Yaris repair

[mon77]

Hi, 

I need your help please. I 've got my yaris repaired but when I finally got the detailed price list it seems that they try to rip me off.

It's T3 D-4D 5 door Hatchback Diesel 2004

ENGINE REPAIR/SKIMMED  £160

GLOW PLUGS £53

GASKET PARTS £88

THEREMOSTAT £16

ANTIFREEZE £10

WATERPUMP £39

LABOUR £300 (no info how many hours, but car was left there for 3 days) AND LATER INJECTOR SEALS £18 WITH LAB £40! £704! Please let me know I'm student on low income I don't have extra to spend. Thx

[mickburkesnr]

What exactly happened to the car for it to need repairing? And where did you get it fixed? Was it a Toyota dealer or an independent mechanic?

From the parts listed, it doesn't look too expensive. A Waterpump will cost about that depending on the car etc for example. Labour, if Gasket parts are mentioned then I would guess you had a head gasket changed, which is a fairly labour intensive job so would be expensive. But this all depends on where you got it fixed.

[mon77]

Thanks for your response.

It was an independent mechanic in Preston.

The car had head gasket checked and fixed. Was loosing water and overheats problem. Also the glow plugs were stuck and one was broken.

What about the labour for fuel injector seals? I've heard that it's 5 min job. 

[mickburkesnr]

Personally I think you were charged a going rate. If you had a leaky head gasket that would be letting water in to parts of the engine it shouldn't be in which creates a load of muck and crap that needs to be cleaned or scraped off. And you take apart a lot of the core components of the engine to sort the problem out as well.

I'm not sure about the fuel injector seals on your car specifically. You may have been told it's a "5 min job" but you have to have a degree of competence about you to do it, otherwise you risk breaking the system. I would say the garage have a fixed unit of pricing and they don't do it pro-rata.

In the future though you should agree the price upfront, get a few quotes together from different places to compare and contrast those charges. 

[TimothyB]

Thats cheap for all that. My last car was a mini cooper 09 plate, 1 water pump + every gasket except the head cost me £1100

And it had 4 water pumps over 7 years. Luckily the last 2 were courtesy of mini.

think yourself lucky you've got a toyota