Just returned to the UK following an aborted trip to Italy in my 2001 Passat 100PD. Got as far as Fayence, Var when overheating problems started. To cut a very long story short, I ended up paying for a new water pump, radiator and thermostat. No prizes, but I'd like to receive your guesses on:
A) How much it all cost. Euros, please.
B) How long the repair took.
Please bear in mind that I can speak no technical French, that the small town Renault garage (not main dealer) I ended up at works a 6 hour day at best with no overtime and can see a mug coming from 5 km away.
By the way, there are worse places to be stuck in than Provence...
Edited by Pugugly on 30/06/2008 at 15:08
|
Oh heck Porker ! ?1000 ?
I once a long time ago broke down in my Westfield in Avignon. Didn't cost anything. (Well except the previously purchased European breakdown cover ) They shipped my car home straight to our local garage and gave us a rental car to complete the holiday. The repair which defeated the French cost £8 in the end from our local indy.
|
Parts price first of all:
Radiator ?200
Water pump ?100
Thermostat ?30
Labour - five hours at ?80/hr - ?400
Total - ?730 +TVA + bits'n bobs - you paid ?890.
|
|
|
|
I ended up paying for a new water pump, radiator and thermostat.
So it's not just UK garages that fail to diagnose before replacing parts.....
|
I'll try for Euros 700 and one whole working day.
|
|
Sorry chaps, simply not good enough. Please try harder. Remember that whilst this is Provence, it's as close to the Cote d'Azur as dammit and that a cup of Liptons Tea here costs about 3.5 Euros. And it's crap tea at that. And you don't get milk unless you remember to ask for it. And you can't buy fresh milk anyway. Or change Travellers Cheques. And WiFi (pronounced "Wiffie") is as rare as shorts on runner beans which are themselves unknown. Just in case you're planning to go...
|
|
OK then - ?2000 and two weeks. Am I warm ?
|
Oh - THAT Fayence - I thought you meant the one near Bayeux!
|
I reckon those repairs would have cost around £800 in the UK at main dealer. Lets say around 1100 euros, but it sounds like you were ripped off so I'm going to double that.
My guess is:
2200 euros
and it took 3 working days.
Are we getting warmer?
|
|
|
|
You can but fresh milk in Carrefour - they even have simi- skimmed (demi-ecreme?)!
|
|
|
|
|
|
My guess, it cost you 2 bottles of Courvoisier and a French Kiss.
|
Correct, but that was a separately negotiated extra.
As you're all losing interest, and who can blame you, the correct answers are:
A) 1518.23 Euros
B) 8 working days.
Parts: Rad 249 E
Pump 89 E
Thermostat 34 E
"Kit Distribution" 269 E
Labour 541 E
Odds & Sods (Various liquids, timing belt etc) make up the rest.
TVA @ 19.6%
Plus, of course, 8 days cost of squalid hotels. Happy hols!
|
As far as I am aware, a 'kit distribution' is a cambelt with bits and pieces. Was that really necessary? Shame you didn't have a bit more technical French or access to a good dictionary or website source, maybe.
Sorry you found the hotels squalid - you must have been pretty unlucky.
I don't see you mention you had breakdown insurance - in my experience at least it would have got you to a dealer for your make of car, who would probably have had more idea of what the problem was, rather than just any garage. Hire car and hotel arrangements would probably have been sorted out as well.
It certainly seems a lesson to everyone not to venture abroad without it, doesn't it?
Better luck next time. :-)
|
|
look on the bright side its got to be better than say stuck in solihull or milton keynes for 8 days?
|
European breakdown cover is cheap...
|
Fortunately, I did have travel breakdown insurance, and they were very good throughout the ordeal. They provided a hire car for 7 days (not hotels; it was an either / or deal) and were helpful in prodding the garage to get the job done. However, once the assesment of the problem had been carried out and the engine stripped, it was too late to get the car moved to a VW agent.
