rupertbound
Members
Background: Bought 2007 Tourer 2.2 CTDi several years ago, on the strong advice of a friend who is a massive Honda fan. Purchase cost high, compared to my past motors, but we factored in the reliability record would mean low maintenance costs. Have previously always run second hand (and pretty well researched, yes I love reliability) diesel estate cars with repairs courtesy of our local (and marvellous) mechanic. I've always been wary of the pitfalls of the Main Dealers, and never flush enough to try, but this time I was reassured it would be different. Hmmm...
Anyhow, the car had a full main dealer service history (that's good, I thought), all at the same dealer. Let's call them Dealer 1.
Paid them a visit for a once over. They said o/s front and rear pads needed changing, plus a few minor items. That's offside, for those that don't know (ie me). Bought Honda Happiness (£275) for peace of mind, all in cost £513. Wallet winced slightly. But I thought that would be it for a while.
Some months later did 87,500 mile service at Dealer 1. Only a few extras, total cost £235. At this stage there was an advisory on the rear brakepads:
n/s/r aprox 10% worn
o/s/r approx 40% worn
Offside again. Not great news, but I thought I'd monitor it and maybe the gods would be on my side. Wallet was now breathing in...
First hiccup. Other half clouted a wheelie bin fast enough to crack the indicator unit on the wing mirror. Wheelie bin was not harmed, though marital harmony suffered slightly. Off we go to Dealer 1:
Replaced n/s indicator ***embly. Total cost £109. Wallet made placatory noises about the unpredicatable journey of marriage. Another visual health check, again there was an advisory on the rear brakepads:
n/s/r aprox 20% worn
o/s/r approx 50% worn
Still offside. Might have acted on this at this point, but see what happens next.
Car home. Discovered power fold on repaired mirror was no longer working. I ***umed that this would have been at least noticed by the mechanic making the repair. Then I looked at the paperwork that had come back from Dealer 1 - on the vehicle health check form there was a green mark next to the glass/mirrors/door locks section. Bit grumpy.
I then checked how much Dealer 1 would charge for this repair - £244 for a new motor or £353 for a whole new mirror unit. Wallet ran away and hid. I said I'd rather not pay labour twice for a repair that could have been done when it first went in. The response was an exact hybrid of a human shrug and the sound of tumbleweed rolling down Chernobyl high street. Circumstances meant I didn't have time for a row, or the purse for another main dealer visit. I found a replacement mirror on Ebay (c. £100) and fixed it myself. Dealer 1 off Christmas card list.
Wallet now breathing out.
Second hiccup. A big one. Possibly even a belch. Over a month or two I had been slightly suspicious that the clutch was going. I've never had a problem with a clutch before, and like I said, I hoped the gods would be on my side. The Honda ones. I booked it in for a check (local mechanic) but before I could do that the clutch went. Completely. If you want to know what that smells like, think of a Scalextric set from the 1960's, with two kids trying to burn the engines out on a Vanwall and a shark nose Ferrari. You probably didn't need to know what it smelt like, I know, but I'm on a roll now.
Did some research (I love the Honda forums!) Realised it was probably going to be an expensive repair, especially so if flywheel needed changing. Figured I was probably going to have to use a main dealer (special tools, stamps in book), but I'd ring around others too. Who was closest? Yep, I phoned Dealer 1:
£640, just clutch, inc VAT. Chap said, somewhat vaguely, that a flywheel was around £200. Not quite as bad as I thought. I phoned back later, asked him to check, and he came back with the figure of £967.66. My wallet screamed, and so did I.
To cut a long story short, I phoned 10 Honda dealers, one Honda independent, one non-affiliated independent, plus a transmission repairs specialist. The prices varied considerably, as did the advice on whether or not I'd need a new flywheel. Best price (independent), was £975 for everything, other independent said £1072, transmission fella said £1500, and with the main dealers the prices then increased to the stand-out and princely sum of £2169. Perhaps I'm naive, but I was extremely surprised in the variation in price, and advice, from the main dealers. Wallet, of course, was now in dead faint.
