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Car repair costs have certainly gone up

RobH

RobH

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The clutch on my 70 plate Kia Picanto started slipping to the point it needs replacing.
Admittedly it’s done some 68,000 miles so I’m not surprised.

However I was surprised when I popped into my local Halfords auto centre and got a quote of £711.54 supplied and fitted 😵

Gone are the days when I’d do this job myself for the cost of the parts unfortunately but £711.
Labour no doubt makes up 2/3 of that price, even the back street mechanics are asking £60 an hour.

I did some shopping around and found a local clutch specialist who quoted £445 all in, still not cheap but I can live with that.
 
We have the same problem here and it's probably due to a massive increase in overheads because of all the equipment needed to deal with the complexities of modern cars. We were in the Renault garage last week and the tool trollies have big screen laptops sitting on top of them. In my day it was oily rags, a torch and a mug of tea.
 
Yup, back in the day when I could get underneath a car to work on it, the price of a clutch (parts) was typically under thirty quid.

The old Ford Cortinas and Escorts, etc., were easy. . Just took the engine out. . It took about 20 minutes to have the engine out and it was a lot less fiddly than removing the gearbox.

Vauxhall Astras were even quicker..... could have the clutch replaced in less than half an hour.

But the price of a clutch job nowadays (in a workshop) is eye-watering. :eek:
 
Wing Commander said:
Yup, back in the day when I could get underneath a car to work on it, the price of a clutch (parts) was typically under thirty quid.

The old Ford Cortinas and Escorts, etc., were easy. . Just took the engine out. . It took about 20 minutes to have the engine out and it was a lot less fiddly than removing the gearbox.

Vauxhall Astras were even quicker..... could have the clutch replaced in less than half an hour.

But the price of a clutch job nowadays (in a workshop) is eye-watering. :eek:
Click to expand...

Yep good old Astra’s, remove the acess plate, pull the spline out and you’re in!
 
Halfords are good but they do come at a premium. I followed a lass I work with into the office car park noticing that she had a brake light out on her Ford Fiesta. Couple of days later I asked her if she had got it replaced and she said Halfords had quoted her twenty five quid fitted and that she was going at the weekend. Told her not to bother. Ordered a replacement on Amazon prime for three quid and fitted it for her the following day.
 
We've got a great garage near work. I regularly send people there as they’re great. The bet story I have was of a female member of staff who asked me if I could have a look at her. At as it was juddering and making a strange noise. I went for a drive with her and something clearly wasn’t right so we popped the bonnet and I got her to just engage first gear with the brakes on and sure enough the whole engine was moving in the engine bay.

I assumed it was going to be an expensive repair with new engine mounts or something but anyway I got her to run it up to the garage and she walked back to work. Garage called her later that afternoon to say it was all done.

An exhaust clamp or bracket had broken which was enough to let it twist on tye engine mounts under load. I was surprised it could do that but they replaced it and it fixed the problem. They also noticed that one of her headlights was out so they changed the bulb… They didn’t charge her a penny and she had the car back in just a few hours.

Proper service and understandably she was very happy and relieved to have got the problem sorted and not been fleeced by some bloke in a dodgy garage!
 
I've been using the same garage for 30 years or so.
I bumped into a Renault SUV some while back, broke her rear bumper shroud.
I spoke to my garage and they ordered a new part, she called in and they changed it for while she waited.
No charge, except for parts of course. Brill ;)
 
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Wing Commander said:
Yup, back in the day when I could get underneath a car to work on it, the price of a clutch (parts) was typically under thirty quid.

The old Ford Cortinas and Escorts, etc., were easy. . Just took the engine out. . It took about 20 minutes to have the engine out and it was a lot less fiddly than removing the gearbox.

Vauxhall Astras were even quicker..... could have the clutch replaced in less than half an hour.

But the price of a clutch job nowadays (in a workshop) is eye-watering. :eek:
Click to expand...
I used to remove the gearbox on my escort, jack up on axle stands, feet on engine and pull gear box onto my legs and wiggle it out. Always forget one bolt though.
I paid around 500 for a clutch in a fiesta recently.
 
Adopt a Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen voice

Aye, we ad it tuff. we used to lead orse t' farrier have shoes taken off, hooves filed and new shoes fitted and still have change from 2/6d
Clutches? Pah
Tell the youngsters of today that and they won't believe you.
 
Car repair costs have certainly increased over the years, largely due to rising labour rates, advanced vehicle technology, and the higher price of quality parts. Modern cars are more complex, which often means even minor issues require specialised diagnostics and skilled technicians, leading to higher overall expenses. In many cases, delaying maintenance can make problems worse and significantly increase the final bill. That’s why timely servicing and proper inspections are so important to avoid major breakdowns. Investing in professional car engine repair at the right time can actually save money in the long run by preventing more serious and costly damage.
 
JaKnJo said:
Years ago myself and my workmate Chris would replace a clutch in our lunch break!
A VW Beetle could be done in 30 mins easy :)
Click to expand...
Beetle clutches were so cheap that I always sprung the extra quid for a Fichtel and Sachs clutch... found the mandrel I made up the other day.... won't be doing that again....
 
Some of the main reasons it's more expensive to change a clutch these days include:
How the vehicles are put together / packaged. You probably need to disassemble / disconnect / remove a lot more stuff to change a clutch now than on old cars.
Modern cars might have a dual mass flywheel, hydraulic activated (instead of cable activated) release system.
The time it takes to change a clutch on a modern car means that while you're doing it you might as well change some of those other components (flywheel, slave cylinder) because if you have to change those components in future you'll have to put all those hours in again... The more the labour costs to take it to bits the more worthwhile it is to change other bits while you've got it in bits.
 
A lot of valid points already mentioned. But some of the most significant ones have have not been.
Most modern vehicles are mostly front or all wheel drive and require the removal of a subframe for clutch replacement. In most cases this also supports some of the engine and gearbox weight, as well as steering rack and suspension components. Which adds a large amount of extra time to the job.
Then the increases in rents and rates, and also labour for good techs, all mounts up.
So the modern workshop is a very different place to one we knew years ago.
 
chimp said:
A lot of valid points already mentioned. But some of the most significant ones have have not been.
Most modern vehicles are mostly front or all wheel drive and require the removal of a subframe for clutch replacement. In most cases this also supports some of the engine and gearbox weight, as well as steering rack and suspension components. Which adds a large amount of extra time to the job.
Then the increases in rents and rates, and also labour for good techs, all mounts up.
So the modern workshop is a very different place to one we knew years ago.
Click to expand...
I did mention some of it due to how the vehicles are put together / packaged, a generalisation but one which covers removal of subframes, supporting the weight of components such as the engine, etc.

You can't even change a fanbelt on most front wheel drive stuff without first removing an engine mount.
 
I blame poor design. They have had 130 years to make things simple. In electronics, self test at the assembly stage is often a given because the cost of testing is 10x more than a self test. With AI and modern electronics. I would expect the techy to have been obsoleted thirty years ago.
 
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