Please share what car maintenance / repairs you’ve done yourselves
Bonus points for getting a cost estimation first
I have recently
replaced 2 lights
For a total cost of 7 CHF.
Local garage asked for 80 CHF which seems excessive for something that takes literally 5 minutes if you know what you’re doing.
Of course, it being the first time I’m trying on my own, it took me a whole hour or two, including trying to figure out how to change the totally inaccessible light on the other side that is actually working just fine
So saved 70 CHF tax free. Getting a bit of sunlight, fresh air and the satisfaction of repairing things by myself.
Not to forget that had I gone to the garage, I would have spent at least an hour too …
I fill the tank with gas myself and sometimes also add windscreen washer fluid when I’m up to getting my hands dirty. I always struggle opening the hood though.
I used to use Mister-Auto because they didn’t charge a fixed delivery fee. However, they have reduced the range of parts in their catalogue, so I now use Auto-Doc instead. I also use a local spare parts shop where I can order parts in the morning and collect them in the afternoon. The prices are higher, but I would rather pay 10CHF than 3CHF online and avoid the 20CHF delivery fee.
Car Parts is essentially a large network of companies with a small number of factories. For example, one brand of brakes is produced in week one, and another brand is produced in the exact same factory in week two, with only the branding being different.
not much I havent done myself with cars. beginning at breakes, exhaust, axels, timing chain, head gasket etcetc.
You could consider autodoc for technical parts. For things like lamps/bulbs probably easier to stick with Galaxus/Amazon. Since I was quite active in this foeld I have a account at a „B2B only“ spare parts dealership. This gives me access to litetally everything. But even with a decent discount there things like wiper blades are cheaper online.
I just read that it might a clio. Congrats in this case if you did change bith lamps yourself.
I drove one myself some time. Did many things, really small place to work on it, but thats normal for a car this size.
But the light are kind of fu*ked up. Had to change them once in a hurry and didnt have the time to do some research. It ended with both front wheel and halve of the bodykit/ plastic bumper etc teared down.
All my mechanic friends told me that, even with their garage discount, Auto-Doc and similar companies were cheaper, delivery fee included. The only good thing about national suppliers like Derendinger is that you can order in the morning and receive it after lunch.
I think it depends on the manufacturer, but I had to pull mine out of the front chassis with so much force that I thought I would pull the whole bumper off. However, that’s exactly what the instruction book said to do.
But a local partner is helpful for example when it is not clear it a part is needed. When you are fixing your car on a weekend you like to have all possible parts you might need on place. The local distributor takes unused parts back without asking. So i do not mind paying few bucks more. But sure, sometimes they difference is to big
Changing the Xenon light purchased for 70Frs on Galaxus while the small garage I use to go was charging 180 for a single bulb and 20frs for mounting it. Big dealership would charge even more as they dismantle half the front to replace it.
Also at each service, I fill the washing soap and cooling liquid so they cannot fill it and charge a lot per liter. AMAG was always trying to charge 2.5L of washing soap even when it was full and they could have not fill anymore.
What made me cross was when I’d changed the alarm battery the day before and they charged 20 Fr to change the battery to a crappy 3rd party brand when the whole job takes less than 2 minutes.
You probably could have refused to pay since you never asked for it (and they never notified you before doing it).
But they rely on the fact that 20 CHF is too low for many to bother.
Recently, the garage (dealership) told me that our car’s 12v battery was not in great shape anymore (5 years old - but I did not notice any issues so far). When asked how much the replacement costs, they said it would be around 300 CHF.
So I went ahead and:
Ordered a new 12v battery (not branded like original battery, but allegedly same Japanese manufacturer) from one of the websites mentioned above (Autodoc) for 71 EUR + 7 EUR shipping costs
Went across the border to pick it up (not far)
Installed it within 15min and was surprised it was so easy, also given that the car is packed full of electronics. Only some “preferences” I set got lost while the battery was disconnected, which I was able to add back in a few more mins.
All good so far and I dont have a bad conscience for not considering the big local company with an expensive-looking, very shiny showroom
I noticed similar patterns. Even though our car never had any issues (for sure also due to regular servicing), they are always trying to upsell.
Im not skimping on safety-critical things like brakes or tires when pointed out (never happened so far). But had to learn some expensive lessons when they talked us into all kinds of expensive add-ons during servicing the car, like “oh no- your wheels are not in perfect alignment, let us adjust that”, “your AC functioning should be tested/inspected”. And then, what you expected to be a small car service with basically oil change suddenly costs like 1200 CHF
If hourly rates keep increasing, I might consider doing my own oil changes. For the motorbike and scooter, Im already there.
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which seems excessive for something that takes literally 5 minutes if you know what you’re doing.
