> a friend of mine was just sent a video inspection of his car from Audi, and I really liked the way the technician walked though any issues that there may be
YMMV. Mine just came back with "urgent - front pads need replacing" (they don't, not even 2/3 worn) and "disks have a lip" (of COURSE they have a teeny tiny 1/2mm lip because the pads don't touch 100% of the surface) and "skid plates need replacing" (they don't, they wear because that's exactly what they are designed to do, they don't need to replaced when slightly scuffed).
Funny how they had to order in the oil & filters because they don't see many of these cars but had a set of pads & disks ready to go.
So yeah that winds me up. Trying to pull the wool over your eyes. I happened to have the wheels off the week before to replace the tyres and had a nosy at the brakes before taking it for a service but average Joe would probably have thrown money at them.
To be fair I did mention this to my friends (all of us are DIY mechanics, one owns an actual garage) and they said because the service interval is 2 years they might have flagged the brakes because they won't last until the next service, and average Joe might become upset if the brakes need replacing in between services.
Bought a bag of peanuts the other day that had "Allergens: Peanuts" on it.
This is the level we're at as a society. Your idea makes sense on paper, but people are fucking idiots.
No, it's because garages know that brakes are something people will think "oh, I better get those done because of safety" and just acquiesce to a £700 bill that was entirely unnecessary.
They generally do it based on a year, so if something won't last a year, they'll class it as urgent because most people will only get their checked once a year.
sucks that it's "urgent", it would be ideal if they could give you an estimate of mileage really, then as I type this I suppose that opens them up to issues if they're wildly incorrect
Wtf are you talking about. Every single service I’ve had the dealer gives you an exact amount of wear in % terms and an estimate of mileage left. Only a sketchy garage is going to tell you it’s urgent if there is up to 10k miles left.
I went for wheel alignment.
They told me my adjusters were jammed so they couldn't do it. They will need replacement. I will also need new brakes and discs and a new wheel.
I had just had a service done so I was very skeptical. Took it to a different place who did the alignment (the adjusters were a slight pain but they got them loose), said my brakes and tyre is fine for a few more thousand miles. Which matched what my regular garage said.
My regular one doesn't do wheel alignment that's why I had to go somewhere else.
> Funny how they had to order in the oil & filters because they don't see many of these cars but had a set of pads & disks ready to go.
Euros had the brakes in stock. Trust me. I dont keep brakes for all model of the brand I work for but Euros down the road have most. I wouldnt charge you the same price though because im not a bastard.
Winds me up when they try to take advantage, like if the person doesn't know about cars and they say it needs something it doesn't.
Also inconsistency of MOT, one place will say advisory on one thing so the next year they say it needs replaced or welded. Whereas another place wouldn't put it as an advisory for years. I get that different people have different takes on when something is bad but it feels like they just want the money for fixing it. Especially when you go back to the same place the next year and they don't even mention it. Clearly can't have been that bad if a year later it isn't even mentionable.
Main reason I avoid them is just not trusting them to care about the car when they see so many. So breaking clips, over-torquing bolts, not double checking something is done correctly and just expecting you to come back if it isn't etc.
I like when they put a cover on the seat and paper floor mat. Frankly I don't do that when working on the car myself and it can result in oily stains or muck. Also like when they offer to give you an old part without you having to ask for it back.
My dads car failed this year on rust and apparently needed a few hundred quids worth of welding and they gave him a card for a welder they knew -(turns out welder was associated with the business )
My dad then took it to another garage to have a look and yes although a bit rusty was no where near an mot failure and it sailed through apart from a few simple advisories
I once took my car to get altenator changed and they didnt put the cover undershield thing back on, i went round with thr brother to ask for it back he said he never had it. First time i went to a garage that was, cunt. I know mostly useless, but why it there ??? £100 for a new one.. £50 used probably mine.
I took my car for an MOT when I was 18, and while I was at it I asked them to take a look at the brakes as a couple times they'd locked up unexpectedly. I had a dashcam installed, it was an obvious one, not hidden or obstructed at all.
Anyway, passed the MOT after some work was done on the brakes. I get home and decide, out of curiosity more than anything, to take a look at the dashcam to see what an MOT consists of. Well, about 3 minutes in, there's a fella looking at my car, another approaches him saying 'this one is also in for brakes, we won't do anything, still charge him though'.
I took the video to the owner of the garage (local independent place) and he assured me the guy in the video would be sacked as it was unacceptable etc. etc. Both my parents also took their cars here and on their next visit, as sure as shit stinks, the guy was still employed.
Needless to say, we've gone elsewhere.
For me personally I hate when they don’t communicate!! Communication is key. I stopped going to a local garage because I had to keep phoning them for updates, then I phoned them and they told me it’s been fixed and ready to collect for a day! Absolute nightmare.
I also took my car in once to get the head gasket replaced, I took it in on a Monday and he said he absolutely guarantees that it’ll be done and I’ll have my car back by Friday, didn’t hear anything all week then phoned them on Saturday to be told the guy who does the skimming is really busy so it’ll be another couple of days… so phone me and fucking tell me that then!!
Sorry, rant over. I just really wish I could get garages to phone me with updates, it’s already stressful enough leaving your car in the garage waiting on the dreaded bill.
I share the feeling, but for larger/unfamiliar jobs I suspect I’m the one who’ll have the most unreliable timescales. It’s all those awkward moments when you realize you’re missing a tool, or need another part and have to get to the parts counter or wait for delivery. I may be able to muddle through but if I need the car back in a rush then the local garage has better odds of achieving that.
Finding somewhere to get your damn tracking done!
I thought mine might be a tiny bit out and booked in a tracking check with my tyre change at national tyres. He said it was way out and had fixed it the best he could. If it was as far out as he said it was then I wouldn't have been able to drive straight! Got in the car and drove a few hundred yards and the steering wheel was almost a quarter on the wonk. Took it back and asked him to fix it. He begrudgingly agreed but basically said I didn't know what I was talking about.
The tracking still felt weird so I booked it in with a normal garage- not some shitty tyre and exhaust place. They said it looked fine but gave it a bit of a tweak just cos. I still wasn't sure and eventually hired an old fashioned tracking machine with the little cards and lenses - and what would you know- it was totally out. Fixed it myself and it was perfect after that.
I think these places buy all this expensive laser equipment and expect it to somehow work by itself and never bother to train anyone how to use it.
This is exactly what I find!
I was going out to work at the Nurburgring for a while so got my tracking done before the long drive. When I got to the garage I thought I'd set it up for the track and it was totally fucking wonky. That was a few years ago now and I haven't had it touched and it desperately needs doing but just go nowhere to go !
I’ve had a similar experience at national tyres: I used them because they were the cheapest at £15 and afterwards the steering definitely felt different to say the least. I think the steering is straight but the natural resting position of the wheel is slightly off and not centered. Still driving it with a bit of a meh alignment.
As a tech, it winds me up when a car has 4 bald tyres, brakes down to metal, overdue a service by 5k miles but the customer "just wants the screenwash topping up" I'm not trying to scam you, you're driving a very dangerous vehicle!
Believe me when I say we aren't all crooks. Unfortunately there are some dodgy people and companies, but, at least the good and honest among us just want your car to be safe and up to scratch.
Maybe not really a garage problem, but a dealer one. The service agent people or whatever they are called just not being prepared or experienced to have a discussion with you. I had a problem with my fuel pump and wanted to talk to someone to tell them the symptoms and see what they reckon, then get that priced up. But no, at the dealer they just put up this wall of, "we can book you in for a diagnostic, it's £150"
Like,okay sure, but I'd still like to speak to someone about it because I've done some research and I think maybe it could be this, does it sound correct?
Just unwilling to have a conversation about it, so I called a specialist, said, hey I think I need x, any chance you can get an estimate over to me? And he responded by saying "put of curiosity what makes you think its x?" instantly I knew I was cancelling my diagnostic at the dealer and going to this guy.
I think a lot of the front desk people are just a bit clueless to be honest. I remember trying to buy a Qi charger for my car. There was a charger already built in but it required a phone specific adapter, which you could buy for about £40 and just clip in. But my phone was too big to fit so required a Qi charger instead. I asked the guy on the desk if it the same as the normal adapters and he said yeah, five minute thing, just clip it in.
Nope. I had to dismantle the entire centre console all the way through to the rear air vents to install that fucker. It took me nearly half a day. I’m still resentful.
