!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I would not recommend a main dealer for those jobs with charges in excess of £100 per hour

£100 per hour where the do you live like ??????????????

A bit of exaggerating there like"
get a quote from a main dealer

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I would not recommend a main dealer for those jobs with charges in excess of £100 per hour

£100 per hour where the do you live like ??????????????

A bit of exaggerating there like"

A woman at work has a BMW, the flywheel went on it. Labour is £120 per hour

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By *atcherofmyballsMan
over a year ago

hereford

Fix Or Repair Daily.

Found On Road Dead

That's what Ford stands for

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I would not recommend a main dealer for those jobs with charges in excess of £100 per hour

£100 per hour where the do you live like ??????????????

A bit of exaggerating there likeget a quote from a main dealer "

I work at a main dealer

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Being in the trade myself for the past 20 years, & knowing quite a lot about this situation I'd barely say most are surprisingly easy to open !

I'd love to know which ones you think are !!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Vauxhall and Renault are ridiculously easy to open the bonnet. It takes less than two minutes and a flat screw driver.

BMW, Ford and Volvo are quite easy too.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I would not recommend a main dealer for those jobs with charges in excess of £100 per hour

£100 per hour where the do you live like ??????????????

A bit of exaggerating there likeget a quote from a main dealer

I work at a main dealer"
what are the labour rates?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Between £20- £25 per hour

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By *icketysplitsWoman
over a year ago

Way over Yonder, that's where I'm bound

Sometimes you just can't have it both ways.

Paying for labour where the price means the labourer gets a decent wage will add costs to jobs. If it's a main dealer then there is also the overheads of the whole operation.

Cost and price are not the same things which is why it's always good to shop around. Sometimes the local garage will be more expensive and sometimes they will be your better bet.

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By *ire_bladeMan
over a year ago

Manchester

"Fix Or Repair Daily.

Found On Road Dead

That's what Ford stands for

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Fix Or Repair Daily.

Found On Road Dead

That's what Ford stands for

Especially since they started using Peugeot engines....

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Fix Or Repair Daily.

Found On Road Dead

That's what Ford stands for

Especially since they started using Peugeot engines...."

full of rust"n"dirt

fooked on race day

just got quoted £16 + vat for a rear hubnut from ford for a puma.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Fix Or Repair Daily.

Found On Road Dead

That's what Ford stands for

Especially since they started using Peugeot engines....

full of rust"n"dirt

fooked on race day

just got quoted £16 + vat for a rear hubnut from ford for a puma. "

Try a local breakers, eBay or carparts4less.

Also avoid places like Halfords, they're often as expensive for stuff like that as a main stealer.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Vauxhall and Renault are ridiculously easy to open the bonnet. It takes less than two minutes and a flat screw driver.

BMW, Ford and Volvo are quite easy too."

(m) BMWs are known for being a complete pig to get open with the cable snapped & even more of a pig to replace the cable. Sometimes the drivers front wing has to come off to route the new cable if the fitter is unlucky. BMs have 2 catches, 1 either side. To get the bonnet open on a Beemer with no bonnet release, you have to take out the front grill & all the shrouding from in front of the fan & also take out the aircon radiator. You have to dismantle half the front of the car. I know.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Vauxhall and Renault are ridiculously easy to open the bonnet. It takes less than two minutes and a flat screw driver.

BMW, Ford and Volvo are quite easy too.

I've done a couple of beemers and they weren't that bad, just a case of removing the front grill and finding an appropriate tool to flick the latches open. Maybe I was lucky with the particular models that people asked for help with. 're-routing the new cable was an absolute pig of a job though.

I really don't fancy having to do it on my Alfa either, there's hardly even room to fill the washer bottle!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Vauxhall and Renault are ridiculously easy to open the bonnet. It takes less than two minutes and a flat screw driver.

BMW, Ford and Volvo are quite easy too.

I really don't fancy having to do it on my Alfa either, there's hardly even room to fill the washer bottle!"

Never done an Alpha before, don't know, sorry, can't help, but incase you get asked to do any more beemers, there is a good post on BimmerForums.com. Have a look, it's an interesting read & a comment from me at the end, from when I did mine, about a slight alteration to the cable sleeve to get through the inner box section easier.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?668742-xjeeper-s-Hood-latch-and-cable-replacement-DIY-%28the-easy-way%29

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Vauxhall and Renault are ridiculously easy to open the bonnet. It takes less than two minutes and a flat screw driver.

