Amount of labour to replace a car door?

TwoShedsJackson

Some little prick tried to break into my car last night, presumably to get the stereo, as being an Astra 1.4 i doubt it's of much interest to joyriders He bent back the top of the driver's door trying to get at the lock but didn't get in, there was about a four-five inch gap at the top of the frame.

Went down to the garage (a main Opel dealer) for a quote and the lads there pulled the door back into shape, more or less, in the interim.

Now the quote, 400 for the door and 70 for replacement car hir, but 1100 for labour!! Seems like a lot, is there really 8-10 hours work in replacing a driver-side front door on an Astra?

Insurance co have to negotiate of course and would prob get them down a couple of hundred, it's Quinn tho and our policy is up in a couple of weeks (we are not renewing with them).

Stephen

Not sure how long it'd take but I guess there's a good bit of labour involved - does the €400 price for the door include paintwork? Then the locks would have to be taken from the old door and installed, stuff like central locking, speakers and electric mirrors (if installed) connected etc.

Some muppet crashed into my sister's Corsa a few weeks ago and trashed the front passenger door. Opel dealer in Galway quoted €1600 for the replacement door + labour. Quinn negotiated a hundred euros off that price. Fortunately it is coming from said muppet's policy.

(muppet was an unaccompanied first provisional with no L-plates too...)

bazz26

If the car is not worth a whole lot then maybe getting one from a scrap yard or www.traynors.co.uk and having it resprayed and fitted by an independant body shop might would work out alot cheaper.

Main dealers are always going to be more expensive but ring a different one to compare prices.

DublinDilbert

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

Insurance co have to negotiate of course and would prob get them down a couple of hundred, it's Quinn tho and our policy is up in a couple of weeks (we are not renewing with them).

If you make a claim now is there any chance it will effect your NCB when you goto renew? i know it shouldn't, but with quinn you never know....


Is the door that badly damaged? could it be bent back into shape?

I'd say 600/700 of the labor charge is to get the new door painted, they usually send work like this out to one of their approved body shops to do.... the rest of the labor is to swap over all of the parts once the door has been sprayed...

how old is the car? if its more than 5 year old I'd see if i could get a door from a scrap yard the right color and fit it myself...

Henry Ford III

Sounds rathter expensive.

commited

Shouldn't really take a huge amount of time to swap out a door really - a couple of hours max for a trained mechanic. Sounds like you're getting ridden on the labour costs, try some more garages.

If the cars old, I'd live with the bent door, I know alot of guys who've bent them back and they've been fine.

Sonnenblumen

Insurance cos allow approx 6-8 hrs labour @€; 52/hr for replacing door and bits and pieces. Spraying would be in region € 300 - € 400. All in all anything above € 800 would be excessive.

The costs exclude parts+VAT.

~~SKYHIGH~~

I'd do it myself not problems and save a sack of notes

maidhc

Stay away from those godforsaken main dealers.

There simply isn't enough bits in an Astra door to warrant 1100 labour! 1/4 that figure would strike me as fair.