Kim was faced with an unpleasant surprise. Indeed, the 39-year-old owner of an Audi went to the brand’s approved garage in Herent to simply drain his vehicle, reports HLN. When he came to pick up his vehicle, he was presented with an invoice for 572 euros! An exorbitant amount for the emptying of a car. In reality, the mechanics did much more: “They replaced the battery in my car key and lubricated the door hinges,” Kim says.
The worst ? 118 euros for a new pollen filter while the latter only costs 16 euros on the Internet. Changes and repairs that the driver had not requested: “I had replaced the battery in my key myself only a few weeks ago”. Kim, annoyed, adds: “If you look on the Internet, a pollen filter costs around 16 euros, they were asking 118 euros! It’s a scam, plain and simple.” That’s not all: “This price also included a 12-minute test drive for 17.52 euros”.
Kim obviously refused to pay the full sum. “As a consumer, you are right to question the 102 euro installation costs”, notes Aankoop Test who advises: “Ask in advance for an overview of all the work that will be carried out and agree that the garage will will call if it deviates from the list, for example if something else is discovered. This will avoid things like the new battery for the key, which apparently had just been replaced. If you specifically asked for one thing to be fixed and all sorts of things happened without the garage informing you, the latter is in principle at fault”. So be careful when taking your car to the garage.