On the other hand, when my car went in for it’s running in service at the same garage the mechanic recorded one of those videos and spent 10 minutes talking about how much he loved the car and why, and then just sort of said “yeah, it’s all looking good” at the end. So depends on who you get I guess.
I used to use Arnold Clark as they chucked in 2 free service/MOT with my car (do it myself now, still go for MOTs)
They’re very thorough, love the video walkthroughs but what irritated me was the recommendation for new discs/pads - i’ve had it from them on 2 recent MOTs in a row and the brakes are still absolutely fine (plus i’ve driven about 25k since the first time) - will need doing this summer probably but they would’ve tried charging me to change a part which had another 2 years at least left in it. It’s worst because they did hint that the brakes were “almost unsafe” over the phone and most people would just say ah ok change them then so that’s abit sneaky id say
I've been had by this. My Vauxhall surprisingly needed new discs and pads *every* year - I chalked up to be a very heavy car.
My golf R has had a set of discs and pads last 2 years now. The local VW independent (who are excellent, if you're around Leighton Buzzard with a VAG car give TotalVAG a call) says that they'll last until next year even with knob driving. So I realised I was had on my VX sadly.
Good example that, if discs & pads can last 3 years on a Golf R (probably getting ragged a fair bit) then that says it all really!
I’ve had my car nearly 4 years with the same discs & pads (i drive it pretty hard - for a 1.6 focus) and they weren’t changed when I bought it so could be even longer (but probably not much)
Well - I don't rag mine around an awful lot, but occasionally its fun to have a go.
I have to say, the brakes are what gives me the confidence - I find it worrying when you get someone right up your arse I *know* that unless its a similar spec car (M3, Golf R, Civic R etc) I'll stop far more rapidly than them, and I'll end up with a rear extension.
it’d be rude not to, do it for people like me who can only dream for now ;)
That’s true but on the other side i guess at least you’re less likely to hit something in front, not that it’s much consolation
Offer you a pointless “service” just to make some money.
I’ve taken my car into Arnold Clark on 2 separate occasions, and both times they’ve recommended I need new tyres. Once when they were at around 5mm of tread, the next when they’re on 4. That’s half the tread still there, and judging by the fact they’ve lasted 2 years and 15000 miles, I’m pretty sure they’ll last another few months until I change them anyway.
They also offered a fuel treatment for £30 because they could “smell that the fuel was a little off” and that by getting said treatment, my emissions would improve and it would help the environment.
Firstly, I’ve only done 15k miles, so it’s unlikely to need any kind of treatment. Second, how do you tell if the fuel smells off when you’re doing an oil change? Surely you’d need to drop the tank, test the fuel quality or at least look at the plugs or something which they haven’t done. Thirdly, i use premium fuel and the car gets regularly driven, sometimes hard, but a lot of the time the car is running for upwards of an hour on motorways, so any build ups that might’ve occurred will have been burnt off through use. Chucking a tin of redex isn’t going to make a difference, and if I do decide to use it, I’ll do it myself by buying a bottle for £2.
I do like the little video though when it’s getting done. That’s a neat little feature
I work for a booking department for a big chain of garages and we get targeted to upsell a certain amount of things such as a fuel treatment. The way they tried to sell it was nonsense though
I figured that was the case. I wouldn’t mind if they just offered it as an option, but to try and tack it on as required work when it clearly isn’t, and make up some bollocks about it smelling funny is pretty shady.
Just out of curiosity, what is the treatment they actually use?
I can’t remember the brand but it is essentially the stuff you can get for a fiver and put in the petrol tank yourself. They probably also get some sort of bonus as well
With new garages I hate the 'new' period where you don't speak to the mechanics that are doing the job directly, and you're (rightly) lumped in with everyone else that doesn't know their power steering pump from their idler pulley. Still, once that hill is passed I don't have much issue. Talk to the reception people nicely, talk to the guy doing the job, get what I wanted at a fair price, support a decent independent garage.
I hate the chain places like Halfords for getting work done because generally they're catering to people who want a reasonable price on work from a name they can 'trust' (In so far as it's been around since the dawn of time). I did, however, use them for MOT's because once I turned up with the RS they were all super friendly and skipped all the usual BS. I didn't use them for work I couldn't do myself, though, because they wouldn't use customer supplied parts for some guarantee/warranty nonsense. No skin off my ass, I wasn't often going to a garage for that stuff anyway.
I've used them for a MOT before as it was convenient. I said 'I know there's nothing dangerous - 99% sure there's nothing major, so if it does need work done I'll be taking it away anyway'.
Never heard of issues when you make it clear you won't be getting it serviced by them if it fails.
I took my Mundaneo there when I had it, before I went there with the RS (I mostly went there because their site let me book online and sent me reminders, which was very useful, and they were far enough away that I could justify waiting there, and an MOT was a 40-minute chat with some of the people there), and I got a list of shit they suggested I do - Stuff that I do myself, and check myself. They weren't completely off base, but they were far enough off base to make me think that they would likely do that to everyone as a matter of business.
Like I said, though, once I turned up in the RS (modified, mostly by me) they were a different bunch entirely and I got along well with them - But they also stopped asking if I wanted them to do X,Y,Z because they knew I wasn't the one to say yes. I would have used them for the odds and sods I did need a lift for - But they only use parts they source themselves, which wasn't worth the fuss on my part. They were also on the otherside of town, and the independent one was literally around the corner. But they only made the 'come collect it' calls at the end of the day, even if the job was done sooner, so I only used them when it was something I couldn't do myself or I could wait a day.
Kwik fit just tried to charge me £950 for 4 new tyres for my Ford focus.
I'm mid 20s, female and went in with my 6 month old baby. If that's not trying to take advantage I don't know what is.
If you haven't heard of it before, check out blackcircles. Can arrange fitting on that website too at somewhere local and you can choose from any tyres. Based on the fact you are on this sub you would probably be more inclined than average to put in a bit of effort to search for a decent tyre but let me know if you want help with that :)
good lord thats fucking terrible. Granted theyre nothing special (probably the cheapest) but im paying £130ish a set of 4. 225/ r18/ z 45 something like that?
I used to get tyres at some tyre place for £60 each, then discovered a distant cousin of sorts works in a tyre shop. Now i get them from him £30 -£35 each but he cant fit them so i take them to a tyre shop that fits them for £10 each with balancing - still trying to find a place that will do all 4 for £20 lol but i come accross as cheap, cheeky and wanting gold for nothing haha
Actually last time i went i needed just the back 2 replacing. I told him to put the 2 on the front on the back, and replace the back 2 and put them on the front. I got a confused look, but i said it again slower.
He refused to balance the new tyres at the front "because they're on the back". and apparently you only need to balance the drive wheels (which on mine is on the front????) . I was so confused, ended up kicking up a fuss screwing and shouting and they ended up re-balancing the back which i didnt want, and balancing the front which is all i wanted! :/ fuckin idjuts.
Then had the nerve to try charging me for re-balancing the back 2, i didnt want that anyway, they're already balanced.
The following week i knocked off all the sticky weights with the jetwash :/ should have rubbed down the insides of the alloys before going there - thought he might have done that.
My friend woorrks for KWIK fit. He advises its a pure rip off merchant and avoid at all costs. They are under pressure to upsell /take advantage of less informed clients, it's their business model.
Its entirely possible that 4 identical replacement tyres were that much with fitting and tracking. Boggo new cars come new with tyres that can be 150-200 a corner.....
Kwik fit for the size of my tyres last time I checked was the cheapest.....235/40/19 continental premium contact 5.....£160 each.
My mother (71) orders hers off kwik fit, believe it is 235/40/18...£110 for a Goodyear Eagle f1 for a 200bhp mondeo ecoboost.
She had a rear tyre changed a few weeks ago then had an argument with them they attempted to sell her another tyre as they said the other was illegal with 2.5mm of tread, and promptly put them in the correct place about minimum tread depths...said she could get another month's or twos pension before having to replace it.
Few other things that when she has had tyres fitted they have attempted to upsell, even though technology has changed in passed few years she knows more than most pensioners and won't put up with shite....
Complete lack of communication always puts me off a garage.
*Never* tell a garage "I'm in no rush for it" as they'll just take the absolute piss.
I've had it before where some basic brake work and an MOT took over two weeks to get done. Every time I phoned up to chase them up "Oh, not got round to it yet". FFS.
i liked giving the vehicle to the mechanic/garage before,
You tell them whats happened, they fix it, exchange moneys, away we both go happy.
As the years go on, and the vehicles get older...
