Underbody treatment of Transit based Duetto

I have just agreed to have the underside of my Transit based Duetto 1999 done for £40 per hour plus materials - Expected invoice somewhere in the region of £1000. This is being done by people based at Lindfield in West Sussex. They use Dinitrol not Waxoyl. There is no welding to do - I just want to safeguard my investment against future horrors. 
Am I an idiot to pay this price?  

If you are handy at removing some bits of trim and can get down on your back its not a bad job to do its messy you end up with it in your hair if you don't wear a hat. I did my van with dinitrol i stripped near all the plastics out of the cab and did all the cavities and stripped the front bumper and lights off to get every were. To do your van it will be a bit more involved with it being a panel van( mines coach built so i only needed to do the chassis and cab). But if your chassis is clean and you don't mind getting on your back under it then you could save yourself a few quid. They may not remove trim and inject it into the doors i went a bit overboard as i want to keep my van a long time.

Mike

It seems a lot to me. If we assume that they will spend no more than £200 in materials (hard to see how they could spend that much at trade prices) then they are expecting to expend 20 hours on it. I tend to work very slowly, and I can't recall spending more than half that doing mine.

The other thing that would worry me is the "expected" bit. I would want to know ~exactly~ how much it was going to cost before the work was started.

Just did a check on Ebay and Dinitrol is not too expensive - you can get a complete kit for a "large vehicle" - including underbody barrier and wax spray (10 litres in total - you won't use more than that on a Duetto) plus a Schutz gun - for less than £130. So DIY would save you (potentially) many hundreds of pounds - if you feel that way inclined.

Come back Zeibart
We had our 2000 Duetto done by the man in Poole Waxol though! (2005)

Very thorough and at a fixed price
frederic

Interested in this as I am planning to use Dinitrol, possibly doing myself. I have started a new thread rather than crashing your topic Duetto 1999 

I had my Harmony Waxoyl'd last November for £450 inc. It was in Lower Upham (Hampshire) and although the premises were not inspiring the job seems to be thorough.

Duetto 1999 wrote:I have just agreed to have the underside of my Transit based Duetto 1999 done for £40 per hour plus materials - Expected invoice somewhere in the region of £1000. This is being done by people based at Lindfield in West Sussex. They use Dinitrol not Waxoyl. There is no welding to do - I just want to safeguard my investment against future horrors. 
Am I an idiot to pay this price?  

I was quoted £450 to have my Symbol Waxoiled by a rustproofing co in Sheffield. Will be having it done in Aug.,,BUSBY65.

Hmmmmmm??

Am I being cynical or realistic? (Answers on a postcard please! )

The OP's van is already 17 years old and needs no welding, which suggests that they didn't rust that badly even from 1999. Modern rust proofing is very much better than it was then, so maybe (for more modern vans) the problem is no longer such a worry, or it is being exacerbated by those wishing to sell the expensive treatment.

It's arguably more sensible for the OP to have his older van done than if it was new, but not for £1,000. That seems way over the top to me, and with no guarantee of final cost or that the job will be done conscientiously. Like others, I would do it myself, more to be sure a proper job is done than to save money - though it shouldn't be difficult with that open-ended estimate!!!!  (It's not a quote - it's no more than a guesstimate which could go a lot higher!! )

It's the sort of job that's impossible to verify. Splash plenty of jollop around and make sure it drips from various places, and the punter will be satisfied that his pride and joy is fully protected. It might be - but then again . . . . !!!

Personal choice in the end, but since we were asked if the OP is an idiot, I'd say he is (in the nicest possible way of course ) if he goes with a firm that won't even put a ceiling on a massive price tag like that!!

Just my opinion.

Dave

An interesting thread.....

I have waxoiled just about every vehicle I have had for the last (nearly) 40 years, but always done it myself, saving old clothes in the garden shed ready for the dirty task of lying underneath the vehicle spraying on warmed up waxoil, sometimes thinned a bit with white spirit.....!

Anyway, if the OP is talking about a company called Underbody Protection in Lindfield they seem to have some good reviews on t'internet and a few nice photos of vehicles looking gleaming underneath after treatment. They seem to keep the vehicle for several days to do a proper job....?

but for a grand?.....I will carry on getting dirty under mine I think!

Thought I should update - thanks for all the advice everybody.
Had it done anyway - I am no longer the sort who likes getting down and dirty with machinery and the chap at Underbody Protection at Lindfield struck me as a conscientious type - friendly too.
On balance - happy to have shelled out (I think).

All the best

I had my Fairford done with Dinitrol  when it had less than 50 miles on the clock - cost about £800.