Would you pay...

Tigger.ufo

Tigger.ufo

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Heather
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Yes
...to have a headlight lamp changed?

I have always changed my own lamps but took one look at my Peugeot Partner Combi nearside heatdlight and happily paid my local garage £10 to change it (including the lamp)

Offside one is no problem but the nearside one requires the removal of several bits (with tools!) to get at the lamp. :rolleyes:

Is this a Peugeot thing or are most modern cars an a**e to do the simplest things?
 
Modern cars are made very safe for pedestrians who bounce off bonnets as well as people in the cars as the front ends crumple, To keep everything away from the bonnet and to allow the body to crumple freely, the internals have to be tightly packaged, meaning that access to some things (such as light bulbs) is sometimes severely restricted. IIRC, some Renaults can take an hour or so for the whole job which might take just a minute or 2 on an older car.
 
Yes - had a bulb go s couple of years ago and got s replacement from the dealer - fitted it free and also checked / readjusted the headlight alignment. When I worked out the difference in price I paid for the bulb at the dealer v ordering it and fitting it myself, think it cost me £4 extra - so worth it.
 
Nope, even without a spare bulb in the dark in the middle of the Lakes I've swapped a main beam bulb for a blown dipped beam one.

Less than 5 minutes by the light from my phone :)

One of many benefits to buying a well engineered car.
 
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The bulbs on my Saab used to go so often that I got really good at changing them - even the one where your wrist has to bend the opposite way :)

But usually now I just pay somebody else to get burnt on hot bits of engine.
 
Easy to change on my Classic Mercs, but if I owned a modern car and it was an awkward job, then I'd happily pay.
 
Nope, mine takes a couple of minutes and is so easy to do, having said that my garage guy normally does it free for me if I pop in there :)
But a friend had a car that you had to actually remove a front wheel to do it, can't remember what model it was, hence why you see so many cars with just
one light, even Halfords quote "from" in their prices for changing them ;)
 
My Celica used to be good at blowing bulbs even though it was only a year or so old. One blew on the M27 so I rang 24 hour assistance as it was 11:00 at night.

The guy who came out was not chuffed as he struggled to find the right one but also found it a right PITA to fit.

Luckily I was in my hotel with a bite to eat whilst he spent the best part of an hour on it.

Having driven down from Yorkshire I was a tad tired too, so was quite relieved that I wasn't under the bonnet.
 
My MK1 Focus was a PITA as there was very little room behind the lights but after changing the bulbs a few times I could do it just by "feel".

My MK2 Focus is dead easy..... one screw holds the headlight in then it simply unclips and comes completely away from the car.

The wifes old Pug 107 on the other hand was a complete mare! Battery needed to be moved to get to the nearside light and it was a fiddly as anything!

A mate of mine had a 51 plate Golf and used to get his bulbs changed every service as it involved removing the front bumper :eek:
 
I change mine myself but I've also paid a small fee at Halfords once or twice. Just depends where I am or what I'm doing.

I used to own a Peugeot 307 SW and from memory one of them was a pita to change.
 
Yes!
My Defender needs most of the front end stripped (that's after the bull bar removal). I have done it - once. The second time it took me an hour to get into it in the dark and the problem wasn't the bulb or anything I could fix. Put it all back together (how many screws do you need to hold a few bits of metal in place FFS?) & gave it to the garage.
Bought a bulb for my baby commuter car, read the manual & thought 'how hard can that be' (talking as someone who's stripped and rebuilt quite a few motorbikes). After much cursing and nursing a sore hand I took it to Halfords. It's worth it to stand and watch someone else struggle.............. and they do - it's not just me.
 
Halfords won't touch the Honda Civic or CRV they are according to them a nightmare.
 
Our local garage will change a bulb and only charge the price of the bulb, so now I just take it round there :) ...
 
I've always done my own apart from on a stupid megane sport that I had where you had to undo some section of the bumper to do it!

Luckily I'd bought the car off a friend who worked at Renault and it got done for free otherwise i would have been fuming!
 
I always do my own, but the 'shop does it for a tenner' reminded me of when I needed the air filter changing on the C4. We had one of those 'in n out' service centres who quoted £25 replacement for air filters (any make or model). He asked me if I was serious when I requested the air filter changing (IIRC it's a 2 hr job at Citroen), I just smiled and said 'of course, is there a problem?' His face dropped but they did it (2 of them, just over an hr). :D
 
This thread is a jinx.
Side light gone on the commute home, you buggers :lol:
 
fabs said:
Mrs fabs has a Civic and has been taking it to Halfords for years.
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They wouldn't touch my 07 8th gen,said bumper has to be dropped down,and after 40 minutes gave up on my brothers 08 plate CRV.
 
fabs said:
Wife's is an 02 which would be the older shape so that could explain it.
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Probably right mate,a lot more room around the engine,is it petrol.I have the 2.2 diesel and no room around the engine bay at all.
 
