My current ride is coming to the 6 years mark and is starting to show problems due to wear and tear. I will just like to share my experience of repairing and replacing the different parts due to wear and tear through these past two months. For a start, I am driving a Toyota Altis 07 model.
I have re-sprayed the car earlier this year and have changed the colour. Due to the sky high COE price, I am likely going to drive it all the way till this car's COE expiry. Therefore, I guess this is a worthwhile investment to make me feel that I am driving a new car :). The cost of this vanity is around 1300 dollars.
The car started showing problems 2 months back with the battery first to go. I was unable to start the engine at all, I managed to find someone to come over to my place and replaced my car with an Amaron battery for around 150 dollars.
Next, my side mirror started to give a hissing sound and the root cause was a problem with the motor mechanism which means you have to change the whole side mirror. My fan belt is also starting to show cracks. The cost of replacing for the side mirror was 200 dollars and the fanbelt was 100 dollars.
After which I went to JB to do my servicing, it cost around 80 sgd whereas it cost from 140-160 sgd in Singapore. Thus, you can save about 50 percent. Also, I changed my air-con and engine filter plus a spark plug. On top of that, I change my car's auto transmission oil. All in, it comes up to around 200 sgd.
The mechanic advised me to change my front absorber but even though I did find the ride a bit bumpy but thought I can drag it for a while more. An important point to note, if your front absorber is starting to leak oil, do try not to jack it up as it will lead to the front absorbers getting spoiled at an accelerated pace. After the servicing, the car's front absorbers totally give way but as I have an engagement in Singapore so I was not able to do the change in JB. I was quoted around 220 to 250 sgd.
The ride was totally bumpy and feel like a boat ride after the front absorbers give way. I checked with a few Singapore workshop and decided to go with one that charges around 300 dollars for the original parts as it is not far off from the rate quoted by the JB workshop. There was one which quoted 588 dollars as they say they have to change the mounting rubber and etc while another quoted 445 dollars. All are before GST.
After I reached the workshop, I found out that the quote was without labour and so plus the labour and GST, the cost was around 385 dollars. Since I am already there, I guess I have to just go ahead and the car was in urgent need of a pair of brand new front absorbers.
I did some research while at the workshop and found that the cheapest cost is to get the parts from the stockist and get the workshop to fix it for you. I check with the stockist and found that a pair of original front absorbers was just 150 dollars. The workshop quoted me 300 dollars for it. Based on a simple calculation, with the labour cost at around 80 to 100 dollars, the total cost using this approach will be similar to the JB workshop quote and I can save around 100 dollars.
This is a sum up of the recent repair costs for my Altis:
1) Battery 150
2) Side Mirror 200
3) Fanbelt 100
4) Servicing in JB 200
5) Front Absorbers 385
Total costs $ 1035
To conclude, it is advisable to do your servicing in JB if you know any good workshops provided your car is a normal and not a luxury car as you can easily save 50 percent. For repairs and replacing parts, if you get from the stockist, the pricing will be quite similar to what is quoted by the JB workshops. I feel it is more prudent to change parts in Singapore. If you let the Singapore workshop get the parts for you, the total cost is likely to be 50 percent more than getting them from the stockist. If you happen to go to a workshop that is trying to make you a carrot head, it could be 80-100 percent more.
Lee
No comments:
Post a Comment