Thursday 11th February 2010

14 Million Drivers 'Ripped Off' By Garages

Garage satisfaction survey reveals half of drivers less than, er, satisfied

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45% of motorists unhappy with prices

The motor industry's 'self-regulator' Motor Codes has carried out a survey to find out what Brits make of the service they get from their local garages. Not much, it seems.

The survey questioned 1,194 motorists from around the country, and found that 45% of them (which they've projected to indicate 14.1 million nationally) feel they have been ripped off by garages. Again using projected figures, Motor Codes reckons motorists feel they were ripped off by £2.4 billion in 2009.

The most complaints were about exaggerated bills, with over a quarter of UK motorists questioned feeling they've lost out by between £51 - £150, while just over 5% felt they'd lost out to the tune of £300 or more.

Satisfaction levels also varied according to age, with 'only' a third of the over-55s feeling they'd been rooked, while a third of all drivers from the east of England were dissatisfied - making it the least satisfied region in the UK.

Motor Codes, who run a self-regulatory code of practice for UK workshops backed by the Department for Transport, are launching a competition this year to find the best garages and workshops around the UK. Presumably they think it's going to help.

[TVaRt]

i hate taking my car to garages... id rather do the work myself, but then people want a full service history!

[Mr Whippy]

Best to find a reputable garage that is both owned and worked in by the same people/persons.

In my case I've decided Selby TVR & Sports are the best bet. Three guys who all do the work/own the joint (iirc), but also have a reputation to keep. Ie, not Phil Mitchell types who couldn't give a toss as it's only old Escorts etc...


I just can't bring myself to trust anyone really, and if I do I have to watch them while they do stuff. I think using the above garage was the first time I left my car with someone ever haha!

Dave

[RichyBoy]

Why did they need to waste money on a survey when all they needed to do was go to some garages and experience it first hand? 1 hour’s labour for anything, inflated consumable prices etc, it’s not that hard to spot.

[corporalsparrow]

Mt wife took our E-class into to have the CD player fixed. They said it would cost £700. Outraged, she said she was going to phone Mercedes and check. They immediately backed down and offered to do it for free!

[Puk]

I refuse to go to an official garage.

From my experience at various dealers :

They just take you for a dumb fk, they charge you for stuff they actually don't do, you cannot assist at the service of your car, they use a trainee who doesn't even know how an engine work to do a service on your car and without plugging there bloody computer thingy on a car, they can't make a simple diagnosis on a pretty straight-forward problem. Sometines they even change an entire part that don't need changing (like a slightly damaged tube on the injection pump, they wanted to replace the entire injection system). And they are always fully booked and you have to wait 2 weeks to do a simple job ...

So now I do the job myself when it's a simple service for example, or I give it my local mechanic, who's an old guy on his own with a nice little garage.
I usually buy the parts and he's doing the job, I pay far less even if I give a nice tip compared to the big garages, if you stay at his garage, you can watch him do and he's even giving little tips and showing you stuff.

But the biggest satisfaction is that I know that everything has been done the right way, like in the old days !

[Jessop]

This is why i do my work on my cars myself.. also giving me peace of mind the job is done properly, neatly & tidily. Usually cleaning components down befor eputting back, making loom is all put back retaining OE clips etc.

The amount of cars ive seen that have been butchered so garages can change a starter motor or something else.



My local garage worked on my dads 406 due to a fuel leak on the tank, they actually took a grinder to the shell underneith the rear seat to get at the plastic cover that covered the fuel pump. Couldnt believe what i had seen.

Damage is done now though i suppose =[

[soad]

Some of the stories make a sad reading...

[patmahe]

The prices garages charge makes a great case for buying cheap and maintaining your car yourself. At least you know what was done for certain and the materials used.

I've often seen invoices from garages for the most humble of cars where people are charged well over the odds for service items, parts and labour.

To be honest its a big part of the reason why I think I'm going to buy myself a little Mk1 MX5 next and look after it and my daily driver (already service this) myself and use the money I would have spent on buying some decent tools.

In short I don't like being ripped off by anyone.

Edited by patmahe on Thursday 11th February 14:15

[veryoldfart]

I used to run vans (sprinters, transits, relays) so always sourced repairs at a commercial vehicle repairers, get on well with them, they help me out with panic jobs and price big jobs reasonably, main dealers (citroen) charged me £188 for 5 ltrs of oil+filter one day, so that was the end of that! (you dont need a dealer SH for warranty by the way).

I now drive 40,000 a year by car, oil changes with filter (using 6ltrs castrol magnatec) £39 at national tyres, and i can fit the other filters at cost.

Mr Tyre for tyres, and anything else as and when taking 4 quotes at least

if you let em rip you off, they will

[Hoppelemine]

I'm aware of a large franchise dealer who decided to add an 'Environmental Charge' to every customers service and repair invoice. The charge, about a fiver I think, was just pure profit. They did nothing environmental at all! Customers rarely questioned it because they felt they were being 'green' and helping the environment.

Because of the large amount of cars (and vans) that passed through their workshop every day they were making extra couple of thousand pounds a week for doing zero extra work.

[E21_Ross]

this is why i'm lucky to have found a very, very good independant specialist who is absolutely brilliant, knows the car better than just about anyone in the country, and does me very good deals indeed. and when i don't take it to them, i have another garage who is run by a mate, so i'm lucky it seems

i always think it's best to get to know the people there, that way it seems you get better deals.

[dandarez]

The old remark 'you couldn't make it up', well (some) garages do!

'Yes madam, your carbon footprint is massive, so we have fitted new pedal rubbers.'

'Oh, will it run better now and save the planet?'

'Yes madam'.

'How much is that?'

'£108, plus the vat.'

'Oh, how reasonable.'

'Reasonable?!
Ahh, oh, yes... yes, it is, ...of course there's the Labour at £60 an hour on top - our trainee apprentice had hell of a job removing the old rubbers which caused the footprint...(phew, deep breath) really nasty job ...and we were phoning round all day to get these new pedal rubbers for you. Customer satisfaction is our priority.
So that will be £208 ...plus the vat.'

Edited by dandarez on Thursday 11th February 14:45

[stormrider2]

i use a relatively small garage, and they're brilliant tbh. had a problem with the speed sensors on my car, so they replaced them, but the problem seemed to continue so i took it back and found out it was part of the driveshaft needing changed.

they didnt charge me for a speed sensor or labour which was great. their pricing is very reasonable too.

[sbyers10]

I cant stand garages prices for both parts and labour so I bought a tool kit and started doing it myself, nothing is actually that difficult and think if the monkey in the garage can do it, then am pretty sure with a bit of extra time and effort i will be able to aswell and get the job done corrrect and know exactly whats been done to my car and parts fitted. I have now done gearbox changes , clutches , bushes and engine changes etc for friends also, I think i would attempt any job now apart from timing belts. If cant do a job join a forum and there is usually step by step instructions for most things. i also get a good feeling when have been able to fix my car myself. Also parts are very easy to source and for a great deal less than garages charge from the net.

thanks Steven

[Belfast Boy]

simples......do it your self, if not eg. wheel bearings tell them which one needs replacing and offer to help, that cuts the bull sheise right down.
get and OBD/OBD2 from feebay or in my case a Nissan Conzult and sort out any errors yourself.

If you buy a new car I'm afraid you've joined that institution and will pay dearly.

I think most people here are capable of changing brake pads and an oil change?

Leave the clueless to sort themselves out.

[uncinquesei]

what a load of rubbish. People "feeling" that they've been "ripped off" is meaningless. Let's face it, no-one ever wants to take their car for a service or repair, the car drives pretty much the same afterwards so they can't immediately feel where their hard earned money has gone. With that in mind, they are hardly going to be thinking what great value it is and if only it needed servicing more often. Similarly, if I was asked "do you think you paid a fair amount?" I'm unlikely to say i thought it wasn't enough...

[jazzybee]

Some of these stories are quite scary. I have the opposite of the Midas touch when it comes to DIY - Everything I touch breaks if I am trying to do repairs. I have a great Independent mechanic I have used for 20 odd years, however he has grown over that time and now has 6 other mechanics working for him, so I do have to keep an eye on whats going on. However, for the BM, as its still new and the Stamped history/warranty was important, I got the first service done at the Dealer that quoted the lowest (£480) - When I queried how that was made up £180 was for 10 Litres of Oil. This was then reduced to £100. I got a little wise this time, the dealer agreed that I could supply my own oil as they could not match the £65 I was paying from Opie. They will be charging me £121 inc. for the next Oil Service. Still high, but a lot more reasonable.

[neema_T]

This reminds me of when my Clio needed the MOT doing. I took it to Renault and asked for an MOT and a service. They did the service (new air filter, oil change and new oil filter: £250!) but told me the MOT would be £1625 when I called them back after they left a message about it. Then I called them the next day, somehow this figure had fallen to £1200 because I was speaking to a mechanic, not the service department secretary. They said it needed new suspension bushes, a new 'auxiliary belt' + tensioner and a new starter motor because the solenoid was sticking.

I decided to take it to someone else.

£250 later, the guy replaced just the starter and that was it. That was in November, and on the 3rd of January, I wrote the car off, and the first thing I thought (after 'Oh my god, I ruined a 944 Turbo') was 'thank fk I didn't go to Renault'.

[LotusAlfaV6bloke]

I think it is the big boys that are the worse, not the back street independants.

East Kent Audi did all these tricks on my A4 Quattro - I had a knock on the door at 9pm at night from one of their mechanics telling me I had been invoiced for a load of bits they hadn't fitted, and not invoiced for the one cheap bit they had actually replaced! I went in the next morning very furious indeed, they confessed to the lot, refunded the £1800 bill and serviced it for free. (This was over 2 years ago).

I tend to do every last job myself, except for jobs where you want some real know how/experience/special tools....

[Lord Flathead]

80% of statistics are made up.