Am I getting ripped off?

[Venatus 2]

e30 would not start, tried a few things, eventually gave up and got it towed to a mechanic.

330 dollars for them to find out that it was the ECU, they wanted 400 for a replacement one so I told them id sort one.

Now they reckon its gonna be another 60 bucks for them to put it in as well.

As far as I know, its a pretty easy job to swap the ECU out, shouldnt take more than 10-15 mins?

[Forrest 35]

ECU removal and refit for a E30 is easy as, takes all of what 5 minutes. Just DIY and spend $60 on the beers to celebrate when it's going sweet

[Venatus 2]

yeah thats what I thought, thanks for that.

Unfortunately I will have to do it there as they are withholding the car until I have paid them the full amount

[Forrest 35]

Full amount as in the 330? or the 400?

[Jamez 2147483647]

its an easy job, you need a 10mm socket to get the 4 screws out holding it in the its plug and play

you can get ecu's for about $50-100 aswell

[Venatus 2]

The 330 dollars that it took for them just to figure out what was wrong...so basically nothing to show for it.

the 400 was ON TOP of the 330, the 400 is what they wanted for the ECU itself...

The really gritting thing is that the ECU was what I was going to throw at it next in the hopes of fixing it but decided it might end up cheaper to go to a mechanic rather than endlessly throwing parts at it and discovering that it was a buggered wire...

So yeah, think Ill take my toolbox with me and just swap the ecu in their carpark myself, dont know how happy theyll be about that, and if they got it wrong and its not that, dont know if ill have a comeback on it.

Edited April 29, 2009 by Ven

[bravo 35]

I may be very very wrong, as I only have yor side, and can only make wide assumptions, but if the crowd are, infact, as incompetent as you make out, perhaps it isn't the ecu after all.

Unfortunately by the sounds of things, it is the only thing you can try.

[Venatus 2]

They couldnt figure out what it was after 3 hours, and had to call out "an auto electrician specialist" is what I was told on the phone, so Im guessing thats where at least half of the 300 went.

I very much hope that its the ECU after that much diagnosing.

[tire 10]

I guess this is where taking it to specialist bmw garage becomes a tempting option hey.

[jordyboy2 0]

Now they reckon its gonna be another 60 bucks for them to put it in as well.

Garages normally charge a rate per/hr i guess in this case $60, with a min charge of 1 hr, but if they still had the car there I wouldda thought they'd do it for no additional cost

[rjac001 0]

Yes thy are trying to rip u, tell them you want an invoice itemizing the cost, ie what things they claim to have checked before realizing it is the ECU. its going to be pretty hard to explain how the wasted say 5 hours @ $66 p/h to no avail then decided to call an auto electrician.

and just because they had to call in an auto electrician, that's not your problem they should cover the cost of that and not try to pass it on to you. unless they notified you and said we think it's and electrical problem and are going to let one have a look and charge it back to you, which I doubt the did.

When they list on the invoice the work done, tell them that 330$ is rediculas and you are only prepared to pay for 1 hour labor as such a simple fault should be obvious to a qualified mechanic.

if they try and get heavy handed and say they wont release the car,

then you can say you didnt authorize them to carry on working on the car you only wanted a quote of how much it would cost to fix as you were unsure of the problem, you didnt sign anything right?? and you didnt say "yea take as long as you like to find out whats wrong"

If that still dosnt work ask if they are member of MTA and you will be calling the Mediation Line Free Phone 0508 682 633 and laying an official complaint.

If not a member you could try fair go they love these kind of disputes

[bekker 7]

I bet you went to 'L Alexander' here in Wellington...

Wish I'd know about the MTA thing when I went to them!