Rover75 banned!
 

Unusually and only because of time restraints I asked a we'll known chain whose fitters can't get better to replace a corroded front brake pipe. I was told " Rover 75? We don't do those!"

Potentially too much trouble for the cost of the job. The last brake pipe I fitted to a 75/ZT when loosening the pipe the flexi ferrule corroded away to nothing which also needed replaced. Passenger side is nice and easy but the drivers side is a bit of a faff depending on what engine is fitted. Easier money doing a service etc

Yes this is quite common as the cost to do the job is often a lot more than the customer expects and is just easier to say no, a mate who has his own workshop had to replace a number plate on an Audi recently, the bulb was pence but it took him over an hour by the time he had removed the corroded screws and cleaned up the contacts. Total bill was nearly £60 and the owner had a fit.

As has been said brake pipes are often a lot of work, you only need a broken bleed nipple and you need to remove a few rusted parts and it could easily be a few £hundred. I was asked to do the rear brake pipes on a 1998 3 Series BMW, rear axle, fuel tank and exhaust out and I new it was all going to be rusted solid. A garage had quoted her about £1500 + the VAT :eek:, I was suddenly very busy for several weeks and let someone else have the hassle.

You can see why old stuff gets scrapped for what on the surface appears to be a small job.

You have to ask yourself why any mechanic would want to touch someone else's 15+ year old car given that nuts/bolts may be seized and if something breaks a lot of people would blame the mechanic then expect them to sort at their cost.

The way to get a garage to work on an older car is to build a long-term relationship with them and to make sure it's clear from the start that if they undertake any work which carries a risk of the job expanding or parts breaking it will be at your (i.e. customer's) risk.

This is the basis on which I have worked with my local independent for the past 25ish years. The one time that the mechanic managed to break something accidentally - a lug on the CIM on our Corsa - he phoned to let me know and just said we broke it so we'll pay for a new one from Vauxhall including the coding to the car. It cost them over £400.

Last year he phoned to say that he has cross-threaded a bolt on my Omega and will pay for a new one from Vauxhall. I had to tell him that I had done it earlier so he needn't worry about it. They know that I am fussy about the manufacturer of parts, oil type etc. and fit parts supplied by myself without question or concern. We have established a working relationship where there is 100% trust in both directions.

A variation of this is that my long term indy had a change of staff (the boss was off with cancer for a long time) and the new regime wouldn't fit customer supplied parts (and nor could they source them). Had loads done before.

Needless to say I moved garages and fortunately landed on my feet as the new one seems excellent, even suggested yhat I source the parts for a recent suspension rebuild as I probably knew the sources better.

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The problem with customer supplied parts is that the garage has no idea of quality and so can’t warrant their work. If the garage supplies and fits the parts the full warranty is with them, supplied parts carry no warranty whatsoever including labour as how do you decide what’s wrong the part or fitting? It’s a nightmare most garages just don’t want. Not everybody buys from respected parts suppliers and most opt for the absolute cheapest part on eBay. Imagine a garage fitting a £12 water pump on a V6 that the customer had supplied.

Churchside at Hessle did mine without a murmur:shrug:

The perfect time...
 

I bought this today from Lidl, it was about £6 and is a useful bit of kit to have around if you want to make brake pipes etc...

Agreed, I take it as read I have the labour charge risk if parts fail (and the parts suppliers to deal with). But what's the alternative?

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My local garage will not fit customers parts. 99% are bought blind of ebay some are of questionable quality and are counterfeit. If the chap takes out the gearbox and finds the clutch is the wrong one supplied he has a ramp out of action for days waiting for the new part to arrive. Plus the aggro of these parts failing within weeks and the argument of who is to blame.
Many garages we used to use no longer exist or have changed making owning older cars a nightmare looking for someone who is willing to take on the jobs that can become a nightmare. There are plenty of people on here who are mechanically minded who do wonders with their cars but I am not one lol!:bowdown: