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Cheap Chinese cars, not so cheap to repair

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JohnDe

La dolce vita
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Just had a conversation with a mate, he is a retired panel beater/spray painter, about a repair job that he might take on for a relative.

The insurance expired on the 2022 LDV and the owner forgot about it, and they had an accident with the vehicle.

With no insurance many crash repairs will not look at the vehicle, the ones that will have quoted more than half the cost of a current model.

My retired mate offered to look into it and fell off his chair when he received the quote for parts.

When he first told me I thought that it was because he has been out of the game for a while and the past few years has only done a few spray jobs, I said to him that Covid changed everything. But when he showed me the quote, I swore out loud.

How can they substantiate these prices?

Be warned, a cheap car doesn't mean cheap repairs. This is why our insurance policies keep going up, most of the Chinese vehicles will have a low resale which will force insurance companies to write them off for relatively minor damage.




 

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Nearly 3k for a headlight?
 
Yes a mate has one of the Chinese people movers (diesel), he has had a bit of trouble with it, valve gear needed replacing, central locking locks/unlocks about 3 times with one press of the button, also he had a service as it is just about out of warranty (included coolant change) over $2k.
I didn't say much, but to me that is stupid money.
I guess a lot depends on how much you pay for the car initially and they really are new to market, but I would be waiting for a while until they get a bit of a track record on Australian roads and Australian backup service.
 
Our newest vehicle is 2010, Hilux ute with 410k on the clock. I bought a new headlight (reasons ). It's was $130. Also have 3 Land(Range)Rovers, 2nd hand parts plentiful and cheap.

I don't think I'll buy a new car ever again... I reckon I'd prefer to buy a sh1tbox HQ with bombed 308, rather than these mobile surveillance implements that will argue with you over changing lanes.

Luddites rule, okay?
 

Yeah, I have also heard that servicing costs are very high.

I think it is price gouging, there is no way the Chinese manufacturers would be charging those kinds of prices, and I don't think that we have any tariffs on Chinese imports.

Eager Automotive import the bulk of the Chinese vehicles and parts into Australia. I wonder what the mark-up is.

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Yes my ex garbo mate bought a brand new Hyundai i20N hot hatch when he retired, now it has done 7,000k's in 2 years he wants to sell it and get a Falcon ute, life is full of disappointments and bad choices. He is a top bloke, but loves his older cars.
There used to be a great LandRover spare parts shop just off Orrong road Brit Parts, they closed down about 5 years ago, I got all my spares for the Discovery there, it's a shame a lot of the old parts shops have gone.
 
@sptrawler Have you tried Rare Spares over in Osborne Park.
I know my son who has a HQ Ute, his pride and joy, rebuilt many times used to get what he wanted from them.
 
farmerge said:
@sptrawler Have you tried Rare Spares over in Osborne Park.
I know my son who has a HQ Ute, his pride and joy, rebuilt many times used to get what he wanted from them.
Click to expand...
Our 2002 disco recently had a problem with the three amigos (if you know, you know). Got a new second hand fash – which was in perfect condition and also a new grill and bumper (again, reasons ) for far less than the cost of a new Chinese headlight.

Pro tip though: Never be in a position to have to buy a Range Rover headlight (but, still cheaper than the Chinese shitbox to be fair)
 
JohnDe said:
How can they substantiate these prices?
Click to expand...
Similar business model to razors and printers.

Sell the device cheap then make big $ on parts and supplies eg razor blades, printer ink / toner or in this case replacement car parts.

Car repairs have really changed a lot. Go back a few decades and on a weekend it was perfectly normal to see people working on cars in their driveway and by that I mean doing mechanical work or other repairs. Today that just isn't a thing anymore.

Only youngish person I know who's actually into cars these days is a 22 year old woman which doesn't really fit with the historic stereotype. Not saying that's a problem, just an observation that young men seem to have completely lost interest in what was once a very male dominated thing.
 
Smurf1976 said:
Car repairs have really changed a lot. Go back a few decades and on a weekend it was perfectly normal to see people working on cars in their driveway and by that I mean doing mechanical work or other repairs. Today that just isn't a thing anymore.
Click to expand...
It's not a thing anymore because you need an engineering degree to do anything more than open the bonnet these days.

In 'our' day we could change plugs, points, do ignition timing, tappet clearances, oil changes etc, but now with engine management systems unless you have the required equipment you are stuffed.

Best I've managed is to solder the injector wires on my diesel after the rats got to them.
 
Due to my oldest son needing to get mechanical skills to get an apprenticeship, I bought him a Mazda Capella 1600 for his 17th birthday, then we removed the motor and gearbox, rebuilt them, panel beated and resprayed it.
Now he has rebuilt all his cars when, or if they needed it, his current cars are a VW Amarock with 380,000k's and a VW Jetta with 275,000k's.
He is 46 years old and has never had anything near a new car, he picks up a car and like we did, buys well and do your own repairs.

Funny thing is he is a sparky and he struggled to get an apprenticeship, because he completed year 12 passed advanced maths inc calculus etc, physics and chemistry and employers told him they didn't want rocket scientists.
So he ended up doing his time in a small electrical pump repair business. LOL
Since then he has been an electrical superintendent for a major mining company and several other jobs, so not completely wasted talent.
 
@SirRumpole With my V8 Landcruiser and Her Subaru after one has worked out how to open the bonnet, then look inside, one quickly closes the lid and calls our Master German Mechanic who then swears at me in German, easy to understand as the words seen to come in each language as being understood.
 
If he became a sparky now with that knowledge he would be hunted. A high level sparky needs programming and other technical skills, Probably quickly move on to be an integrator or other form of technician.
 
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