Garages - are they all just a bit crap?
Discussion
Generally I have only had the odd bad experience. Lots of comptetant techs in the trade still.
The only thing I have noticed is a lot of jobs seem to be getting turned down - fuel/turbo problems on diesel engines, complex suspension ( yes VW I'm looking at you) etc - I understand no shop wants to be lumbered with something that fights tooth and nail but on the flip side if all you offer is servicing and minor repairs eventually you will be left behind.
I had the valve stem seals done on my V8 BMW for just under a grand - local indies ran a mile.
The only thing I have noticed is a lot of jobs seem to be getting turned down - fuel/turbo problems on diesel engines, complex suspension ( yes VW I'm looking at you) etc - I understand no shop wants to be lumbered with something that fights tooth and nail but on the flip side if all you offer is servicing and minor repairs eventually you will be left behind.
I had the valve stem seals done on my V8 BMW for just under a grand - local indies ran a mile.
I'd guess 99% of them are s
te. I think its a British business thing too.
Seen so many times a total lack of planning or consideration for any other things that may arise.
I did work for a vehicle customisation place for a few years, however, where we were very meticulous about every tiny detail, and always made sure things were perfect. But we had a great team and spotting any defects or damage was done before work started, and was inspected afterwards, with photos before/after too. We took responsibility if we damaged anything.
But thats very rare. General attitude is basically "do whatever we can get away with"
te. I think its a British business thing too.Seen so many times a total lack of planning or consideration for any other things that may arise.
I did work for a vehicle customisation place for a few years, however, where we were very meticulous about every tiny detail, and always made sure things were perfect. But we had a great team and spotting any defects or damage was done before work started, and was inspected afterwards, with photos before/after too. We took responsibility if we damaged anything.
But thats very rare. General attitude is basically "do whatever we can get away with"
Once out of warranty, I had hoped that the independents would make for a much better experience and, certainly, less of a pinch on the wallet.
While this has been mostly true, there have been some horrific moments, some involving the sort of things mentioned above -- incomplete work, incidental scratches / damage, and sloppy customer service.
When I do like a particular garage, I might visit unannounced and just drop off some snacks or flavoured waters and such. Hopefully something that says thank you as much or more than the words, themselves.
Edited by unsprung on Wednesday 20th November 20:58
I took my clio 172 to a local independent for rear brakes. When I came to pick it up they charged me £380 and got very aggressive when I tried to tell them no. They only replaced discs and pads I had to take it back a week later because they had forgotten a spacer and messed up a wheel bearing.
My dad used a little local garage for 20 years without issue.
Took my Vectra in for a service. Overfilled oil by more than a litre.
Took my wife's Corsa in which had a knock on start up. Assured it was the water pump (was quite young at the time and didn't know any different. )
£400 odd quid later I start the car up with the same knock . Engine was knackered.
My local Indies are usually alright but in getting quotes for a Mercedes (never had one before) all the specialists sounded like they were doing me a favour , didn't respond to quote emails and when I got the quote back it's more than mercedes directly!
So think I'll be getting services at Mercedes from now on and only risking a specialist if something odd needs doing
Took my Vectra in for a service. Overfilled oil by more than a litre.
Took my wife's Corsa in which had a knock on start up. Assured it was the water pump (was quite young at the time and didn't know any different. )
£400 odd quid later I start the car up with the same knock . Engine was knackered.
My local Indies are usually alright but in getting quotes for a Mercedes (never had one before) all the specialists sounded like they were doing me a favour , didn't respond to quote emails and when I got the quote back it's more than mercedes directly!
So think I'll be getting services at Mercedes from now on and only risking a specialist if something odd needs doing
When I owned my own cars and not in company cars. I had 2 garages I trusted. One was always twice the price of others. He was always full but was genuinely an excellent mechanic. His apprentice was as well.
The second was a friends father. Raced his group A subaru and a very competitive driver in his class. He was also a great mechanic.