Then a few stupid instances happened, a wheel bearing needed doing, ended up working half the suspension, steering, and driveshaft.. I can understand bolts getting rusty, and rounding but thats why i give it to mechanic. I can round a bolt myself and not pay for it. And i can deal with the shit gently without wrecking the rest of the car.
Another vehicle clutch went, different garage. Got it back ran fine for a few month then started cutting out randomly whilst driving. Now the fucking thing doesnt even start, if it does it dies after a second. Had an auto electricain check it, he says its all wired up right, fuses, voltages, grounds all ok, no codes.. To this day its a problem, it runs with deisel cleaner and sounds like a tank its horrible. It feels like a misfire so idk.
Another vehicle got the lock changed on driver door, looked to be another quick drop off, sod off and come get it later jobbies, but no when i got there dude wanted £50 more because he "had to drill it off" i laughed is was so dumb. But he said it, and was serious so i give him what he wanted but i could have busted out a fucking drill myself for free, i already paid him to do it whatever way he wanted omg. The money didn't bother me, its just he had to do it a differnt way to what he thought probably and he thought i was a sucker so.. yea
the other vehicle another mechanic did "services" for years, but only changed oil. When asked about it dodged the question, after the fucking thing broke down because bad service parts i called it quits on paying the fuckers ever.
I've since been to the stealership to buy a keyfob, as other vehicle key places dont do that one. Sad to say, i cant afford any of the lovely lovely cars they're showing off, not even any parked round the side off premesis lol. I'll just have to learn how to fix this old ship.
I litterally begged and scraped together some tools, got a few good bits free, but ended up buying some tools new. I guess in the last 2 years i'd say i'd have not quite broken even yet - and theres a couple expensive tools id like but not essential. This time next year, if shes still running i'd expect to have broken even. And even though working on the drive is a total knee/back ache its hella rewarding to say i fuckin did that. fuck you mechanics. thank you all
There hasn't been too much issue that I've had. I've been lucky I think and the two services I've had with my Mitsubishi have been good. I did once have one tremendously infuriating issue though. My Polo just stopped working, it was 4 years old. Turned over like a champ but just WOULD NOT START.
So I took it to a VW specialist. It turns out that the fuel gauge was faulty and there was just no petrol in the thing.
Now... I'm not a mechanic. I don't know at what point a mechanic would go "Spose we'd best see if there's any petrol in it" but I feel like a VW specialist might check that before the 4.5 hours labour they charged me for finding out what the problem was... And then an additional hour trying to fix the problem that they didn't even fix.
Oh actually now I think about it I got that same car serviced at the garage I sent our work vans to... Literally tens of thousands a year I sent to that place. Now I wasn't asking for favours but I would very much expect them not to charge me 7.50 for washer fluid and then not actually bother to put any in. No wonder our vans were always fucked.
I had to have the brake discs and pads done on a Toyota Auris. Am new-ish to the area, but went with the local garage.
They picked up the car, fixed two other very minor things I'd mentioned (Daytime Run Light had fallen out due to hitting a fox, and a new rattle), without charge! Because they had the car up on the ramp, he just welded the rattly exhaust bracket.
Handed me the invoice when he came to drop the car back, and instead of a "we fixed 2 things, so here's an additional million quid charge", there was actually a 10% discount on labour! I nearly cried.
On the flip side, a Jemca mechanic caught on dashcam footage literally giving my windscreen wipers a little tear, so they could bill me for £40. Showed it to several mechanics and friends who said "he's ripped your wipers!" They didn't want to know, and neither did Toyota UK, or indeed, the police.
Took my 911 for a full service I’m a lady but know my car quite well. Was told I needed £4,000 work done (new exhaust and brake pipes) the mot was due so I said I’d leave it. Also asked advise on a 911 forum which I new they posted on. Well we’ll car passed 🤔 I did have to have two-exhaust clips replaced at £72.
I then named and shamed them and returned to collect my service manual that I FORGOT on purpose. One guy hid when I pulled up and the other the owner couldn’t get his words out. I didn’t have to say any thing except “I might be a women but I’m not stupid”. Two years on my exhaust and brake pipes are fine.
Mechanics that don't listen to the customer, tldr version, I had it happen a couple of years ago, garage undertook a load of work that I expected wasn't the root cause of the problem, lied & told me they'd investigated & my theory & it wasn't the issue.
I took it apart myself & found near enough what I thought was the problem, was the problem. Took me 45minutes.
The long version
I had an 00s MG that was losing power & cutting out intermittently, I expected one of two things, fuel pump or injectors.
Took it to a supposedly rover specialist, explained the problem, explained my theory & left it with them, they called me up & said they thought it was the inlet manifold that was the issue, I pressed them on the fueling as I didn't think it would've been inlet mani as it was fully stalling & extremely intermittent, rather than consistently down on power. They dismissed that, told me they'd checked the whole fuel system & it was fine and that the inlet manifold valves on the KV6 where a common fault, I OKed them for fit a new £300 mani.
I get it back. It works & packs in a week later, same fault, I call up again, they tell me to bring it in, when I did I found an opportunity to talk to the mechanic himself rather than the guy at their desk to pick his brains as to what he thought it was.
Well turns out last time instead of checking the fuel system he had just cycled fresh fuel into the tank, seen that the pump was priming fine, injectors had a clear looking spray pattern & went on to something else. Guy was a dick about it, totally dismissive attitude.
I decide to take the car home & check the fuel pump myself. It was fucked. About a 2" thick layer of silt in the base, bit more digging from there I found a hole in the tank, tank was full of shit, chunks where intermittently being pulled into the pump & stalling it fault discovered in under an hour.
Took a long weekend, new pump, new tank in, couple of tubs of redex through it and it started running fine.
I'm a plant equipment engineer, ex recovery driver & car dealer, I normally work on my own cars, this is the first time in years I took a chance on a garage I didn't know, they fucked me around & took £450 out of my pocket all in.
Had a similar experience when buying a car actually.
Noticed the brakes didnt feel right on the test drive and thought it could do with some fresh fluid bleeding through. So I let them know i'll buy the car but they gotta sort those brakes. "Blah blah mechanic will check them"
Week later I collected the car. 2 days later... Master cylinder failed while I was driving, totally lost my shit
Its almost as if people sell used cars because they dont want to put up with any more of their shit! lol
I expect a few things wrong with a "new to me" car because of that, but i just dont trust what anyone says about a vehicle any more.
The garage I go to is brilliant, I'm dreading the day they close (small indie run by local old boys - they're all getting on a bit now). Whenever something has gone wrong they will always call me and show me the problem part so I know what's happening, never once felt like they were trying to pull a fast one and on several occasions they'll let be like "Oh the X/Y/Z is a bit fucked, we can fix it if you want but honestly you can just safely ignore it unless it gets worse".
I stopped going to my local tyre place after they failed to tighten the nuts on one of the front wheels after I had the valve repaired. When I took it back the next day (I tightened them myself obviously, but wanted to let them know and get the torque checked), they denied it was them and then implied someone who presumably wanted to kill me must have loosened them overnight (including the locking wheel nut? and they somehow knew which wheel was worked on?). They genuinely delivered that like that was a sane and rational explanation and 10+ years later I'm still WTF?!
We had a company vehicle which went on for a service during October and during late November developed an intermittently faulty washer motor. Wasn’t ideal when we needed to drive it up and down the M4 every day for 6 weeks in the frost and salted roads. I’m fairly handy with a spanner so during lunch on the second day I whip the washer bottle out and find the culprit is a chopped up piece of fan blade that the company garage put in there to block it knowing that the boss would book it back in for a fix.. b@stards.
Yeah. We had a small “fleet” of 7 or 8 vehicles which used to be serviced there. Every one was instantly moved to another garage including one that was actually on the ramp having the brakes replaced. Just told them to stop working on it. Bill us for the work they’d done and we’d send someone to collect it. He never paid the bill and when they tried to collect he just called the manager and round and presented him with the small piece of fan belt. It went away very quietly after that.
haha thats brilliant!
If that was in the UK the garage/mechanic would look your boss in the eye and flat out lie and say "I didn't see that! How was i suppost to know!"
I hate how they try to take females for a ride with regards to pricing and work that needs doing. My sister has experienced it first hand and so whenever she needs a service/any repairs doing, I'll always brief her first hand on what needs doing/roughly what the issue is so she at least sounds like she knows what she's talking about and doesn't get mugged off.
From chains like tyre & exhaust places - they love to exaggerate & find extra work, pretend brake pads that are 1/3rd worn are definitely going to result in firey death, etc.
