has anyone else ever been ripped of by their main car dealer (uk) for repairs?

ANY time you visit a car dealer, someone will try to rip you off.

That said, any reasonable mechanic would warn you if major components were failing and their likely cost.

Try a specialist like mr clutch

Yes. Mercedes dealers are classic. What normally happens is you book your car in for a service and a couple of hours later you get the phone call telling you you need 'this and that'and as you are stuck on the end of a phone and 'they must know what they are talking about' you agree to sometimes hundreds of pounds worth of work. Now obviously sometimes this is justified as they do pick up problems at service but I have caught two different dealers out recommending unnecessary work. One was Suspension bushes (on a 12 month old car) that they informed me by phone needed replacing. I declined and they were checked my an in dependant Mercedes engineer and found to be fine. The other case was a 'First service' on a car only a few months old where I had the phone call telling me they needed to fit new brake discs (Rotors) as they were "below tolerances". -The car was still on its original pads ! I refused and instructed them just to fit the pads. When I collected the car I asked for the figures relating to minimum tolerance and the actual measurements of my rotors, The 'Technician' had not kept a copy. -Darn convenient i think. 8 months later (and another 26k miles) the vehicle was again serviced by a different main Mercedes dealer, new pads were fitted but Guess what? No mention of any problem with the rotors.

Something 'Smells' I think !

I am having a similar problem, my clutch broke on the 19th july took it to my garage, then i had my car for 10 days when they said it'd be ready after 3, then 4, then i rang and they said your car is ready but your exhaust will be done tomorrow, i said there was nothing wrong with my exhaust, and then they said well we "noticed" there was a problem, its advisory though so you can pick it up today, now my car is so loud i cant drive it and a warning light is flashing on the dashboard i had two different people look at it and they said it looks like they've knocked off something to do with the cat manifold and catalytic converter and it looks like its happened when they were fixing my clutch, it's going to cost me another 200 pound when its the garages fault why its broken, i cant afford to spend another 200 pound on it and whats worse is its their fault!

To be honest, with a car that's nearly 10 years old you are better off going to an independent mechanic. They'll do a good job as their business relies upon reputation and will be a hell of a lot cheaper. Ask around and somebody will recommend a garage to you.

If the car was less than 5 years old then I would say use a main dealer, but it's not.

I would try a good local independent dealer, a dealership is going to charge top prices and labour, as the car is 10 years old there is no point paying for out for genuine Peugeot parts when Unipart non-branded ones are just as good. it's not really a rip off but its different when a car is still under warranty and you don't have to pay..

You'll pay top dollar at a Peugeot dealer. I'd take it to a decent local backstreet garage, and stay away from places like Mr. Clutch and KwikFit, they're rip off merchants.

It is possible that this stuff is wrong but why not go to an independant garage who will be much cheaper and hopefully more honest..400 is about right for a clutch but he could be lying about the other stuff!

Id just use the £1300 its gonna cost to buy a new car

go to a second opinion and a third opinion and you will be able to answer your own question