I think the lesson is, find someone who genuinely loves cars and being a mechanic and they do a good job.
The second was a friends father. Raced his group A subaru and a very competitive driver in his class. He was also a great mechanic.
I think the lesson is, find someone who genuinely loves cars and being a mechanic and they do a good job.
sam.rog said:
I think the lesson is, find someone who genuinely loves cars and being a mechanic and they do a good job.
Problem is, how many garages/how much money do you have to go through to find 'the one'?I do 99% of my own work and for the 1% I cant do, air con recharges etc the garage next to my unit are spot on and I have no problems recommending them.
On a side note, how many main dealers now have actual mechanics and not component swappers? My brother tried to get the valve clearances don't on his E34 M5 and went through 4 main dealers to find someone who'd entertain the idea
I can't find a good garage for love not money. Last two I tried, one over filled the oil to the point where the dash was like a Christmas tree with warnings. I took two more visits to get them to fix it ("must be a sensor mate"). The other, charged me parts and labor for fitting discs and pads - never bothered actually fitting the discs.
I do as much as I can myself now because I can't fking deal with this BS.
I do as much as I can myself now because I can't f
king deal with this BS.Used to have a great garage where were used to live, proper old school place run by a guy who enjoyed it. Never over charged, always explained the options and what was the best choice etc. A few times I turned up with wheel bearings that needed pressing and he'd do it for £20 no bother.
Can't find one like that locally now we've moved, and the old one is a 3h journey.
My Mrs once took her shed Focus to a garage near reading, in a rather posh area. The thermostat housing on the side of the block had split.
They rang her wanting to replace all the coolant hoses with ford dealer sourced parts as well as the thermostat for about £900. Refused to do anything less with it as "the hoses have ballooned".
Drove 5 hours down with a £30 pattern part, and a boot full of tools expecting the worst, only to find it was fine. Replaced the thermostat, bled the coolant and it ran without any bother for another 40k miles.
Can't find one like that locally now we've moved, and the old one is a 3h journey.
Tankrizzo said:
Took my 147 GTA to a small indie in Hampshire that came quite well recommended on the Alfa owners forum.
Turned up and he had no ramps (at all - he jacked all the cars up by hand), smelled a bit of booze and had no facilities for taking card payment in 2016.
Gave the 147 a clean bill of health. 2 months later I put it into Autolusso Bournemouth where it underwent £1200 of remedial work to replace rotting coolant pipes, knackered bushes and a completely fked rear shock.
I take a lot of recommendations with a pinch of salt now.
To be honest I'd be tempted to sit somewhere in the middle on that one. In my experience a lot of specialists and garages who are used to carte blanche replace all sorts of items just for the sake of it. Turned up and he had no ramps (at all - he jacked all the cars up by hand), smelled a bit of booze and had no facilities for taking card payment in 2016.
Gave the 147 a clean bill of health. 2 months later I put it into Autolusso Bournemouth where it underwent £1200 of remedial work to replace rotting coolant pipes, knackered bushes and a completely f
ked rear shock.I take a lot of recommendations with a pinch of salt now.
My Mrs once took her shed Focus to a garage near reading, in a rather posh area. The thermostat housing on the side of the block had split.
They rang her wanting to replace all the coolant hoses with ford dealer sourced parts as well as the thermostat for about £900. Refused to do anything less with it as "the hoses have ballooned".
Drove 5 hours down with a £30 pattern part, and a boot full of tools expecting the worst, only to find it was fine. Replaced the thermostat, bled the coolant and it ran without any bother for another 40k miles.
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 20th November 08:38
lwindward said:
Being told my wheels need balancing after I collect it from major service... why didnt they do it then?
To be fair, I know of no major service schedule that includes balancing of wheels...if they’d have “just done it” and charged separately no doubt there would have been a complaint about them doing unauthorised work.I do think a lot of the problems the motor trade gives itself are down to poor communication with customers. It’s a vicious cycle as the customers mistrust the trade, which causes garages to become more cynical about customers-rinse and repeat.
