Vehicle maintenance courses - evening classes?
Discussion
Hiya
My name's Phil and I don't really know much about car maintenance and couldn't change a spark-plug if my life depended on it!
OK so now that I have that admission out of the way, I wouldn't mind any hints and tips on how to go about correcting this lack of knowledge. I've looked around online but all the courses I've found tend to be proper apprenticeships. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge or experience of an evening class kind of approach (as with language learning for example).
I don't really need a car currently so have been running around in an £800 snotter and as bits fall off it etc I'm having to use my local garage (who's great it has to be said but I'd like to reduce my dependency on him a little)!
Ideally West London / Surrey but even just pointers for the kinds of places that do them would be appreciated.
My name's Phil and I don't really know much about car maintenance and couldn't change a spark-plug if my life depended on it!
OK so now that I have that admission out of the way, I wouldn't mind any hints and tips on how to go about correcting this lack of knowledge. I've looked around online but all the courses I've found tend to be proper apprenticeships. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge or experience of an evening class kind of approach (as with language learning for example).
I don't really need a car currently so have been running around in an £800 snotter and as bits fall off it etc I'm having to use my local garage (who's great it has to be said but I'd like to reduce my dependency on him a little)!
Ideally West London / Surrey but even just pointers for the kinds of places that do them would be appreciated.
Done a few over the years, they usually do a few different levels, from really basic – changing wheels to stuff that can be done in (at most) 2 hours, so brakes and shocks, but really the sort of thing a novice mechanic would be able to do on their driveway, one or two more advanced courses where they used static engines to show to change things like clutches on static engines, head gaskets, but it does not give a real experience as half the trouble is getting sufficient access. Overall they were enjoyable and the people generally wanted to learn so they could keep the pace up.
The biggest problem I found was the college itself, they appear to like classroom courses so don’t really push these type of course, as a result they usually have trouble filling the class.
Tried to join one last year as something to do, trying to get the enrolment date from the admissions people was like pulling teeth, online there was no description of the class simply a title (no enrolment dates or class start dates just a general number). When I finally got the enrolment date (must have been after 25 phone calls), enrolment was during narrow time slot in the afternoon of one day - with no flexibility (I am in work at those times, and don’t work close to the college), years ago they would do enrolment for evening classes in the evening (on the evening of the first class).
Basically after dozens of infuriating phone calls I gave up, I couldn’t decide if they were being deliberately obstructive as they didn’t want to run the course, or they just didn't fancy doing their job! I am a tenacious person and I can’t imagine many would bother after the first half-dozen phone calls – but they wonder why people don’t do the classes! Also they are not that cheap, I think I paid about £150 for a 10 week class, but even then the college was trying to cut it down to 5 weeks as there were only 6 people and they like 8.
Contact your local college, hopefully they will be helpful, by past experience you will need to wait for September, you might be able to express interest in advance, it is not a bad idea to tell your mates to see if they also want to do it, as they more interested people the more likely they will run it. Ask them when the next course might start and more importantly enrol date (even if it is approximate) make a note in your diary as you will probably have to chase them, I would call a few weeks before when they might have an idea if they are going to do it.
Best of luck, sorry if I sound quite negative, when I did the courses I really enjoyed them, but the college seemed to be trying to put obstacles at every turn.
The biggest problem I found was the college itself, they appear to like classroom courses so don’t really push these type of course, as a result they usually have trouble filling the class.
Tried to join one last year as something to do, trying to get the enrolment date from the admissions people was like pulling teeth, online there was no description of the class simply a title (no enrolment dates or class start dates just a general number). When I finally got the enrolment date (must have been after 25 phone calls), enrolment was during narrow time slot in the afternoon of one day - with no flexibility (I am in work at those times, and don’t work close to the college), years ago they would do enrolment for evening classes in the evening (on the evening of the first class).
Basically after dozens of infuriating phone calls I gave up, I couldn’t decide if they were being deliberately obstructive as they didn’t want to run the course, or they just didn't fancy doing their job! I am a tenacious person and I can’t imagine many would bother after the first half-dozen phone calls – but they wonder why people don’t do the classes! Also they are not that cheap, I think I paid about £150 for a 10 week class, but even then the college was trying to cut it down to 5 weeks as there were only 6 people and they like 8.
Contact your local college, hopefully they will be helpful, by past experience you will need to wait for September, you might be able to express interest in advance, it is not a bad idea to tell your mates to see if they also want to do it, as they more interested people the more likely they will run it. Ask them when the next course might start and more importantly enrol date (even if it is approximate) make a note in your diary as you will probably have to chase them, I would call a few weeks before when they might have an idea if they are going to do it.
Best of luck, sorry if I sound quite negative, when I did the courses I really enjoyed them, but the college seemed to be trying to put obstacles at every turn.
Thanks folks - Funkyrobot, that thread has given me the idea to get a snotter MX5 as well - after all I can still run the Fiesta if the 5 is down! Just need to convince SWMBO now...
As for the colleges, yes I'm having a similar issue with lack of information but will hit the phones and see what's what
Cheers again
As for the colleges, yes I'm having a similar issue with lack of information but will hit the phones and see what's what
Cheers again
Mannginger said:
Hiya
My name's Phil and I don't really know much about car maintenance and couldn't change a spark-plug if my life depended on it!
OK so now that I have that admission out of the way, I wouldn't mind any hints and tips on how to go about correcting this lack of knowledge. I've looked around online but all the courses I've found tend to be proper apprenticeships. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge or experience of an evening class kind of approach (as with language learning for example).
I don't really need a car currently so have been running around in an £800 snotter and as bits fall off it etc I'm having to use my local garage (who's great it has to be said but I'd like to reduce my dependency on him a little)!
Ideally West London / Surrey but even just pointers for the kinds of places that do them would be appreciated.
Hey Phil, Mansfield tech used to do a basic car maintenance course, one evening a week for 2 hours over 10 weeks, all for £40. We got a group of PHers together and all signed up; it was really good - well worth the time and money My name's Phil and I don't really know much about car maintenance and couldn't change a spark-plug if my life depended on it!
OK so now that I have that admission out of the way, I wouldn't mind any hints and tips on how to go about correcting this lack of knowledge. I've looked around online but all the courses I've found tend to be proper apprenticeships. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge or experience of an evening class kind of approach (as with language learning for example).
I don't really need a car currently so have been running around in an £800 snotter and as bits fall off it etc I'm having to use my local garage (who's great it has to be said but I'd like to reduce my dependency on him a little)!
Ideally West London / Surrey but even just pointers for the kinds of places that do them would be appreciated.
Details here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...Looks like they still may be doing the course: http://www.emagister.co.uk/car_maintenance_basic_c...
ETA: just noticed you're not in the East Mids any more
Electric Beaver said:
Get a Haynes manual and a basic toolkit and have a go! IF you already have a snotter then what's the worst that can happen?!
This is my advice and exactly how I learnt. It really is a case of starting with the basics and learning things that it isn't possible to teach in the classroom, e.g. Learning the manual dexterity and improving hand control, and silly things like how much force you can use on a bolt without it breaking. Get a Haynes and read it to understand the car, then attempt a service yourself.
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