A cautionary tale.

[Johnrgby]

Some weeks ago a female friend of ours broke the rear offside spring on her car, she took it to her normal repair garage, near Caleta which is also mine, and was given a quote of 405.25euros for the spring, which she paid then and there and was told it would take 3/4 weeks to arrive and they would contact her, and arrange to fit it, subsequently, she received a text message telling in her that Opal for safety reasons would only supply springs in pairs, and the new cost would be 711,50euros and they could be fitted on the 29th of October, so being a tad sceptical I arranged to take the car to the garage, and on arrival asked how they could quote an exact price for a single spring if they were only supplied in pairs? his immediate response was "We made an error the original quote was for the two springs, and so it turned out, another 60+ euros for fitting and job done, is it me or was there an attempt to take advantage of a female here? I will not name the garage, but if anyone needs to know PM me.

[IHX]

It definitely does not help being a woman in Fuerteventura to get things done for a reasonable price, is also my experience unfortunately. I would initially be more expressive, about such extreme costs. We women need to be better informed about cars and reasonable costs of car repairs as well. Not being Spanish does not help either of course.

Would love to buy and share a second hand car in Fuerteventura, to stop the expansive renting costs. Your story helps; it makes such an idea impossible for non-residents on this island.

An experience: a year ago I asked a decorator for a 65m2 outside on the first floor painting job. The guy (Richard) asked 3000 euros (420 euros for the paint)! We ended up doing it ourselves in 4 easy afternoons: cleaning, base layer and two white top layers. The Isaval quality paint and base layer costed all together 85 euro. Though, would appreciate it, to find a good trustworthy painter in the north, reasonable priced, for the next time.