Is my car mechanic ripping me off?

Question

I took my 9 year old in to change the alternator because the bearings had gone. He just phoned me up sounding grave saying that the tension belt(?!?) had gone and had to be chiselled out of the engine block and replaced at a cost of GBP125. He said it snapped as it had corroded but it was fine before.

Have they screwed up and are attempting to get my to pay for it or is he genuine?

Answer 1

first lets blame the rite person its not the fault of the one that was trying to remove it its the one that installed it
an example is i baught a rebuilt brake caliper went to install it the idiot that installed the bleeder screw put it in so tight i broke it trying to loosten it i never was able to remove it i had to go back to the store and replace it now whose fault was it not mine whos fault was it for your bolt not his who gets stuck usually the mechanic as we gave you a bid but if its going to take me an hour to fix someone elses problem i got to charge someone it may even be a designed wrong problem from the dealer

Answer 2

I do not know the specifics of your particular vehicle but what it sounds like to me is that the belt "tensioner" has gone bad. On a 9 year old car this could be expected. The tensioner is a spring loaded pulley that keeps your fan belt tight. Years of being under a load causes the bearings to start to wear. As they wear they generate heat and the heat is what kills the tensioner ans the hardware that attaches the tensioner to the engine. There is always the possibility of being ripped off and that is why establishing a good relationship with a service tech/mechanic is a good thing. Spending a little money here and there on minor things could save you a ton when/if something major goes wrong.

Answer 3

Hi

I don't think he was on about the belt, from the sounds of it he was on about the belt tensioner, and yes they do often need replacing. It had probably corroded onto the block and needed to be chiselled free. I have only ever had to replace a couple of these myself, but as I say it does happen every now and again.

However, I do hope that the price of £125 was all inclusive of the tensioner, a new belt, and the fitting?

Very best regards

Geordie

Answer 4

Hmm ok, couple things, someone said that a fan belt drives the alternator. It doesn't, it's drives a (yep, you guessed it) fan, and hasn't been on production cars for ears.

The belt he's talking about is the alternator (or auxiliary) drive belt, now as we don't know what your car is it's impossible to say if he's ripping you off.

Generally speaking, on most cars the alternator belt is a small V shaped belt about a foot long, and runs from the crank to the alternator. It's normally a 15 minute job to pop the hood, slacken the belt, remove it and pop a new one on, and a belts about £20.

However, I've also seen a number of cars where the belts sit behind a plethora of covers, or where it's been included on a serpentine belt.

If he's charging you 125 quid JUST for the belt replacement I think you're being done, unless you have a car where it's obviously very awkward and needs parts removing.

Take a look at this imprezza, this is not a 15 minute job to replace the belt, i might swallow £125 for this but not for most cars.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mapper-montag/398829125/

Answer 5

chisel out a belt from the engine block it makes me laugh no belt can get into the engine block before it could become embedded in the block it would take the least line of resistance and break.
I would go to your local trading standards and ask them to look into the matter they may have past history that you are unaware of.
whatever happens you are being ripped off good and proper a new belt should cost no more than a fiver or even a tenner and there is no labour because he would have to remove the belt in the first place to change the faulty alternator.

you could report the mechanic to the police for deception a crime is being committed or at the very least attempted. the mechanic would have to prove to the police what he has said is in fact correct, if he cannot he is guilty of an offence

Answer 6

You know, when you say "I took my 9 year old in"... I sort of thought this was a question for the various Kids and Parenting type sections.

Anyway... well, I hate to say but yes, after nine years if you have a belt-driven car, the thing can become quite corroded and need replacement. When you are replacing the alternator is a fine time to replace that belt as it was going to need to be re-threaded anyway. I realize that 125 pounds ain't cheap, but it's also not like a transmission replacement or something. If you can pay it, replacing the belt is not such a bad idea, especially after 9 nears. Most manufacturers recommend replacing that belt at 5 years or 60,000 miles (around 96000 Kilometers, if that's what you use.)

Answer 7

I recently changed the alternator on my MKIV Golf V6 (nightmare job!) and changed the auxillary drive belt at the same time

My car is 7 years old and the belt was badly cracked and clearly in need of changing.

However, the belt is easy to remove - literally a 1 minute job, as it is slack when removing alternator and tension pulley.

Mine cost £30 to replace (from a main dealer) - so where he is getting £125 for what is a 1 minute job I do not know.

So, in summary: replacing the belt is genuine, charging you that much is not.

Answer 8

Do you have whats called a polyvee belt drive on the alternator? it looks like a flat belt about 20 mm wide with ridges on. one side.

If so this type of belt is kept tight by a spring loaded belt tensioner, they do seize up when they fail and you only find out when the drive belt either comes off the pulleys or you are changing the belt.

Allowing for the price of a new tensioner plus the time to change it and the dreaded VAT £125 is about right.

Answer 9

what a load of crap i used to be a mechanic and you don't chisel anything from the engine block for starters the alternator is on a bracket on all cars and you if the belt snapped then its no big deal. my advice is to find out the cost of parts fut for this you will need make, model, reg for the year mainly phone up a parts supplier in the yellow pages.
and for something like that your looking at no more than two hours max. but you might be able to find out whats known as book time from either a Haynes manual or a book called auto-data but you might get the details from them on-line to!
in my opinion for some thing like a fiesta 1.1 popular around £100 GBP.This price is for replacing the alternator and the belt like someone else has put the belts are no more than £30.

Answer 10

There's no such thing as a tension belt but there IS a belt tensioner and they can seize up and be difficult to remove, it would also need replacing.
Check what the mechanic said without mentioning the item (ie. What needed replacing?) and if he says belt tensioner ask to see the delivery note for it as a means of proving the new part was necessary and don't be put off because they will have to keep it for the business accounts.
If they say tension belt also ask to see the delivery note because it shouldn't exist and they are ripping you off.

Answer 11

The mechanic has to manually move the tensioner to introduce some slack in the belt so it can be removed to allow alternator removal. If the tensioner was already bad, it may not have stood up to this necessary procedure. Not exactly uncommon and probably why your alternator fried in the first place.

Just pay the man and get it fixed right.