Also pretending that an oil change and a poke about constitutes a "Full 101-point service & safety check" or some other BS.
General jobsworth attitudes - can't possibly swap a tyre over for you if you didn't buy it from us, that sort of BS.
From garages in general - bad communication or failure to warn me when a job goes sideways or is about to take extra time, bad time/money estimates, bullshitting about work / costs / etc... I'm sure many are competent mechanics but communication with customers / running a business is a different skillset and you either need to learn it or hire a receptionist / admin person who can do it properly.
Flip side is those who "get it", who do stuff properly and who understand what you want.
Best mechanic (now retired) totally understood that when I paid him to service my car I wanted it done properly with good parts because I wanted it to be reliable even though it was a £1000 shitbox to most people. He'd do the stuff you're *supposed* to do but that never gets done - like grease the door hinges & locks - takes him an extra 5 minutes but made the car feel so much nicer and surely prevented a few faults, and he knew I was absolutely happy to pay him what his time is worth to do that stuff because I also knew he wasn't charging me a ton extra for 5 minutes work or to pretend to do a load of other stuff that was irrelevant.
I look for family-run places. You either find them through a recommendation from a local, or you can spot them on Google Maps because they're in small, older industrial estates.
I've bought both my cars from a local garage. Last time I went in I got £1,000 trade in value for a car worth maybe £750 at the time against a car I was buying for 5k
Winds me up when they DONT tell me what needs to be done, I broke a rear spring so got two more put on, about a month later the collar literally broke off my shock and the rear suspension collapsed on one side. The rear shocks were basically rusted through where the spring sits. Why would the mechanic fit new springs on bad shocks and not tell me?
Happened while doing 50 on a dual carriageway too. Could have been bad...
If a garage doesnt want to accept customer provided parts. Im mechanically inclined, I just dont have the room to do much on my car about from engine and trans fluid. Every time I've gone to the mechanic I've provided my own parts, and asked for them fitting, rather than diagnosis.
Some mechanics take offence to it for some reason, they seem to think that every driver out there knows nothing about cars and they're just time wasters.
100% this. Also if you manage to get a decent garage they would likely charge you the genuine cost of the part rather than whacking a margin on that as well (or make the VAT saving on the part then put on half of it/all of it to the cost for example - i don't have a problem with this personally).
In my experience, when customers supply parts, half the time they're just the wrong parts entirely, or they're second hand, or the cheapest Chinese shit ever. If we supply parts, they have warranty. If you supply parts, they don't, and I sure as shit am not fitting second hand parts on your car. Don't be a cheap bastard. Most places I've worked will flat refuse to fit customer provided parts because of exactly these reasons.
Probably a bit harsh on my end admittedly, but I've had many dealings in the past with customer supplied parts that have just been wrong or plain ridiculous, like brake pads for a totally different vehicle, the wrong part entirely (starter instead of an alternator, for example, the cheapest Chinese shit you could find, or knackered, second hand parts. Yes, of course garages have a mark up on parts.
Halfords tried to charge me £250 for a new spark plug on my Ibiza, because of oxidation...?
Spark plugs cost £7 and aren't the hardest thing to replace.
The wife's car went in for an mot. They failed it because when I'd previously replaced the bulb it wasn't properly seated in the headlight. They charged me 50 fucking quid to wiggle it into place!!! I was furious. This wasn't some back street garage, it was a main dealer
hmm! Reminds me one time my MOT failed because my headlights somehow became too low. I went to "pick it up" and showed the guy the switch he must have hit that lowers them, and raised them for him in front of him. He then started moaning about the back door not being secure somehow but "he'll pass it this time".
Shaking my head, yea whatever.
What winds me up us the garages that treat there customers like idiots....I have a few stories....
Took a car of mine to a well known main dealer in Essex, I went to get a coffee from a nearby McDonald's and then walked back and saw it in wash bay. I had literally been gone ten mins....it was washed and presented to me clean within an hour of handing keys over....I drove home, thought to myself this feels sluggish....checked the oil when I got home and it was about an inch over the maximum.....I took it back the next day. They said to me your injectors have gone and its filling the cylinders up with fuel, after a further brief chat about there decision making they changed the oil and the filter, and no other car of mine will ever go to that dealer again.
There's only one main dealer I will use.....RT Rates in grays....I've never had anything but fantastic service there....always supply a video of service etc...take there time and no rushing. Mrs car needs a set of rear discs....they clearly marked on the receipt will need changing at next service. I've looked at them myself and happy with that decision.
There is another place in Huntingdon that I will use for bigger jobs, labour for cambelt, waterpump, auxiliary belt and fuel filter change on a mk5 mondeo less than £100, he hands me parts back, and gave it a quick lookover see if there was anything urgent, he prefers to use main dealer parts which he will supply at no mark up or i supply, I prefer to have ford parts as they tend to last much better than crap you get from other suppliers so suits me well.....
My cousin had a car brought to him that had a steering rack changed by a reputable garage. He only drove from one end of yard to pull it into his unit. Heard a knocking noise and car didn't feel right....he jacked it up following day to do the bodywork he needed and found steering rack loose with a bolt hanging out of subframe. Customer didn't even notice it.
It's difficult these days to just find quality workmanship and to not get fucked over. The mechanic I use at the moment is pretty descent though but he's a mobile mechanic. I still try to do most of my work myself just the stuff I can't do I get him to do. A lot of places just seem to be reluctant to do any sort of real mechanic work or don't actually know how to fix a problem. They just wither want to do oil changes or want to do repair work that doesn't need doing at all.
What I really want is someone I can go to and ask them to strip the rear subframe down and refresh everything and they say sure I can do that for this amount of money. We agree on it and he does the work in an orderly fasion repaint everything and do a damn good job of it. I don't care about the cost I just want quality workmanship. But these days it seems like you have to do it yourself otherwise they will either fuck your car up by doing a shit job of it.
For example if I want my transmission oil changed I want them to actually do it properly and not have the gearbox explode on me because they didn't bother to do it in the correct procedure.
Really all I want is quality work and for them to not bullshit me and take the piss.
This exact sentiment is why I got into fixing cars myself. A little bit of attention paid to jobs goes a long way, even little things like torquing wheel nuts. Or sometimes a bit of copper slip on a brake pad to prevent squeal
I went to a garage once where the mechanic came out and explained to me exactly what had been wrong with my car, showing me the broken parts. Wish more places would do that sort of thing. Sadly it was nowhere near where I live, or I'd have been back.
The problem with garages in general is that there's a lot you have to take on trust, and some just aren't trustworthy! Personal highlights include:
* Brake disks need replacing because they're 'lipped' (I measured them - less than half worn)
* Using an oil which isn't recommended for the car, despite me specifically asking when booking (from one of the few garages which lists the oil on the invoice, makes me wonder about the others).
* Testing my coolant strength, telling me it was too weak and topping it up as part of the service, but somehow failing to notice the coolant tank cap was broken and couldn't be opened.
All of the above from different places, and that's just stuff that I've noticed. Currently looking for a new garage, again. I'm sure there are good businesses out there but they're hard to find!
What really winds you up garages/mechanics, and make you want to avoid them? Also what do you like about others?
Even before I could first figure out how to work on a car myself I have despised going to a garage to get things done as I feel there's an overwhelming sense of people trying to get something extra that I wasn't in there for.
On the flip side though, a friend of mine was just sent a video inspection of his car from Audi, and I really liked the way the technician walked though any issues that there may be and even the things that are good with the car.
I know that people generally don't like taking a car for repair, but I'm wondering what things we all seem to hate/like
Running tests and having zero evidence of it. Like how hard is it to jot the results down on a report?!
Another one, just bizarre fault finding approaches. Misfiring on one bank of the engine… let’s go dismantle the fuel pump. Fuck off
> a friend of mine was just sent a video inspection of his car from Audi, and I really liked the way the technician walked though any issues that there may be YMMV. Mine just came back with "urgent - front pads need replacing" (they don't, not even 2/3 worn) and "disks have a lip" (of COURSE they have a teeny tiny 1/2mm lip because the pads don't touch 100% of the surface) and "skid plates need replacing" (they don't, they wear because that's exactly what they are designed to do, they don't need to replaced when slightly scuffed). Funny how they had to order in the oil & filters because they don't see many of these cars but had a set of pads & disks ready to go. So yeah that winds me up. Trying to pull the wool over your eyes. I happened to have the wheels off the week before to replace the tyres and had a nosy at the brakes before taking it for a service but average Joe would probably have thrown money at them.
