My water pump broke on my volkswagen golf tdi so I took it to a garage. He charged me ?250 for a new pump and fitting. When I came to collect it he showed me the broken water pump, when I asked if I could keep the broken pump that was taken out of my car he said that there would be quite a quot;heftysurcharge for me to take it with me because they have to send them back to Volkswagen. I thought it was a bit strange. Is that normal?
they shouldnt charge u since it technically trash but ive heard car manafactures buy back parts to refurbish them and resale them maybe he just wanted the money from not being able to do that
He would have charged you a core charge (sometimes more than the replacement part costs). A lot of companies refurbish old parts and require you to turn in the bad part so they can repair it.
What you're talking about is what we in America call a Core charge. If I buy a new water pump for my car and take it home to do it myself, the pump is going to cost me $80. There is also a core charge of another $20 from the parts store that I use. So I'm paying $100 to take home my water pump. However, if I were to have brought in my old pump to exchange it...then I would only pay the $80 for the part. Or if I took it home at $100 and then returned the old one after I got my car fixed...then they'd give me the the $20 back. The reason for this is that a lot of companies can recondition these parts and make them as good as new. This is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying new components to make new parts. Say a water pump is leaking only because the seals in it are failing. They can take it apart, replace the seals (and anything that looks like it needs replacing, clean it all up, and put it back together. And that reconditioned water pump (which has a warranty that's the same as the new part and often times better) would usually be sold for $60. So likely that's what's going to happen to it. It'll go back to VW so they can re-manufacture it and recycle it for use in another car that needs a water pump.
