Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: Squealey on 13 February 2010, 09:56:22

Title: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Squealey on 13 February 2010, 09:56:22
Took the lads Ka for an MOT yesterday, it ran out in November but he hasn't had the money (or the inclination, no license!) to get it sorted and I refused to waste more money that I don't have sorting it out for him.

Well with my Elite off the road till I can lay my hands on a cam locking kit, we had to have a second car.

I searched around for a cheaper MOT as my usual garage charges full whack (£54). Found a Ford dealer in Spalding doing MOT's on Fords for £25. Booked it in, with just a little trepidation, would they fail it miserably to get me to have the work done and make their money back etc etc etc.

Took it in, sat in a posh showroom with as much tea/coffee as I could manage and all the days papers, had a look at the new Fiesta (bloody nice im sorry to say) then braced myself for the worse. Of course it failled, I kinda expected it tbh, but ONLY on a front coil spring that was snapped, it would have failed anywhere on that.

Said to the fella whats the retest procedure, he said bring it back within 10 days and its free, that would have been £27 in my usual garage.

Went home, got a coil spring (£38, I detest having to pay retail being an ex mechanic), fitted it (without compressors, that was fun) and had it back there by four o'clock. Now have a fully MOT'ed car for the total price of £63, Bargain!!!!! (Would have worked out at £115 if I had gone the usual route)

Cannot recommend this garage highly enough, even though its the enemy ;D ;D ;D I'd get strung up if this was Australia ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: tunnie on 13 February 2010, 09:59:14
there are some good main dealers out there, they have good prices too.  :)
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Squealey on 13 February 2010, 10:00:49
Just wanted to say actually, although the Fiesta did seem like a nice motor, it retailed at over £17,000. Its a flipping Fiesta for breaks sake, it didn't even have leather and sat nav!!!!!

There was a Focus next to it, a 2.0 Titanium, that retailed at a mind boggling £22,500.

I know noone pays full retail for a Ford but isn't that just a bit excessive!!!!!!
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: TheBoy on 13 February 2010, 10:09:53
Regular members will know I'm not a fan of Fords (I tend to crash them ::)), but their dealer network does appear to be much more customer friendly than that offered by Vauxhall.  I know a fair few Vauxhall fans (Luton mob, so thats all they would normally consider) who have moved over to Ford due to better service from dealers.


I've always liked recent Fiestas.
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: tunnie on 13 February 2010, 10:19:06
on the subject of new motors, mother tuns took her Almera in to get the codes read on the ABS sensor (its feked)

She was chatted up by a bloke offering her goverment scrappage and pointed her towards the Nissan Note (we need a sick face smiley!)

£12,500  :o :o

Quick look on Autotrader gets a 2005 Range Rover Vogue with 60k miles for that kinda money, and with her milage barely getting into 3 figures a month, running costs won't be that big a deal.

Hummm Nissan Note or Range Rover  :-/  ;D
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Squealey on 13 February 2010, 10:23:37
My old man only paid £13,000 for his 56 plate Lexus RX350, for the price of that Fiesta he could have brought a RX400 Hybrid on a 57/08 plate and 25,000 miles, and he would have been let off the CC in London!!!!
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Kevin Wood on 13 February 2010, 10:29:08

I find Ford main dealers much more helpful than the VX dealers I have used. The number of times I have answered the "do you have your reg. no, sir?" with "it's a kit car". They will still dig through their TIS until they find the obscure Cortina part I'm looking for. VX can't normally be bothered to find parts off a 2002 car with all the details.

Kevin
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Squealey on 13 February 2010, 10:42:13
Quote
I find Ford main dealers much more helpful than the VX dealers I have used. The number of times I have answered the "do you have your reg. no, sir?" with "it's a kit car". They will still dig through their TIS until they find the obscure Cortina part I'm looking for. VX can't normally be bothered to find parts off a 2002 car with all the details.

Kevin

I had exactly that experience with my local dealer a couple of weeks ago, wouldn 't get me a thermostat for my Omega, thank god for Andy on here!!!!!
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Psychoca on 13 February 2010, 15:29:14
Vauxhall main dealers are shocking on their parts side, in my experience anyway.  The stealing tossers took £1.50 off me for a frigging 1mm ball bearing for my door lock (when the lock failed), if I had realised they wanted that money for it, I would have gone elsewhere for the sundries...

The last thing I tried to get was the Crankshaft senesor for my tractor, they told me there were only 3 in Europe, all strangely in Spain...
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Lazydocker on 13 February 2010, 18:01:05
Quote
Vauxhall main dealers are shocking on their parts side, in my experience anyway.  The stealing tossers took £1.50 off me for a frigging 1mm ball bearing for my door lock (when the lock failed), if I had realised they wanted that money for it, I would have gone elsewhere for the sundries...

The last thing I tried to get was the Crankshaft senesor for my tractor, they told me there were only 3 in Europe, all strangely in Spain...

Probably in Varche's garage ::) ::) ::)
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Shackeng on 14 February 2010, 11:31:10
Quote
Vauxhall main dealers are shocking on their parts side, in my experience anyway.  The stealing tossers took £1.50 off me for a frigging 1mm ball bearing for my door lock (when the lock failed), if I had realised they wanted that money for it, I would have gone elsewhere for the sundries...

The last thing I tried to get was the Crankshaft senesor for my tractor, they told me there were only 3 in Europe, all strangely in Spain...

One thing I am fortunate for, is I have a good personal relationship (No not that kind!) with the Stores guy at my Stealers, and he has always gone the extra mile to help out. :y

Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: Del Boy on 14 February 2010, 11:38:10
Quote
on the subject of new motors, mother tuns took her Almera in to get the codes read on the ABS sensor (its feked)

She was chatted up by a bloke offering her goverment scrappage and pointed her towards the Nissan Note (we need a sick face smiley!)

£12,500  :o :o

Quick look on Autotrader gets a 2005 Range Rover Vogue with 60k miles for that kinda money, and with her milage barely getting into 3 figures a month, running costs won't be that big a deal.

Hummm Nissan Note or Range Rover  :-/  ;D
If you've found an 05 Vouge with that mileage tell me where it is and I'll buy it  :o
Title: Re: At Last, Some Good Luck!!!!
Post by: tunnie on 14 February 2010, 11:52:41
Quote
Quote
on the subject of new motors, mother tuns took her Almera in to get the codes read on the ABS sensor (its feked)

She was chatted up by a bloke offering her goverment scrappage and pointed her towards the Nissan Note (we need a sick face smiley!)

£12,500  :o :o

Quick look on Autotrader gets a 2005 Range Rover Vogue with 60k miles for that kinda money, and with her milage barely getting into 3 figures a month, running costs won't be that big a deal.

Hummm Nissan Note or Range Rover  :-/  ;D
If you've found an 05 Vouge with that mileage tell me where it is and I'll buy it  :o

One i saw ealier is not there any more, but its close:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201006352218417/sort/priceasc/usedcars/fuel-type/petrol/price-from/11000/maximum-mileage/up_to_80000_miles/model/range_rover/make/land_rover/page/1/radius/1501/postcode/tw89de/keywords/vogue?previous=%2Fsearch%2Fused%2Fcars%2Fland_rover%2Frange_rover%2Fpostcode%2Ftw89de%2Fradius%2F1501%2Fkeywords%2Fvogue%2Ffuel-type%2Fpetrol%2Fprice-from%2F11000%2Fmaximum-mileage%2Fup_to_80000_miles%2Fpage%2F1%2Fsort%2Fpriceasc&logcode=p