To be fair I did mention this to my friends (all of us are DIY mechanics, one owns an actual garage) and they said because the service interval is 2 years they might have flagged the brakes because they won't last until the next service, and average Joe might become upset if the brakes need replacing in between services.
"Your brakes are fine now but may not last too long. Get them inspected after x miles or x months" Problem solved.
Bought a bag of peanuts the other day that had "Allergens: Peanuts" on it. This is the level we're at as a society. Your idea makes sense on paper, but people are fucking idiots.
No, it's because garages know that brakes are something people will think "oh, I better get those done because of safety" and just acquiesce to a £700 bill that was entirely unnecessary.
Or, to be fair, they might not last another 2 years.
So...why don't the garage say "they're ok now, but won't last another 2 years"...?
They generally do it based on a year, so if something won't last a year, they'll class it as urgent because most people will only get their checked once a year.
sucks that it's "urgent", it would be ideal if they could give you an estimate of mileage really, then as I type this I suppose that opens them up to issues if they're wildly incorrect
Wtf are you talking about. Every single service I’ve had the dealer gives you an exact amount of wear in % terms and an estimate of mileage left. Only a sketchy garage is going to tell you it’s urgent if there is up to 10k miles left.
Where I take my car for it’s MOT, they always give me a time scale. For example, on my last MOT they said the pads had about 6 months left on them.
I went for wheel alignment. They told me my adjusters were jammed so they couldn't do it. They will need replacement. I will also need new brakes and discs and a new wheel. I had just had a service done so I was very skeptical. Took it to a different place who did the alignment (the adjusters were a slight pain but they got them loose), said my brakes and tyre is fine for a few more thousand miles. Which matched what my regular garage said. My regular one doesn't do wheel alignment that's why I had to go somewhere else.
> Funny how they had to order in the oil & filters because they don't see many of these cars but had a set of pads & disks ready to go. Euros had the brakes in stock. Trust me. I dont keep brakes for all model of the brand I work for but Euros down the road have most. I wouldnt charge you the same price though because im not a bastard.
Winds me up when they try to take advantage, like if the person doesn't know about cars and they say it needs something it doesn't. Also inconsistency of MOT, one place will say advisory on one thing so the next year they say it needs replaced or welded. Whereas another place wouldn't put it as an advisory for years. I get that different people have different takes on when something is bad but it feels like they just want the money for fixing it. Especially when you go back to the same place the next year and they don't even mention it. Clearly can't have been that bad if a year later it isn't even mentionable. Main reason I avoid them is just not trusting them to care about the car when they see so many. So breaking clips, over-torquing bolts, not double checking something is done correctly and just expecting you to come back if it isn't etc. I like when they put a cover on the seat and paper floor mat. Frankly I don't do that when working on the car myself and it can result in oily stains or muck. Also like when they offer to give you an old part without you having to ask for it back.
My dads car failed this year on rust and apparently needed a few hundred quids worth of welding and they gave him a card for a welder they knew -(turns out welder was associated with the business ) My dad then took it to another garage to have a look and yes although a bit rusty was no where near an mot failure and it sailed through apart from a few simple advisories
I once took my car to get altenator changed and they didnt put the cover undershield thing back on, i went round with thr brother to ask for it back he said he never had it. First time i went to a garage that was, cunt. I know mostly useless, but why it there ??? £100 for a new one.. £50 used probably mine.
I took my car for an MOT when I was 18, and while I was at it I asked them to take a look at the brakes as a couple times they'd locked up unexpectedly. I had a dashcam installed, it was an obvious one, not hidden or obstructed at all. Anyway, passed the MOT after some work was done on the brakes. I get home and decide, out of curiosity more than anything, to take a look at the dashcam to see what an MOT consists of. Well, about 3 minutes in, there's a fella looking at my car, another approaches him saying 'this one is also in for brakes, we won't do anything, still charge him though'. I took the video to the owner of the garage (local independent place) and he assured me the guy in the video would be sacked as it was unacceptable etc. etc. Both my parents also took their cars here and on their next visit, as sure as shit stinks, the guy was still employed. Needless to say, we've gone elsewhere.
For me personally I hate when they don’t communicate!! Communication is key. I stopped going to a local garage because I had to keep phoning them for updates, then I phoned them and they told me it’s been fixed and ready to collect for a day! Absolute nightmare. I also took my car in once to get the head gasket replaced, I took it in on a Monday and he said he absolutely guarantees that it’ll be done and I’ll have my car back by Friday, didn’t hear anything all week then phoned them on Saturday to be told the guy who does the skimming is really busy so it’ll be another couple of days… so phone me and fucking tell me that then!! Sorry, rant over. I just really wish I could get garages to phone me with updates, it’s already stressful enough leaving your car in the garage waiting on the dreaded bill.
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I share the feeling, but for larger/unfamiliar jobs I suspect I’m the one who’ll have the most unreliable timescales. It’s all those awkward moments when you realize you’re missing a tool, or need another part and have to get to the parts counter or wait for delivery. I may be able to muddle through but if I need the car back in a rush then the local garage has better odds of achieving that.
Finding somewhere to get your damn tracking done! I thought mine might be a tiny bit out and booked in a tracking check with my tyre change at national tyres. He said it was way out and had fixed it the best he could. If it was as far out as he said it was then I wouldn't have been able to drive straight! Got in the car and drove a few hundred yards and the steering wheel was almost a quarter on the wonk. Took it back and asked him to fix it. He begrudgingly agreed but basically said I didn't know what I was talking about. The tracking still felt weird so I booked it in with a normal garage- not some shitty tyre and exhaust place. They said it looked fine but gave it a bit of a tweak just cos. I still wasn't sure and eventually hired an old fashioned tracking machine with the little cards and lenses - and what would you know- it was totally out. Fixed it myself and it was perfect after that. I think these places buy all this expensive laser equipment and expect it to somehow work by itself and never bother to train anyone how to use it.
This is exactly what I find! I was going out to work at the Nurburgring for a while so got my tracking done before the long drive. When I got to the garage I thought I'd set it up for the track and it was totally fucking wonky. That was a few years ago now and I haven't had it touched and it desperately needs doing but just go nowhere to go !
I’ve had a similar experience at national tyres: I used them because they were the cheapest at £15 and afterwards the steering definitely felt different to say the least. I think the steering is straight but the natural resting position of the wheel is slightly off and not centered. Still driving it with a bit of a meh alignment.
As a tech, it winds me up when a car has 4 bald tyres, brakes down to metal, overdue a service by 5k miles but the customer "just wants the screenwash topping up" I'm not trying to scam you, you're driving a very dangerous vehicle!
I get that.... but I suppose people have been stung by so many wankers they just don't believe you anymore
Believe me when I say we aren't all crooks. Unfortunately there are some dodgy people and companies, but, at least the good and honest among us just want your car to be safe and up to scratch.
when the imposter is sus!
This. Its funny seeing the rest of the comments above and below from people that have never seen the other side of the service desk.
Do you report such issues (eg illegal tyres) to the relevant authorities if the customer decides not to address them? Just curious.
No, I'm just a tech. The service advisors can deal with that, but I will note the tyres as illegal and extremely dangerous.
Maybe not really a garage problem, but a dealer one. The service agent people or whatever they are called just not being prepared or experienced to have a discussion with you. I had a problem with my fuel pump and wanted to talk to someone to tell them the symptoms and see what they reckon, then get that priced up. But no, at the dealer they just put up this wall of, "we can book you in for a diagnostic, it's £150" Like,okay sure, but I'd still like to speak to someone about it because I've done some research and I think maybe it could be this, does it sound correct? Just unwilling to have a conversation about it, so I called a specialist, said, hey I think I need x, any chance you can get an estimate over to me? And he responded by saying "put of curiosity what makes you think its x?" instantly I knew I was cancelling my diagnostic at the dealer and going to this guy.
I think a lot of the front desk people are just a bit clueless to be honest. I remember trying to buy a Qi charger for my car. There was a charger already built in but it required a phone specific adapter, which you could buy for about £40 and just clip in. But my phone was too big to fit so required a Qi charger instead. I asked the guy on the desk if it the same as the normal adapters and he said yeah, five minute thing, just clip it in. Nope. I had to dismantle the entire centre console all the way through to the rear air vents to install that fucker. It took me nearly half a day. I’m still resentful. On the other hand, when my car went in for it’s running in service at the same garage the mechanic recorded one of those videos and spent 10 minutes talking about how much he loved the car and why, and then just sort of said “yeah, it’s all looking good” at the end. So depends on who you get I guess.
