France Nightmare Boxer Motorhome

[dave2951]

Whilst touring France last week my Peugeot Boxer 2.2 clutch broke ( I have the parts and confirmed this as correct) Now the best part is that at a small garage I was charged 1100 euro for the clutch and repair. Taking 3 days to do the job and 3 days for the parts to arrive. They charged 576 euro labour. I know I have been ripped off but does anybody have any estimates of French labour charges. The vehicle is a 2006 and had done 13,000 miles.

[toddy2]

hmm,sounds quite a lot for a small garage.
sounds like i should move to france and set one up!!

toddy

[theunderling]

Hi,

Phone your local Peugeot dealer and get a quote for what theyd charge.The French garage should have charged about 60% of what Peugeot quote.Each manufacturer has a guide on how much time something should take,and put it this way,Ive never seen a mechanic sweating LOL.

[dave2951]

Sorry should have mentioned I have contacted my Peugeot Dealer. They are cheaper on the price of the Clutch and fitting in total around 300 euro cheaper. What I am looking for is the average costs in France to show this Garage duped me.

[theunderling]

You have basically answered the question yourself.There is no way that a "small garage" should be charging higher prices than any main dealer,unless they are the only facility for 100's of miles etc,and are exploiting the fact.
A main dealer should have the most up to date information/tools and staff training,and that costs the dealership money,and they have to recoup that-hence higher prices than a "small garage" that hasnt paid for that-so they aint got that.
Was it a proper Peugeot clutch they fitted-or a half price Borg n Beck special-who knows.
I do think they have taken advantage of the fact that you were a tourist and hiked up the bill,but by how much Im afraid I dont know.So hopefully the new clutch will work perfectly and you can put it down to experience....

[dave2951]

The reason for me attempting to find out what they cost is that under my Breakdown Insurance I was taken to this garage when I was initialy told I would be taken to a Main Dealer. I informed my Insurance company that this was not a reputable Dealer but they still went ahead with arranging the repairs. As a resul;t of this I am attempting to hold them responsible for the extortionate bill, but i do note there policy states they will not be responsible for the quality of the repairs.

[theunderling]

OK,I thought you were pursuing something.But "someone" intervened and you ended up at a mickey mouse garage and have been ripped off.Surely another point is that there should be more chance of getting access to a Peugeot garage in France than in UK.Another load of crap is the parts taking 3 days to arrive.
The Insurance Company should be giving you back £200 at least.Price up a cheap clutch kit(I used to work in a motor factors and mercedes and fiat) and
get a fitting cost.

My estimation is the "job" should be about £600 max.

[dave2951]

Originally Posted by theunderling

OK,I thought you were pursuing something.But "someone" intervened and you ended up at a mickey mouse garage and have been ripped off.Surely another point is that there should be more chance of getting access to a Peugeot garage in France than in UK.Another load of crap is the parts taking 3 days to arrive.
The Insurance Company should be giving you back £200 at least.Price up a cheap clutch kit(I used to work in a motor factors and mercedes and fiat) and
get a fitting cost.

My estimation is the "job" should be about £600 max.

Thanks for that the interesting point is that I found a Peugeot Garage about 4 miles from the repair garage some days later.

[theunderling]

There is a guy on another forum(Antmatt from Parkers) that loves this sort of thing.He contacts garages on behalf of people when they botch up repairs etc.
You could join there and send him a PM,as I think he lives in France anyway.

This breakdown insurance company sound like a right bunch of tossers.How on earth you werent taken to the Peugeot garage is beyond me and makes your case even stronger.

[dave2951]

Thanks for that will have a look have sent a letter of complaint to my Insurance Breakdown and for that matter to Peugeot will just wait with bated breath for reply first.