Differential went bang..

A fiend of mine is having a few problems with his Multipla. Its a 1.6 petrol version with a manual gearbox.
He was reversing up a slight hill and there was a big bang from the gearbox and it has locked solid.

He has since taken it to a dealer for repairs and apparently one of the planet gears has become detached and locked up the Diff.
The garage want to charge him £1200 for a repair and they say this is a common problem.
Is this a fair price and is it a common fault. The car has been looked after and has 75,000 miles on it.

Cheers,

Simon.

I personally think that is a bit excessive i dont know how mechanically minded you guys are but is it not worth sourcing a second hand gearbox and changing it yourselves? im sure you could pick one up for about £100?

HTH

I agree, £1200 is barmy! I would either fix it myself or fit another gearbox from a scrappa. If you aren't able to do this yourself, surely you must be able to get someone to do it for you for a reasonable price.

Fiat gearboxes are not as bad as some makes (Volkswagen springs to mind!) and this is definitely not a common fault but one that can happen in any car at anytime. Salvage yard would be the best bet.