Dealer Stuff

My 2005 Defender has just had it's last dealer service. Not just because of the cost, but because of this

When my wife picked it up, and herself off the floor when she saw the bill the service manger said that next time in we would need new brake pads and new rear disks. Fair enough, consumable part 63k on the clock, no prob.

'You will also need new callipers' said he

When she got home and told me about this I rang the dealer and asked why on earth a 5-year old Defender would need new brake callipers?

'Well Sir, the faces of the pistons are rusty and we my not be able to push them back into the calliper body' said the service manager

'Yes but the rusty bit is not part of the piston that is inside the bore and as the calliper is counter-bored and that bit is in front of the hydraulic seal it doesn't matter' said I

'Well it's a standard procedure now sir we offer it as an exchange service with Land Rover' said dealer

Well they have just lost a customer, sales must be down so they are making up on services.

Looking for a good independent dealer in the West Wilts area, any ideas?

you may find excess piston corrosion may fail mot......easy to clean up and present nice.....

Unless the MOT technician takes the pads out he likely wont even see the pistons - especially if you have new pads fitted. Its a working car and not a museum piece so some bits are going to carry surface corrosion.
Sounds like a money making thing to me and why do they want the old callipers as exchange? Maybe they clean them up and sell them all over again to unsuspecting owners with too much money to care?
Find a decent independent garage or do your own servicing.

Its a scam!
Our local beemer dealer tells all customers "new disks required" at 60k miles. They dont check the old ones. Its known as "add-ons" and earns them bonuses. They rely on the likelyhood that peeps that dealer service dont know one end of a spanner from the other .

It's normal dealer tactics to part the unwary from their cash. They are working on the assumption that you don't have a clue and will always use some safety critical part of the car like brakes or steering often with the implication that you and your family will all be killed if you don't hand over a few hundred quid more. It's fraud and bloody robbery.

Name and shame Matt, mines due for a service and MOT next month....

burrito said:

Name and shame Matt, mines due for a service and MOT next month....

Click to expand...

oooooooooooh

a friend rang me up. she needed a new wheel bearing. the guy quoted £150 to do it and said while it is apart he should do the other side as it all has to come apart anyway. £300 for the lot.

strange that as it is on an astra fornt suspension where the axles are entirely independant! he was basically trying to trick her into coughing up another £150. that was a vauxhall dealler.

my vw dealer charged me £15 to top up my washer jet fluid. i actually poored it in abottle and gave it back to him!