Looking after family member’s cars…

[KungFuPanda]

Probably opening a can of worms here but I’m only writing this thread because my sister told me a few months ago that her Kia Sportage was recommended new tyres by the main dealer when they serviced the car a few months ago.

Her and her husband have just had a second baby so time and money are both tight. I’ll probably be looking at a pair of mid range Hankook which I’ll order from Camskill and get them fitted near me for a tenner a tyre.

I’m pretty lucky in that I’ve got a good friend who owns a garage and MOT station so any work that needs doing, can be done there where I normally just pay for the parts and zero labour if I do the work myself.

I also looked after my parent’s car when they used to have one before they retired and got rid of it.

My other sister however previously had a Vauxhall Astra which needed work doing on it. I took the time to get the car booked in and showed her where the garage was. Notwithstanding that, she decided that she wouldn’t bother going to my mate’s garage in case he couldn’t fix the problem. Instead, she decided to sell the car with the fault for a pittance.

So, do you I guys and girls help out with family or friend’s cars or stay well clear? Any amusing stories of ungrateful people who didn’t appreciate the time and effort you laid out for them?

[Mr Tidy]

I used to get quite involved with relatives' cars when I was a bit more hands-on myself but never seemed to get much thanks.

So now I try not to get involved. Last job I did was replace a tail-light on an 06 plate Mini a couple of years ago that involved removing the light cluster.

Luckily they all have newer cars than me now so I get some peace!

[B'stard Child]

My advice is don’t

[darreni]

Yep. Don’t.

[vikingaero]

I buy cars for my immediate family. At the moment for new cars it's fairly easy - go to dealer, order, wait months and months. for delivery. Minimal/no discounts on a lot of stuff unless it's in stock. Secondhand cars were a breeze pre-Covid. Harder now with less selection and choice of colours. I quite like taking the train to London and browsing at Car Giant despite what people outside of London think of it.

Servicing is easy. I have 2 really good garages:

(1) An old boy and his son who call themselves Motor Engineers, after taking over grandads business, and have been running since 1948. Absolutely anal. You take a car in for a service and everything is stickered: Brake fluid checked 01/11/2022, Oil changed 01/11/2022 5w30 Castrol GTX, Coolant checked 01/11/2022. If they touch the brakes, you get a sticker on the inside of the wing saying front pads and discs replaced 01/11/2022 99,000 miles. The best thing about them is that they send me invoices months after they've done the jobs.

(2) Romanian mechanic. Knowlegable and cheap. For instance £10 to fit a tyre or £10 to fit a boot lock motor. I just send him a Whatsapp photo of the car showing the registration and tell him what needs doing. He replies with an estimate of trade price for parts and labour. When I direct my relatives to him and there's a problem with language, he calls me up to clarify,

[The Big G]

I used to do this for my mother. She’d deal with the garage directly. But any issues sourcing parts or advice I’d always be there to help. Parts were an issue for her old car until it went far past uneconomical to repair. Then she wished a defender so that opened up another can or worms! But wouldn’t have it any other way!

[Rozzers]

Only after they get their pants pulled down…..

Mercedes dealer advisory on pads, so I ordered a set, stripped down and they had 5mm left…

My fathers neighbour who has a Porsche specialist services and MOT’s his 17 year old Focus for peanuts, just takes it in a day he is quieter.

Repair the MIL’s Fiat 500 and do the servicing and repairs on the daughters 500 as soon as the warranty was gone. Neither had ever had the pollen filter replaced, one had the air filter in back to front and had an aftermarket Mann oil filter….. at a main dealer.

[Jimmy No Hands]

Spent years doing this in the trade. Realised it's not really worth it. Any unseen issues / expenditure it's too easy to moan directly at you even though you're effectively a middle man. Or they ask for advice and recommendations then ignore everything you say. I stopped bothering.

[Jaguar steve]

Jimmy No Hands said:

Spent years doing this in the trade. Realised it's not really worth it. Any unseen issues / expenditure it's too easy to moan directly at you even though you're effectively a middle man. Or they ask for advice and recommendations then ignore everything you say. I stopped bothering.

Me too.

When you're on the spanners for a living everybody wants to talk to you about cars or ask you to tell them what's wrong with their car or wants you to go and have a look at a car they're either buying or trying to fix themselves or pesters you to get them parts at Trade prices or comes up with heavily loaded questions like where's best to get a service or an MOT done - ya know, for cash and cheap like.

After 45 hours a week in the workshop grovelling around under a ramp that's the last bloody thing you want to be doing.

[Tommo87]

I used to do this a lot when I was younger, as I had the tools and was happy to help people out, when they hadn’t the time, equipment or money,

There came a time, when I realised that some of the people had the ability/time/money to do the jobs themselves, but were asking me anyway and just taking advantage.

Then there were the occasions where parts that they supplied wouldn’t fit, more expensive parts were required, nothing would come apart easily and the job lasted all day, or god forbid something else unrelated broke a week later- which you somehow should have known.

I still like helping people, but I do longer do anything other than ‘help’ them to do it.

[A.J.M]

I don’t work on cars but I do enjoy finding cars for people.

They tell me what they want/need and a budget and I’ll go looking for potential cars.

7 cars so far and all have been spot on.

[66HFM]

A few years ago my sister-in-law was after a Mini R53 Cooper S, living in Cumbria she didn't have much choice locally and asked if I'd find and buy one for her, after seeing some rubbish I found one locally and did the deal for her, I had it a week before her and her husband were able to come down and collect it, free use of it for a week!
She was really happy with it and when she finally came to sell it I bought it off her and kept it for a couple of years!