Many thanks for your comments and interest everybody. With each passing rainy day here I am beginning to wish I was back in the land of raw meat and moules with chips.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 01/07/2008 at 14:43
|
|
|
|
|
Yes, I was a bit taken aback by the reference to squalid hotels too. In my experience hotels here are eight times as squalid and sixteen times as expensive as ones in France, and Basil Fawlty spits in your eye when you're paying the bill too.
|
Eight days!! I work in a Motor Factors, and everything is " I need it now", from the garages.
Was there a delay in getting the bits, or was it just the typical french attitude?
|
"Was there a delay in getting the bits, or was it just the typical french attitude?"
I'm not surprised by the 8 day wait. I'll bet it was because you needed VAG parts, which had to be ordered specially. If it had been a French car, chances are they'd have the bits the next day.
I had a Vectra broken into in Brest a few years ago; Autoglass needed a week to get a replacement side glass shipped in. The depot was lined floor-to-ceiling with every piece of glass for Citroen, Renault and Peugot you could ever need!
To their credit, they did everything they could to get us back on the road as quickly as they could, including working late on a Friday evening at no extra charge to fit the window. The fitters seemed to take it as a personal affront that anyone would damage the car of a visitor (as did the police, come to that).
|
BIL's Clio 182 had suspension failure last year near Mulhouse. In the middle of their summer holidays.
He'd a 5 day wait over the weekend for what would seem to be a much easier repair than the VW. Luckily they were insured but restricted in their travel itinerary until it was sorted.
|
The average French response to every request is 'huit jours' - ie, a week. They do respond to a 'coup de pied' (kick!) in the butt though.
Autoglass once got a genuine Honda windscreen for me overnight, after I shouted and stamped a bit...
|
|
You were lucky to find a garage that worked even six hours a day. By the time you've taken out the ludicrously long lunch-break, the working day is about four hours. Outside of the big cities the concept of work seems to be alien with much of the country suffering from terminal lethargy and a scant adherence to any kind of customer service. In my opinion of course...
|
|
|
"just the typical french attitude"
Maybe I've been lucky then. 30 years of either going through France or touring France and 3 breakdowns.
1. Renault 18, just stopped on hairpin in Alsace, towed by a passing fire engine to local garage, at 7pm and mechanic spent an hour or so "mending" it (something to do with oil in the carburettor) and I paid him with a couple of bottles of beer - kids got to play in fire engine for a couple of hours!.
2. Exhaust dropped off Xantia about 6 pm near Nantes (5/6 years ago)- found an exhaust place on an industrial estate, they were just closing but managed to get a new exhaust, it didn't fit but they cut it, welded it and fixed problem by 8 pm. No extra charge - wasn't cheap but no more than here - and they were all v. helpful - I even suggested that we should return next day but they insisted they fixed it there and then.
3. Clutch pedal on Xantia just went to floor (about 3 years ago) - couldn't get a part for it - (clutch connections different on RHD car compared to French car) - he fixed it with something or other. RAC paid for hire car for a couple of days, garage very helpful and charged us a nominal sum - a few quid.
Also had a break-in - someone actually pulled the front door top away from bodywork to get into car. Went to local Cit garage, mechanic came out, pushed and twisted door top back into place until it fitted perfectly again and wouldn't accept any payment, not even "20 euros for a few beers Monsieur". He apologised for this happening - "even in France we have some not very nice people"
Oh, and a van reversed into us in Rennes and pushed in the bumper and front foglight,. At the same time we had a leak in sunroof and the back footwell was full of water. Went to huge Cit dealer. Several mechanics attended us and fixed the probs. Went to desk to pay "Non, Monsieur - all part of the service". This on our 5 year old (at the time) Xantia.
As for grotty French hotels - yet to find one (and I've tried, generally even in the cheapest they are ten times better than equivalent British ones).
I really want to hate the Froggies - but I can't - invariably polite, helpful and very forgiving of my carp French speaking.
|
|
As a traveller to Frane - I find their hotels sub-standard also!
|
|
|
|
|
|
