£2800 heart attack

[harry k]

I put my 2000 plate s3 into bristol audi yesterday because it was getting hard to select gears when the car is hot. I got a phone call this morning with a list of problems totalling over £2800. This is what they say needs replacing. Anti roll bars £619.80 road spring £277.85 steering arms £381.62 auxillary belt £101.24 master and slave cylinder for clutch £1400. Now i hate it when people accuse garages of ripping them off, so i'm asking you guys, is this a fair price.

[a8 tech]

It sound like they have carried out a duty of care check of the vehicle and high lighted advisory work.
The gear selection issue when hot is most likely just to be the clutch unless there is a leak on the slave cylinder inside the gearbox.Its a big job to remove S3 gearbox and that's where the labour is mounting up as you wont get much change from a grand for removing and installing the box

[harry k]

Thanks for your reply. I know nothing about cars and have a family,so need the car to be safe. Now the lady on the phone said that these repairs are essential as most of it is to do with the suspension and would fail the mot (due next month) without having the work done. I'm just amazed at how much it cost. I paid nearly £8000 for the car a year ago and if i have this work done along with the other £1600 i have spent in the past year thats about 4500g What should i do?

[a8 tech]

S3 is very expensive car to run,sort the clutch issue and sign up for the free Audi mot from the Audi website and see what happens.If the car fails its cost you nothing for the mot and you can get the mot done early and budget for the repairs before the mot expires,this will give you time shop about for the cheapest labour rate and parts as most Audi dealers are reducing hourly rates to fill the work shops.
Mot standards are not the same so the tech may well be correct in highlighting issues with the suspension but the Mot test is based on excessive wear/movement likely to fail on the day or in the near future,so if the road spring has cracked/snapped that's a straight fail but if the roll bar bushes are worn but no excessive movement then that's advisory leaving the owner more time to address that highlighted concern