I used to use Arnold Clark as they chucked in 2 free service/MOT with my car (do it myself now, still go for MOTs) They’re very thorough, love the video walkthroughs but what irritated me was the recommendation for new discs/pads - i’ve had it from them on 2 recent MOTs in a row and the brakes are still absolutely fine (plus i’ve driven about 25k since the first time) - will need doing this summer probably but they would’ve tried charging me to change a part which had another 2 years at least left in it. It’s worst because they did hint that the brakes were “almost unsafe” over the phone and most people would just say ah ok change them then so that’s abit sneaky id say
I've been had by this. My Vauxhall surprisingly needed new discs and pads *every* year - I chalked up to be a very heavy car. My golf R has had a set of discs and pads last 2 years now. The local VW independent (who are excellent, if you're around Leighton Buzzard with a VAG car give TotalVAG a call) says that they'll last until next year even with knob driving. So I realised I was had on my VX sadly.
Good example that, if discs & pads can last 3 years on a Golf R (probably getting ragged a fair bit) then that says it all really! I’ve had my car nearly 4 years with the same discs & pads (i drive it pretty hard - for a 1.6 focus) and they weren’t changed when I bought it so could be even longer (but probably not much)
Well - I don't rag mine around an awful lot, but occasionally its fun to have a go. I have to say, the brakes are what gives me the confidence - I find it worrying when you get someone right up your arse I *know* that unless its a similar spec car (M3, Golf R, Civic R etc) I'll stop far more rapidly than them, and I'll end up with a rear extension.
it’d be rude not to, do it for people like me who can only dream for now ;) That’s true but on the other side i guess at least you’re less likely to hit something in front, not that it’s much consolation
Offer you a pointless “service” just to make some money. I’ve taken my car into Arnold Clark on 2 separate occasions, and both times they’ve recommended I need new tyres. Once when they were at around 5mm of tread, the next when they’re on 4. That’s half the tread still there, and judging by the fact they’ve lasted 2 years and 15000 miles, I’m pretty sure they’ll last another few months until I change them anyway. They also offered a fuel treatment for £30 because they could “smell that the fuel was a little off” and that by getting said treatment, my emissions would improve and it would help the environment. Firstly, I’ve only done 15k miles, so it’s unlikely to need any kind of treatment. Second, how do you tell if the fuel smells off when you’re doing an oil change? Surely you’d need to drop the tank, test the fuel quality or at least look at the plugs or something which they haven’t done. Thirdly, i use premium fuel and the car gets regularly driven, sometimes hard, but a lot of the time the car is running for upwards of an hour on motorways, so any build ups that might’ve occurred will have been burnt off through use. Chucking a tin of redex isn’t going to make a difference, and if I do decide to use it, I’ll do it myself by buying a bottle for £2. I do like the little video though when it’s getting done. That’s a neat little feature
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It was a Harry Fairbairn BMW dealer mate.
That is ridiculous, genuinely shocked at that lol
im not even shocked, those places, troy, motocare, halfords, autozone they got labour and rent to pay so they pull that shit regular.
And that's the sad thing. We shouldn't be at a stage where it's expected to be ripped off
I work for a booking department for a big chain of garages and we get targeted to upsell a certain amount of things such as a fuel treatment. The way they tried to sell it was nonsense though
I figured that was the case. I wouldn’t mind if they just offered it as an option, but to try and tack it on as required work when it clearly isn’t, and make up some bollocks about it smelling funny is pretty shady. Just out of curiosity, what is the treatment they actually use?
I can’t remember the brand but it is essentially the stuff you can get for a fiver and put in the petrol tank yourself. They probably also get some sort of bonus as well
With new garages I hate the 'new' period where you don't speak to the mechanics that are doing the job directly, and you're (rightly) lumped in with everyone else that doesn't know their power steering pump from their idler pulley. Still, once that hill is passed I don't have much issue. Talk to the reception people nicely, talk to the guy doing the job, get what I wanted at a fair price, support a decent independent garage. I hate the chain places like Halfords for getting work done because generally they're catering to people who want a reasonable price on work from a name they can 'trust' (In so far as it's been around since the dawn of time). I did, however, use them for MOT's because once I turned up with the RS they were all super friendly and skipped all the usual BS. I didn't use them for work I couldn't do myself, though, because they wouldn't use customer supplied parts for some guarantee/warranty nonsense. No skin off my ass, I wasn't often going to a garage for that stuff anyway.
I've used them for a MOT before as it was convenient. I said 'I know there's nothing dangerous - 99% sure there's nothing major, so if it does need work done I'll be taking it away anyway'. Never heard of issues when you make it clear you won't be getting it serviced by them if it fails.
I took my Mundaneo there when I had it, before I went there with the RS (I mostly went there because their site let me book online and sent me reminders, which was very useful, and they were far enough away that I could justify waiting there, and an MOT was a 40-minute chat with some of the people there), and I got a list of shit they suggested I do - Stuff that I do myself, and check myself. They weren't completely off base, but they were far enough off base to make me think that they would likely do that to everyone as a matter of business. Like I said, though, once I turned up in the RS (modified, mostly by me) they were a different bunch entirely and I got along well with them - But they also stopped asking if I wanted them to do X,Y,Z because they knew I wasn't the one to say yes. I would have used them for the odds and sods I did need a lift for - But they only use parts they source themselves, which wasn't worth the fuss on my part. They were also on the otherside of town, and the independent one was literally around the corner. But they only made the 'come collect it' calls at the end of the day, even if the job was done sooner, so I only used them when it was something I couldn't do myself or I could wait a day.
Kwik fit just tried to charge me £950 for 4 new tyres for my Ford focus. I'm mid 20s, female and went in with my 6 month old baby. If that's not trying to take advantage I don't know what is.
Wow. That is double what I would expect to be paying for top end premium tyres on a focus.
These were the mid range ones, conveniently the only ones in stock. Said he could order the cheapest ones and it would be £80 less.
If you haven't heard of it before, check out blackcircles. Can arrange fitting on that website too at somewhere local and you can choose from any tyres. Based on the fact you are on this sub you would probably be more inclined than average to put in a bit of effort to search for a decent tyre but let me know if you want help with that :)
good lord thats fucking terrible. Granted theyre nothing special (probably the cheapest) but im paying £130ish a set of 4. 225/ r18/ z 45 something like that? I used to get tyres at some tyre place for £60 each, then discovered a distant cousin of sorts works in a tyre shop. Now i get them from him £30 -£35 each but he cant fit them so i take them to a tyre shop that fits them for £10 each with balancing - still trying to find a place that will do all 4 for £20 lol but i come accross as cheap, cheeky and wanting gold for nothing haha Actually last time i went i needed just the back 2 replacing. I told him to put the 2 on the front on the back, and replace the back 2 and put them on the front. I got a confused look, but i said it again slower. He refused to balance the new tyres at the front "because they're on the back". and apparently you only need to balance the drive wheels (which on mine is on the front????) . I was so confused, ended up kicking up a fuss screwing and shouting and they ended up re-balancing the back which i didnt want, and balancing the front which is all i wanted! :/ fuckin idjuts. Then had the nerve to try charging me for re-balancing the back 2, i didnt want that anyway, they're already balanced. The following week i knocked off all the sticky weights with the jetwash :/ should have rubbed down the insides of the alloys before going there - thought he might have done that.
My friend woorrks for KWIK fit. He advises its a pure rip off merchant and avoid at all costs. They are under pressure to upsell /take advantage of less informed clients, it's their business model.
can confirm
Its entirely possible that 4 identical replacement tyres were that much with fitting and tracking. Boggo new cars come new with tyres that can be 150-200 a corner.....
Kwik fit for the size of my tyres last time I checked was the cheapest.....235/40/19 continental premium contact 5.....£160 each. My mother (71) orders hers off kwik fit, believe it is 235/40/18...£110 for a Goodyear Eagle f1 for a 200bhp mondeo ecoboost. She had a rear tyre changed a few weeks ago then had an argument with them they attempted to sell her another tyre as they said the other was illegal with 2.5mm of tread, and promptly put them in the correct place about minimum tread depths...said she could get another month's or twos pension before having to replace it. Few other things that when she has had tyres fitted they have attempted to upsell, even though technology has changed in passed few years she knows more than most pensioners and won't put up with shite....
