33 replies to this topic

[Sam Walters]

No doubt professional restoration jobs can be very expensive, but a jump such as that?

Not a chance i`m afraid.

[adam_93rio]

It sounds at the moment like you've been had mate

you could pretty much of bought every part new with that sort of money and bolted it together.

I know if it were me I'd be visiting trading standards/a solicitor

I can't beleive you have parted with this much money without seeing your car regularly

[xBR4DLEY]

Did I read that right?
Your paying nearly 20k for a primed car , with the same interior , without the mechanicals done and all your parts aswell
Does seem like you have been had mate , sorry to hear it
I reckon you should go down there and see whats happening and then get on to your solicitor/trading standards

[beddo]

Right then, a few more details.

This is indeed the 1975 MK3 thou that I have - my only mini. All along I have specifically said that I'm not interested in concourse, I want the car to last but I'm not interesting in trying to make it match some spec that they didn't even adhere to in the factory..

I have been in constant contact with the garage and have even been in there a few times. I have itemised bills up to the point where it just says labour and doesn't say what the labour was for.

So far I paid 4K for what I believe was stripping the car, dipping the shell/subframes and galvenising the subbies. The engine is supposed to have been completely rebuilt and I was told that all the stuff that goes on the subframes was back on them ready to go a few months back.

I then paid 2K towards the panels needed for finishing up the shell and they went ahead with work on the shell (total 6K paid so far)

All along we have been working on the principal of 2 grand about every two months which is why I believe I have a case against them dropping 10K of labour on me in the space of a week. From what I can tell, that is pretty much just the work to rebuild the shell with new panels. The fact that I specifically asked about the costs of a reshell versus panels before we started and was told that there wouldn't be much difference is what annoys me about the way they've gone about it.

It is entirely possible that they have done the amount of hours they are claiming, but I never would have agreed to them spending that much time on it and would have opted for a new shell had they told me in advance. All of this work has pretty much been done within the last month, a month where I have been insanely busy with a lot of out of hours jobs so its like it happened at the worst possible time for me keeping track of it.

Trading standards or consumer direct weren't much help. I've another number to ring but apparently that's only staffed Thursday and Friday mornings which is odd.

I get on well with a couple of local solicitors through my work and it just so happens that a couple of them have expertise in accidents and car repairs. I might see if one of them will have a friendly chat at some point but first I need to actually get the time to go and talk to the garage owner :/

[MiniAlex]

It sounds like they have robbed you silly
Next time it would probably be easier to get someone to help your or get a mate to do all the work that is needed then get someone to spray it ect ect.
Garages charge a fortune for this type of thing. Best thing to do is get a quote first and get them to print it out so that you have it in writting if you want to go ahead with the resto. It does seem a bit too expensive for what you are having. Surely panels aren't that much!? What will they be charging for a repsray then?? £100,000!!!!?

I would go back to them and speak to them, like someone else said take someone with you if you feel that will help. It makes me mad to see that people are being made a mug of. Also make sure you ask them what they have done to it so far,and get a reciept for all the work ect ect. Youw ill probably be able to see most of the work they have done anyway when you inspect it. This is why when I get my Mini repsrayed I will take it somewhere reccomened or not bother getting it done. Makes me nervous, it doesn't need repsraying but I would like it done in the future so it's 100% perfect!!

Anyway, good luck getting ths sorted. If you need any help then post something on here asap. I am sure there are plently of people that will be willing to go up with you and speak to them.
Hope this helps, and good luck again.

Alex

[minimadaidan]

jesus, mate thats rediculas what was it like when you buoght it, it must of been an absolute heap or they've made of with your money

hope it gets better

[rosco454]

I know its not what you want to hear mate but it sounds like your having your pants pulled down.I would get yourself down there and see exactly what has and hasnt been done.

Cheers Ross.

[Xinarin13]

Here I go again resurrecting old threads, but what happened with this? What was the end result!?

[FlyingScot]

Here I go again resurrecting old threads, but what happened with this? What was the end result!?

Since he hasnt been on since June 2010, I would think nothing....

FS

[r3k1355]

Sounds like it was heading towards solicitors, hope they got it straightened out.

[Xinarin13]

Oof... that doubly sucks... sucks for him and the mini... and sucks that we don't get to hear the resolution.

[cradley-heathen]

Wow, I need to put my prices up!!

 

that is an insane amount of money, I mean...... I just cant get my hat on about that. if that car is anything less than PERFECT I could be very upset.

 

what on earth have they done to it for that cost?

 

£2k for panels? £10k to put the shell together? I really do need to put my prices up

Edited by Moke Spider, 24 March 2018 - 06:14 AM.

[minimans]

Before I retired (poor if anybody cares!) I was restoring 60's British cars mostly MG TC MGA's But some Jags my last complete on an MG TD came out around $95,000 but it did win a class award at Pebble beach. I find it doesn't matter what make or model it is they all come out at about the same labour cost after all a car is a car right? The difference often comes in the price of the parts and the quality of the paint job and there's a vast range of paint job's but I don't paint so I just let the customer decide what quality of paint job he wants .

Somebody earlier in the thread said 300hrs for a complete on a mini? I've spent double that on my own so far............................maybe I'm just old and slow

[TheFabMini]

Here I go again resurrecting old threads, but what happened with this? What was the end result!?

Damn I just read all this to only now realise it was 8 years ago... Im guessing you could pick up half decent minis a lot cheaper back then than now but them resto costs sound insane.
There are some very horrible garages out there, I have a friend with a MGF. He took it to a mg specialist wanted a couple of upgrades and a bit of a tidy up to some body panels. Hes now having to pay them weekly for the extortionate amount of work they somehow managed to do.

I used to be a sales rep going around selling consumables to the motor industry and Ive go go admit I dont even trust mechanics to do an Mot without ripping me off. The stories I used to hear and things I saw when spending time in reputable looking garages was horrendous.

[sonikk4]

The garage my lad took his mini to for paint was owed the stiff end of £35K for a bloody Spitfire resto?? He was chuffing expensive and to be honest he relied heavily on his bodyman Ray to do all of the work. One man!!!!!!!