I started my apprenticeship on 2nd March 1970 at a Skoda/Audi dealer....the original Skoda and Audi, not the VAG ones....as a spotty 16 year old. They changed to Datsun/Nissan, AMC (the old Jeeps) then Subaru. I moved to a new (then) Peugeot dealer, then set up on my own. I should have got out long ago!!
Been in business 38 years on my own.
The good news is that I retire next Friday //static.avforums.com/styles/avf/smilies/clap.gif
I only have a Izusu pickup to repair this coming week...a seat belt to fit and a ABS sensor to fit then take it for mot.
No offense was meant, I'm questioning it because I'm out of my depth here and try to understand it.
However I get that the brake pipes are now made out of 3 sections, front, mid and rear. To me that wasn't clear before
Edit
I do appreciate how frustrating my posts must be especially as I have the same with the boiler questions and there not meant to be. It's just my (clearly poor way) of trying to understand things, that's why I have been questioning the post so much
I've mainly worked in the PSV/HGV sector ,then started working on military vehicles as a contractor until last October, i,m now working for a company that is part of the major utilities sector ,its great to get paid holidays ,sick pay and a very good works pension nowdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7.
All the very best in retirement to you ,you have earned it data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Sounds like a good job data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Thank you very much data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I never got such benefits being self employed data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I got £54 per week sick pay when I was off for 14 weeks when I had my first heart attack in 2004.
I have definitely earned it! I don't think people understand how difficult it is working on motors, It's very stressful and hard, physical graft!
You have certainly earned retirementdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 ,like you say people really dont realise how hard the job can be,The Hgv side of things is very physical ,and as you well know ,modern motors just aren't designed to be worked on now.
Certain genuine replacement parts may not, for reasons such as the age of the vehicle, may not be to OE spec. The aftermarket can often supply a better product or the same product in a different box at a lower price -the secret lies in knowing who makes what. The cheap aftermarket brand may well be identical to the "premium" brand; it's not unusual for a production run of a particular reference to end up in several different boxes for different customers. . . my record was seven!
OE parts are subject to a number or restraints, among them cost & the relationship between a manufacturer & its preferred suppliers.
When it comes to brake pipes I'll always go for cunifer rather than cheap OE steel.
I'm wishing now that I'd started selling popcorn at the start of this thread; I'd have made a fortune!
To be fair to the OP, if the workshop indicated or alluded to a full replacement pipe then only fitted a partial one, that is wrong.
I had a car fail MOT at a dealer for three corroded pipes. I instructed them to replace all four since much of the work would be already done (raising the car and subsequent bleeding) and they charged handsomely. When I took the same car for MOT a couple of years later and they failed it on a brake pipe I argued them it had been done "recently" until they showed me. Damn dealers.
As for charging for a complete reel of copper pipe, that is surely a "consumable" in an auto workshop - they might fix half a dozen cars from a reel, are they going to charge all those owners for a complete reel or charge each in proportion to the length actually used? And cutting off 50% over length and charging for that is also wrong, shape it up first then cut close to length (though on a £3.5k bill that alone wouldn't make much odds).
I'm not sure how big a reel is (ie whether it's 40 feet), but if you try and buy it online, 25ft seems to be a standard length.HTH
You can be sure it's just too short to replace all runs on a typical car, so the occasional purchaser will need to buy two reels.
If an auto workshop is replacing only corrosion to pass MOT, they'll not use much per vehicle.
So only 40 feet on a Transit?data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7