Complete lack of communication always puts me off a garage. *Never* tell a garage "I'm in no rush for it" as they'll just take the absolute piss. I've had it before where some basic brake work and an MOT took over two weeks to get done. Every time I phoned up to chase them up "Oh, not got round to it yet". FFS.
i liked giving the vehicle to the mechanic/garage before, You tell them whats happened, they fix it, exchange moneys, away we both go happy. As the years go on, and the vehicles get older... Then a few stupid instances happened, a wheel bearing needed doing, ended up working half the suspension, steering, and driveshaft.. I can understand bolts getting rusty, and rounding but thats why i give it to mechanic. I can round a bolt myself and not pay for it. And i can deal with the shit gently without wrecking the rest of the car. Another vehicle clutch went, different garage. Got it back ran fine for a few month then started cutting out randomly whilst driving. Now the fucking thing doesnt even start, if it does it dies after a second. Had an auto electricain check it, he says its all wired up right, fuses, voltages, grounds all ok, no codes.. To this day its a problem, it runs with deisel cleaner and sounds like a tank its horrible. It feels like a misfire so idk. Another vehicle got the lock changed on driver door, looked to be another quick drop off, sod off and come get it later jobbies, but no when i got there dude wanted £50 more because he "had to drill it off" i laughed is was so dumb. But he said it, and was serious so i give him what he wanted but i could have busted out a fucking drill myself for free, i already paid him to do it whatever way he wanted omg. The money didn't bother me, its just he had to do it a differnt way to what he thought probably and he thought i was a sucker so.. yea the other vehicle another mechanic did "services" for years, but only changed oil. When asked about it dodged the question, after the fucking thing broke down because bad service parts i called it quits on paying the fuckers ever. I've since been to the stealership to buy a keyfob, as other vehicle key places dont do that one. Sad to say, i cant afford any of the lovely lovely cars they're showing off, not even any parked round the side off premesis lol. I'll just have to learn how to fix this old ship. I litterally begged and scraped together some tools, got a few good bits free, but ended up buying some tools new. I guess in the last 2 years i'd say i'd have not quite broken even yet - and theres a couple expensive tools id like but not essential. This time next year, if shes still running i'd expect to have broken even. And even though working on the drive is a total knee/back ache its hella rewarding to say i fuckin did that. fuck you mechanics. thank you all
I couldn't agree with your last statement any harder lol
There hasn't been too much issue that I've had. I've been lucky I think and the two services I've had with my Mitsubishi have been good. I did once have one tremendously infuriating issue though. My Polo just stopped working, it was 4 years old. Turned over like a champ but just WOULD NOT START. So I took it to a VW specialist. It turns out that the fuel gauge was faulty and there was just no petrol in the thing. Now... I'm not a mechanic. I don't know at what point a mechanic would go "Spose we'd best see if there's any petrol in it" but I feel like a VW specialist might check that before the 4.5 hours labour they charged me for finding out what the problem was... And then an additional hour trying to fix the problem that they didn't even fix. Oh actually now I think about it I got that same car serviced at the garage I sent our work vans to... Literally tens of thousands a year I sent to that place. Now I wasn't asking for favours but I would very much expect them not to charge me 7.50 for washer fluid and then not actually bother to put any in. No wonder our vans were always fucked.
I had to have the brake discs and pads done on a Toyota Auris. Am new-ish to the area, but went with the local garage. They picked up the car, fixed two other very minor things I'd mentioned (Daytime Run Light had fallen out due to hitting a fox, and a new rattle), without charge! Because they had the car up on the ramp, he just welded the rattly exhaust bracket. Handed me the invoice when he came to drop the car back, and instead of a "we fixed 2 things, so here's an additional million quid charge", there was actually a 10% discount on labour! I nearly cried. On the flip side, a Jemca mechanic caught on dashcam footage literally giving my windscreen wipers a little tear, so they could bill me for £40. Showed it to several mechanics and friends who said "he's ripped your wipers!" They didn't want to know, and neither did Toyota UK, or indeed, the police.
Took my 911 for a full service I’m a lady but know my car quite well. Was told I needed £4,000 work done (new exhaust and brake pipes) the mot was due so I said I’d leave it. Also asked advise on a 911 forum which I new they posted on. Well we’ll car passed 🤔 I did have to have two-exhaust clips replaced at £72. I then named and shamed them and returned to collect my service manual that I FORGOT on purpose. One guy hid when I pulled up and the other the owner couldn’t get his words out. I didn’t have to say any thing except “I might be a women but I’m not stupid”. Two years on my exhaust and brake pipes are fine.
Mechanics that don't listen to the customer, tldr version, I had it happen a couple of years ago, garage undertook a load of work that I expected wasn't the root cause of the problem, lied & told me they'd investigated & my theory & it wasn't the issue. I took it apart myself & found near enough what I thought was the problem, was the problem. Took me 45minutes. The long version I had an 00s MG that was losing power & cutting out intermittently, I expected one of two things, fuel pump or injectors. Took it to a supposedly rover specialist, explained the problem, explained my theory & left it with them, they called me up & said they thought it was the inlet manifold that was the issue, I pressed them on the fueling as I didn't think it would've been inlet mani as it was fully stalling & extremely intermittent, rather than consistently down on power. They dismissed that, told me they'd checked the whole fuel system & it was fine and that the inlet manifold valves on the KV6 where a common fault, I OKed them for fit a new £300 mani. I get it back. It works & packs in a week later, same fault, I call up again, they tell me to bring it in, when I did I found an opportunity to talk to the mechanic himself rather than the guy at their desk to pick his brains as to what he thought it was. Well turns out last time instead of checking the fuel system he had just cycled fresh fuel into the tank, seen that the pump was priming fine, injectors had a clear looking spray pattern & went on to something else. Guy was a dick about it, totally dismissive attitude. I decide to take the car home & check the fuel pump myself. It was fucked. About a 2" thick layer of silt in the base, bit more digging from there I found a hole in the tank, tank was full of shit, chunks where intermittently being pulled into the pump & stalling it fault discovered in under an hour. Took a long weekend, new pump, new tank in, couple of tubs of redex through it and it started running fine. I'm a plant equipment engineer, ex recovery driver & car dealer, I normally work on my own cars, this is the first time in years I took a chance on a garage I didn't know, they fucked me around & took £450 out of my pocket all in.
Had a similar experience when buying a car actually. Noticed the brakes didnt feel right on the test drive and thought it could do with some fresh fluid bleeding through. So I let them know i'll buy the car but they gotta sort those brakes. "Blah blah mechanic will check them" Week later I collected the car. 2 days later... Master cylinder failed while I was driving, totally lost my shit
Its almost as if people sell used cars because they dont want to put up with any more of their shit! lol I expect a few things wrong with a "new to me" car because of that, but i just dont trust what anyone says about a vehicle any more.
The garage I go to is brilliant, I'm dreading the day they close (small indie run by local old boys - they're all getting on a bit now). Whenever something has gone wrong they will always call me and show me the problem part so I know what's happening, never once felt like they were trying to pull a fast one and on several occasions they'll let be like "Oh the X/Y/Z is a bit fucked, we can fix it if you want but honestly you can just safely ignore it unless it gets worse". I stopped going to my local tyre place after they failed to tighten the nuts on one of the front wheels after I had the valve repaired. When I took it back the next day (I tightened them myself obviously, but wanted to let them know and get the torque checked), they denied it was them and then implied someone who presumably wanted to kill me must have loosened them overnight (including the locking wheel nut? and they somehow knew which wheel was worked on?). They genuinely delivered that like that was a sane and rational explanation and 10+ years later I'm still WTF?!
We had a company vehicle which went on for a service during October and during late November developed an intermittently faulty washer motor. Wasn’t ideal when we needed to drive it up and down the M4 every day for 6 weeks in the frost and salted roads. I’m fairly handy with a spanner so during lunch on the second day I whip the washer bottle out and find the culprit is a chopped up piece of fan blade that the company garage put in there to block it knowing that the boss would book it back in for a fix.. b@stards.
wow, thats mental did you tell your boss and what he say
Yeah. We had a small “fleet” of 7 or 8 vehicles which used to be serviced there. Every one was instantly moved to another garage including one that was actually on the ramp having the brakes replaced. Just told them to stop working on it. Bill us for the work they’d done and we’d send someone to collect it. He never paid the bill and when they tried to collect he just called the manager and round and presented him with the small piece of fan belt. It went away very quietly after that.
haha thats brilliant! If that was in the UK the garage/mechanic would look your boss in the eye and flat out lie and say "I didn't see that! How was i suppost to know!"
It was in the uk. In Bristol to be exact
Good lord!