Bit more research. Various feedback indicated a LUK clutch kit and flywheel was as good as (or actually is the same) as a "Honda" replacement one. There was some talk of a special tool that only Honda dealers had. Plus, by this stage, I'm thinking I now want to fix this car with a complete main dealer service history, and then be done with it. I need to get a life.
So I called one of the main dealers back, the one that seemed most helpful originally. Let's call them Dealer 2. They knew all about LUK clutch kits and flywheels, and were happy to amend their original all in price, by using those parts, from £1600 down to £820. The only concern I had was the amount they were charging for labour, £260, which seemed very low for 8 hours work. A little devil on my shoulder talked about hooks, and bait, but I ignored his fishy comments.
I checked with Dealer 2 several times, that indeed was the sum, and then they dangled the carrot of a full service and an air con service for the all in price of £1042. Sounds good, or at least not-quite-so-bad. They certainly impressed me. The down side was they were over two hours drive way, with my car immobile down here. Fortunately I lucked out at this point, as my breakdown cover said they would pay for the journey. Wallet's still passed out, but I think I could still make out a pulse.
Third hiccup. Couple of days pass, then Dealer 2 calls. Remember the advisories from before? He said the rear caliper, hose, discs and pads needed changing on one side. The cost, using Honda parts, was a magnificent £921! I knew this would need addressing eventually, but how much? My wallet now produced human tears. So did I.
Right, ahem, that was a shock. Another one, possibly even worse, was the fact he said it needing doing on the nearside, not the offside. I'm no expert, but that sounds like a different side to me (see above, if you've skipped a bit, darn you).
I've spoken to him twice, but I'll check again. Is it in any way likely that the problem has switched sides? I hope he's made a mistake, and he's got the wrong side, but if he hasn't my now threadbare love for the car, the brand and its dealers has gone the way of the dodo and all the other things that eventually turned out to be a bit useless.
And what about the wallet? I'm now looking at a £2K bill, and all in all, over less than two years, I will have spent half the amount I paid for for the car. Reliability? Good value? Decent, consistent service? Advice please, or at the very least a hug...
(Mods - I've posted this in both http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/ and http://hondakarma.com/community/. I hope that's ok!)
Anyhow, the car had a full main dealer service history (that's good, I thought), all at the same dealer. Let's call them Dealer 1.
Paid them a visit for a once over. They said o/s front and rear pads needed changing, plus a few minor items. That's offside, for those that don't know (ie me). Bought Honda Happiness (£275) for peace of mind, all in cost £513. Wallet winced slightly. But I thought that would be it for a while.
Some months later did 87,500 mile service at Dealer 1. Only a few extras, total cost £235. At this stage there was an advisory on the rear brakepads:
n/s/r aprox 10% worn
o/s/r approx 40% worn
Offside again. Not great news, but I thought I'd monitor it and maybe the gods would be on my side. Wallet was now breathing in...
First hiccup. Other half clouted a wheelie bin fast enough to crack the indicator unit on the wing mirror. Wheelie bin was not harmed, though marital harmony suffered slightly. Off we go to Dealer 1:
Replaced n/s indicator ***embly. Total cost £109. Wallet made placatory noises about the unpredicatable journey of marriage. Another visual health check, again there was an advisory on the rear brakepads:
n/s/r aprox 20% worn
o/s/r approx 50% worn
Still offside. Might have acted on this at this point, but see what happens next.
Car home. Discovered power fold on repaired mirror was no longer working. I ***umed that this would have been at least noticed by the mechanic making the repair. Then I looked at the paperwork that had come back from Dealer 1 - on the vehicle health check form there was a green mark next to the glass/mirrors/door locks section. Bit grumpy.
I then checked how much Dealer 1 would charge for this repair - £244 for a new motor or £353 for a whole new mirror unit. Wallet ran away and hid. I said I'd rather not pay labour twice for a repair that could have been done when it first went in. The response was an exact hybrid of a human shrug and the sound of tumbleweed rolling down Chernobyl high street. Circumstances meant I didn't have time for a row, or the purse for another main dealer visit. I found a replacement mirror on Ebay (c. £100) and fixed it myself. Dealer 1 off Christmas card list.
