Are our Citroen repair bills reasonable?

Dear all,

I bought a 2006 Citroen C3 two years ago (paid €5.6K, one owner, low mileage) and noticed recently that it was slipping out of gear when in first. Having had the garage look at it, they said the gearbox would need to be replaced fully (costing approx €1,000). It is also leaking coolant and needs the head gasket replaced. Total estimated bill approx €1,500-2,000. Is this reasonable? Are we right to be annoyed as the car has only 64,000km on it?

Thanks in advance

Maria in Cork

Maria V

Feb 2013 Filed under: repair

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Expert answer

Hi Maria,

I understand it can be very frustrating to be hit with such high bills unexpectedly with a car with such low mileage on it. 

Those are two very expensive jobs to do in any car and the estimates don't sound unreasonable to me, assuming they include parts and labour. For your information, the head gasket can take up to seven hours to do, while the gearbox replacement could take about four hours.

If the car is outside warranty then you really can't do much about it other than pay the bill. Obviously you should shop around to a few garages for the price, though.

One last thing to maybe mention to the garage, though I'd hope they checked already, but the gearboxes in the C3 are known to break a bolt on their selector, which is a tiny thing to fix in comparison to replacing the whole gearbox...

Best of luck

Shane O' Donoghue - Complete Car Advisor
@Shane_O_D