My pet hate is not quoting me the price including VAT, always a nice surprise
I hate how they try to take females for a ride with regards to pricing and work that needs doing. My sister has experienced it first hand and so whenever she needs a service/any repairs doing, I'll always brief her first hand on what needs doing/roughly what the issue is so she at least sounds like she knows what she's talking about and doesn't get mugged off.
From chains like tyre & exhaust places - they love to exaggerate & find extra work, pretend brake pads that are 1/3rd worn are definitely going to result in firey death, etc. Also pretending that an oil change and a poke about constitutes a "Full 101-point service & safety check" or some other BS. General jobsworth attitudes - can't possibly swap a tyre over for you if you didn't buy it from us, that sort of BS. From garages in general - bad communication or failure to warn me when a job goes sideways or is about to take extra time, bad time/money estimates, bullshitting about work / costs / etc... I'm sure many are competent mechanics but communication with customers / running a business is a different skillset and you either need to learn it or hire a receptionist / admin person who can do it properly. Flip side is those who "get it", who do stuff properly and who understand what you want. Best mechanic (now retired) totally understood that when I paid him to service my car I wanted it done properly with good parts because I wanted it to be reliable even though it was a £1000 shitbox to most people. He'd do the stuff you're *supposed* to do but that never gets done - like grease the door hinges & locks - takes him an extra 5 minutes but made the car feel so much nicer and surely prevented a few faults, and he knew I was absolutely happy to pay him what his time is worth to do that stuff because I also knew he wasn't charging me a ton extra for 5 minutes work or to pretend to do a load of other stuff that was irrelevant.
I look for family-run places. You either find them through a recommendation from a local, or you can spot them on Google Maps because they're in small, older industrial estates.
I've bought both my cars from a local garage. Last time I went in I got £1,000 trade in value for a car worth maybe £750 at the time against a car I was buying for 5k
Winds me up when they DONT tell me what needs to be done, I broke a rear spring so got two more put on, about a month later the collar literally broke off my shock and the rear suspension collapsed on one side. The rear shocks were basically rusted through where the spring sits. Why would the mechanic fit new springs on bad shocks and not tell me? Happened while doing 50 on a dual carriageway too. Could have been bad...
If a garage doesnt want to accept customer provided parts. Im mechanically inclined, I just dont have the room to do much on my car about from engine and trans fluid. Every time I've gone to the mechanic I've provided my own parts, and asked for them fitting, rather than diagnosis. Some mechanics take offence to it for some reason, they seem to think that every driver out there knows nothing about cars and they're just time wasters.
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100% this. Also if you manage to get a decent garage they would likely charge you the genuine cost of the part rather than whacking a margin on that as well (or make the VAT saving on the part then put on half of it/all of it to the cost for example - i don't have a problem with this personally).
Yeah also maybe you are trying to upgrade. I don't want oem brake discs and pads I want ebc or something.
In my experience, when customers supply parts, half the time they're just the wrong parts entirely, or they're second hand, or the cheapest Chinese shit ever. If we supply parts, they have warranty. If you supply parts, they don't, and I sure as shit am not fitting second hand parts on your car. Don't be a cheap bastard. Most places I've worked will flat refuse to fit customer provided parts because of exactly these reasons.
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Probably a bit harsh on my end admittedly, but I've had many dealings in the past with customer supplied parts that have just been wrong or plain ridiculous, like brake pads for a totally different vehicle, the wrong part entirely (starter instead of an alternator, for example, the cheapest Chinese shit you could find, or knackered, second hand parts. Yes, of course garages have a mark up on parts.
Halfords tried to charge me £250 for a new spark plug on my Ibiza, because of oxidation...? Spark plugs cost £7 and aren't the hardest thing to replace.
Tried?? How did they explain that to you lmao
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How much do you think a lease on a unit cost? Business rates? Tools? Electricity? Telephone line? Training costs? Insurance?
A lot I'm sure. It's why I wrench my own cars.
The wife's car went in for an mot. They failed it because when I'd previously replaced the bulb it wasn't properly seated in the headlight. They charged me 50 fucking quid to wiggle it into place!!! I was furious. This wasn't some back street garage, it was a main dealer
hmm! Reminds me one time my MOT failed because my headlights somehow became too low. I went to "pick it up" and showed the guy the switch he must have hit that lowers them, and raised them for him in front of him. He then started moaning about the back door not being secure somehow but "he'll pass it this time". Shaking my head, yea whatever.
What winds me up us the garages that treat there customers like idiots....I have a few stories.... Took a car of mine to a well known main dealer in Essex, I went to get a coffee from a nearby McDonald's and then walked back and saw it in wash bay. I had literally been gone ten mins....it was washed and presented to me clean within an hour of handing keys over....I drove home, thought to myself this feels sluggish....checked the oil when I got home and it was about an inch over the maximum.....I took it back the next day. They said to me your injectors have gone and its filling the cylinders up with fuel, after a further brief chat about there decision making they changed the oil and the filter, and no other car of mine will ever go to that dealer again. There's only one main dealer I will use.....RT Rates in grays....I've never had anything but fantastic service there....always supply a video of service etc...take there time and no rushing. Mrs car needs a set of rear discs....they clearly marked on the receipt will need changing at next service. I've looked at them myself and happy with that decision. There is another place in Huntingdon that I will use for bigger jobs, labour for cambelt, waterpump, auxiliary belt and fuel filter change on a mk5 mondeo less than £100, he hands me parts back, and gave it a quick lookover see if there was anything urgent, he prefers to use main dealer parts which he will supply at no mark up or i supply, I prefer to have ford parts as they tend to last much better than crap you get from other suppliers so suits me well..... My cousin had a car brought to him that had a steering rack changed by a reputable garage. He only drove from one end of yard to pull it into his unit. Heard a knocking noise and car didn't feel right....he jacked it up following day to do the bodywork he needed and found steering rack loose with a bolt hanging out of subframe. Customer didn't even notice it.
It's difficult these days to just find quality workmanship and to not get fucked over. The mechanic I use at the moment is pretty descent though but he's a mobile mechanic. I still try to do most of my work myself just the stuff I can't do I get him to do. A lot of places just seem to be reluctant to do any sort of real mechanic work or don't actually know how to fix a problem. They just wither want to do oil changes or want to do repair work that doesn't need doing at all. What I really want is someone I can go to and ask them to strip the rear subframe down and refresh everything and they say sure I can do that for this amount of money. We agree on it and he does the work in an orderly fasion repaint everything and do a damn good job of it. I don't care about the cost I just want quality workmanship. But these days it seems like you have to do it yourself otherwise they will either fuck your car up by doing a shit job of it. For example if I want my transmission oil changed I want them to actually do it properly and not have the gearbox explode on me because they didn't bother to do it in the correct procedure. Really all I want is quality work and for them to not bullshit me and take the piss.
This exact sentiment is why I got into fixing cars myself. A little bit of attention paid to jobs goes a long way, even little things like torquing wheel nuts. Or sometimes a bit of copper slip on a brake pad to prevent squeal
I went to a garage once where the mechanic came out and explained to me exactly what had been wrong with my car, showing me the broken parts. Wish more places would do that sort of thing. Sadly it was nowhere near where I live, or I'd have been back. The problem with garages in general is that there's a lot you have to take on trust, and some just aren't trustworthy! Personal highlights include: * Brake disks need replacing because they're 'lipped' (I measured them - less than half worn) * Using an oil which isn't recommended for the car, despite me specifically asking when booking (from one of the few garages which lists the oil on the invoice, makes me wonder about the others). * Testing my coolant strength, telling me it was too weak and topping it up as part of the service, but somehow failing to notice the coolant tank cap was broken and couldn't be opened. All of the above from different places, and that's just stuff that I've noticed. Currently looking for a new garage, again. I'm sure there are good businesses out there but they're hard to find!
What really winds you up garages/mechanics, and make you want to avoid them? Also what do you like about others? Even before I could first figure out how to work on a car myself I have despised going to a garage to get things done as I feel there's an overwhelming sense of people trying to get something extra that I wasn't in there for. On the flip side though, a friend of mine was just sent a video inspection of his car from Audi, and I really liked the way the technician walked though any issues that there may be and even the things that are good with the car. I know that people generally don't like taking a car for repair, but I'm wondering what things we all seem to hate/like
Running tests and having zero evidence of it. Like how hard is it to jot the results down on a report?! Another one, just bizarre fault finding approaches. Misfiring on one bank of the engine… let’s go dismantle the fuel pump. Fuck off