Wallet now breathing out.
Second hiccup. A big one. Possibly even a belch. Over a month or two I had been slightly suspicious that the clutch was going. I've never had a problem with a clutch before, and like I said, I hoped the gods would be on my side. The Honda ones. I booked it in for a check (local mechanic) but before I could do that the clutch went. Completely. If you want to know what that smells like, think of a Scalextric set from the 1960's, with two kids trying to burn the engines out on a Vanwall and a shark nose Ferrari. You probably didn't need to know what it smelt like, I know, but I'm on a roll now.
Did some research (I love the Honda forums!) Realised it was probably going to be an expensive repair, especially so if flywheel needed changing. Figured I was probably going to have to use a main dealer (special tools, stamps in book), but I'd ring around others too. Who was closest? Yep, I phoned Dealer 1:
£640, just clutch, inc VAT. Chap said, somewhat vaguely, that a flywheel was around £200. Not quite as bad as I thought. I phoned back later, asked him to check, and he came back with the figure of £967.66. My wallet screamed, and so did I.
To cut a long story short, I phoned 10 Honda dealers, one Honda independent, one non-affiliated independent, plus a transmission repairs specialist. The prices varied considerably, as did the advice on whether or not I'd need a new flywheel. Best price (independent), was £975 for everything, other independent said £1072, transmission fella said £1500, and with the main dealers the prices then increased to the stand-out and princely sum of £2169. Perhaps I'm naive, but I was extremely surprised in the variation in price, and advice, from the main dealers. Wallet, of course, was now in dead faint.
Bit more research. Various feedback indicated a LUK clutch kit and flywheel was as good as (or actually is the same) as a "Honda" replacement one. There was some talk of a special tool that only Honda dealers had. Plus, by this stage, I'm thinking I now want to fix this car with a complete main dealer service history, and then be done with it. I need to get a life.
So I called one of the main dealers back, the one that seemed most helpful originally. Let's call them Dealer 2. They knew all about LUK clutch kits and flywheels, and were happy to amend their original all in price, by using those parts, from £1600 down to £820. The only concern I had was the amount they were charging for labour, £260, which seemed very low for 8 hours work. A little devil on my shoulder talked about hooks, and bait, but I ignored his fishy comments.
I checked with Dealer 2 several times, that indeed was the sum, and then they dangled the carrot of a full service and an air con service for the all in price of £1042. Sounds good, or at least not-quite-so-bad. They certainly impressed me. The down side was they were over two hours drive way, with my car immobile down here. Fortunately I lucked out at this point, as my breakdown cover said they would pay for the journey. Wallet's still passed out, but I think I could still make out a pulse.
Third hiccup. Couple of days pass, then Dealer 2 calls. Remember the advisories from before? He said the rear caliper, hose, discs and pads needed changing on one side. The cost, using Honda parts, was a magnificent £921! I knew this would need addressing eventually, but how much? My wallet now produced human tears. So did I.
Right, ahem, that was a shock. Another one, possibly even worse, was the fact he said it needing doing on the nearside, not the offside. I'm no expert, but that sounds like a different side to me (see above, if you've skipped a bit, darn you).
I've spoken to him twice, but I'll check again. Is it in any way likely that the problem has switched sides? I hope he's made a mistake, and he's got the wrong side, but if he hasn't my now threadbare love for the car, the brand and its dealers has gone the way of the dodo and all the other things that eventually turned out to be a bit useless.
And what about the wallet? I'm now looking at a £2K bill, and all in all, over less than two years, I will have spent half the amount I paid for for the car. Reliability? Good value? Decent, consistent service? Advice please, or at the very least a hug...
(Mods - I've posted this in both http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/ and http://hondakarma.com/community/. I hope that's ok!)
). The wheely bin incident could have happened in anything. As for the brakes, discs and clutch, these were always wear items (I know that's no help). 