I wouldn't feel right getting someone else to do it for money!
I've always done it myself. The worst one was my Merc.
 
wife used to have a megane. to change the lightbulb either on a ramp or remove wheel as the entrance to it was through a flap in the wheelarch. Unless you had skinny long arms, wheel off job. Was a pain in the arse. Halfords used to charge about £3 or so. No brainer.
 
donetello said:
Halfords won't touch the Honda Civic or CRV they are according to them a nightmare.
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Mk6 Civic is a piece of cake to change, Dad's Mk7 not so much, in fact I haven't worked out how yet, according to the manual there;s a flap in the arch liner which should give access - except that behind it is a whole host of gubbins that ain't headlight!

My FTO requires full on bumper removal to get at the HIDs for changing their builbs. The halogen main beams can be done in situ but are a funny type bulb I've never seen before. Best lights I've ever had on a car though so worth the aggro.

Celica was easy, pop the lights up wrestle with the rusted up Philips screws to get the chrome retainer ring off then pop the light out, change bulb and in classic haynes fashion refitting is the reverse of removal.
 
I'm a "car guy" so I do all the work on my cars myself at home or whilst on a skive at work. Apart from MOT time because I'm not qualified to carry out the inspection.
 
A lot of cars are a pain in the backside to change bulbs but with all the new LED technology making it's way into the market it will be a matter of ....Sorry Sir we need to change the headlight not just a simple case of a bulb.
 
kendo1 said:
I wouldn't feel right getting someone else to do it for money!
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That's how I feel about everything. I will never pay someone to do something I can do myself.

And if someone else can do something, so can I (usually!).


Steve.
 
shreds said:
My Celica used to be good at blowing bulbs even though it was only a year or so old. One blew on the M27 so I rang 24 hour assistance as it was 11:00 at night.

The guy who came out was not chuffed as he struggled to find the right one but also found it a right PITA to fit.

Luckily I was in my hotel with a bite to eat whilst he spent the best part of an hour on it.

Having driven down from Yorkshire I was a tad tired too, so was quite relieved that I wasn't under the bonnet.
Click to expand...

That sounds like the sort of job I'd get, standing contorted in a cold windy car park watching a guy drinking wine and eating a meal

I wouldn't pay , I can't pay anybody to do something I can do myself

I have regretted it on numerous occasions though
 
wack61 said:
That sounds like the sort of job I'd get, standing contorted in a cold windy car park watching a guy drinking wine and eating a meal

I wouldn't pay , I can't pay anybody to do something I can do myself

I have regretted it on numerous occasions though
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If I can do it, I will.

Came home one night after a plumber was supposedly redoing our pipework.

It wasn't finished but was such a pigs ear of contorted and ill fitting oddments it would have prevented the floorboards going back down anyway, I cut it out and re-brazed a dozen joints to make workmanlike job, that fitted properly. On the Monday the guy rang me to ask who I had in to do such a neat finish and as he was looking for a new plumber, did they want a job?

He was gobsmacked when I told him I did it and he repeated his offer.

I naturally declined.;)
 
I have had Volvos for over 12 years now. If a light bulb goes, a warning message is shown on display. I take it to my Volvo dealer, he takes the keys whilst I enjoy a free cup of coffee. The keys are returned with an invoice for only the cost of the bulb. I haven't changed a bulb for over 12 years.:)
 
donetello said:
Halfords won't touch the Honda Civic or CRV they are according to them a nightmare.
Click to expand...

I changed the nearside main beam bulb on my 08 Honda CRV a couple of months ago, it
took about ten minutes, it all has to be done by feel as you cannot see where your trying to fit the bulb.
 
Wait until you have to remove the bumper and physically take the headlight out that's when you know it's a pain in the backside. I have many battle scars from changing headlight bulbs on various friends and family cars.
 
the 8th gen honda civic ( non HID ) is ok for headlamp bulb changes but you need to move the battery to get access to the nearside, the offside is a simple case of removing a 10mm bolt that holds the expansion bottle in place so you can move it to one side then there's plenty of room

don't think iv'e ever paid for somebody to change a bulb in a car but the way things are going in modern cars it doesn't mean that in the future i won't
 
307 SW requires bits of plastic to be removed first (without tools) IIRC. At least it's not like changing the spark plugs on a Citroen GSA, which requires the engine lifted for one of the rear ones. :p
 
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