BMW, Ford and Volvo are quite easy too.

I really don't fancy having to do it on my Alfa either, there's hardly even room to fill the washer bottle!

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?668742-xjeeper-s-Hood-latch-and-cable-replacement-DIY-%28the-easy-way%29"

Thankfully my Alfa doesn't need doing. I've just done the headlight bulbs though and I can honestly say the bulbs on the GT are a million times easier than they are on a 156, I even still have skin on my knuckles!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Between £20- £25 per hour"
that is not ford main dealer rates

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"....I even still have skin on my knuckles!

That's not fair... Now I'm jealous... lol.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Between £20- £25 per hourthat is not ford main dealer rates"

Try adding another £60 p/h on to that plus the vat!

Unfortunately the majority of cost is in labour when having a specialist fit parts for you, some parts will only cost a fraction of the actual labour costs.

When you take into consideration the cost of paying the man to do it, the admin staff, the building bills, tooling and training, there isnt an awful lot of profit on the back end of it. And thats without the warranties etc attatched to paying a premium to have work done.

How much does a plumber/electrician charge to fit a £2 part?? Probably more than a main dealer!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Between £20- £25 per hourthat is not ford main dealer rates

Try adding another £60 p/h on to that plus the vat!

Unfortunately the majority of cost is in labour when having a specialist fit parts for you, some parts will only cost a fraction of the actual labour costs.

How much does a plumber/electrician charge to fit a £2 part?? Probably more than a main dealer!"

I had a specialist fit the timing belt on my car.My Alfa dealer wanted £900.for the belt, Tensioners, pulleys and water pump (with plastic impeller). I took it to a well respected independent Alfa specialist and they charged £350 for the same job using all Alfa genuine parts, except they fitted an updated water pump.

Moral of the story is AVOID main dealers at all costs and find yourself a good indi specialist.

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By *ophieslutTV/TS
over a year ago

Central

A lot of parts shops round here fit things for free. I gave up on ford as they were so expensive and designed in inconvenience for me as a customer. Soon you will have to remove the engines to change a tyre. There should be a limit on how many hours labour can be charged by garages depending on their staff levels. Any hours in excess of humanly possible by those people would be free to customers.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

All mechanical jobs have a time specified by the manufacturers, the main dealers (and many independants) work by this and can't charge any more. The difference in price is down to each garages own labour rates. Many main dealers now have fixed priced menus for servicing

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"All mechanical jobs have a time specified by the manufacturers, the main dealers (and many independants) work by this and can't charge any more. The difference in price is down to each garages own labour rates. Many main dealers now have fixed priced menus for servicing"

It's called Autodata and its crap. Renault wanted 2hrs labour to fit an EGR valve on my exes Megane. I removed, fixed and refitted the old one in 45 mins having never done it before....

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's called Autodata and its crap. Renault wanted 2hrs labour to fit an EGR valve on my exes Megane. I removed, fixed and refitted the old one in 45 mins having never done it before...."

There will be other factors involved to make up the 2hrs, possibly diagnostic, maybe a regen/reset. Also a lot of bigger jobs have set procedures that have to be followed, so just changing the egr valve may not have been the total job.

Some jobs can be physically done quicker than the book time, but there is a lot more that cant be done in the manufacturers book time. (Book times on jobs are set with the engine set up on a rig out of the vehicle, allowing very little time added to actually access the part you need to change)

Ive worked in a main dealer for years and have seen our allocated times chipped and chipped away over time, whilst we are being pushed to be more productive and efficient.

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By *amslam1000Man
over a year ago

willenhall

"You all know what ford stands for.

Fix or repair daily.

Fucking Orrible Rusty Dross

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's called Autodata and its crap. Renault wanted 2hrs labour to fit an EGR valve on my exes Megane. I removed, fixed and refitted the old one in 45 mins having never done it before....

Ive worked in a main dealer for years and have seen our allocated times chipped and chipped away over time, whilst we are being pushed to be more productive and efficient."

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

It's called Autodata and its crap. Renault wanted 2hrs labour to fit an EGR valve on my exes Megane. I removed, fixed and refitted the old one in 45 mins having never done it before....

Ive worked in a main dealer for years and have seen our allocated times chipped and chipped away over time, whilst we are being pushed to be more productive and efficient."

The EGR valve was the total job, it was clogged with soot, a few squirts of carb cleaner sorted it, diagnostics and fault code clearence took less than 2-minutes.

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