Saying that-there are problem garages, but my goodness are there also problem customers...
Positive post : (Alert! Alert! Alert! :-p. )
A local garage in Taunton.
Take all my cars in for MOTs. If it's quickly fixable they let me use the ramps and get things sorted for the retest. Preferable to them as they are booked solid and don't have much time.
Take ca in with minor problems. They inspect and test drive, explain what needs doing, if at all, how much ? " Ahh don't worry". That's happened several times. They have also offered to lend me air tools to get the job done (CV boot puller etc). Often explain what parts and what needs doing so I can do it.
Labour is £65+ vat when they do work.
When a job is too big or unfamiliar to them they recommend specialists to see.
Not a grubby spanner den either. Clean modern garage. Booked with MOTs all the time.
Used after my recommendation by other half, sister, mates. All have the same experience (without the home mech DIY!).
Good honest helpful garage who understand it's best not to rip people off, and that they make more money putting cars through fast than having cars sitting in ramps for days on end.
A local garage in Taunton.
Take all my cars in for MOTs. If it's quickly fixable they let me use the ramps and get things sorted for the retest. Preferable to them as they are booked solid and don't have much time.
Take ca in with minor problems. They inspect and test drive, explain what needs doing, if at all, how much ? " Ahh don't worry". That's happened several times. They have also offered to lend me air tools to get the job done (CV boot puller etc). Often explain what parts and what needs doing so I can do it.
Labour is £65+ vat when they do work.
When a job is too big or unfamiliar to them they recommend specialists to see.
Not a grubby spanner den either. Clean modern garage. Booked with MOTs all the time.
Used after my recommendation by other half, sister, mates. All have the same experience (without the home mech DIY!).
Good honest helpful garage who understand it's best not to rip people off, and that they make more money putting cars through fast than having cars sitting in ramps for days on end.
And then, despite all this when you are selling a car you have cherished and done all the work on yourself, agonised over what bits to purchase, fitted them with care and reverence, punters still go "Has it got a full main dealer service history" and get all funny about you doing anything yourself.
I have seen one of my cars being slid sideways, wreathed in tyre smoke whilst waiting for a lift after dropping it off, have had cars come back where I am fairly sure the oil change wasn't done, had my sons car basically impounded over brakes I had checked and was going to do as it was an MOT fail and unsafe, the pads were low but still fine.
Last experience was in Feb dropping my M135i at BMW in Wilmslow for a brake fluid change, went for a bit of breakfast and was walking back and saw my car snaking out of a side road sideways, its not like I don't do it, wasn't bothered but a bit unnecessary.
I work in IT and to be honest there are hobbyists who work in other industries that are way better than some of the pros, its the same with mechanics, the term mechanic sort of spans from a terminally thick 17 year old trainee tyre fitter (like the one that put a bulge in my Fiat Coupe Turbos floorpan carelessly sticking a jack under it) to a time served engineer who has worked on all sorts and can do a bit of everything to a high standard, both get categorised as "mechanic".
My car needs a service in Feb, at 18k it needs an oil and filters, apparently spark plugs, £600 or so for that one, can easily do it myself but have to work out whether the knock on its value for not having a BMW history is worth not spending another £300 odd, having to take it, lurk round and not knocking whether it gets done anyway, before it goes for a spot of drifty action round the local area.
I have seen one of my cars being slid sideways, wreathed in tyre smoke whilst waiting for a lift after dropping it off, have had cars come back where I am fairly sure the oil change wasn't done, had my sons car basically impounded over brakes I had checked and was going to do as it was an MOT fail and unsafe, the pads were low but still fine.
Last experience was in Feb dropping my M135i at BMW in Wilmslow for a brake fluid change, went for a bit of breakfast and was walking back and saw my car snaking out of a side road sideways, its not like I don't do it, wasn't bothered but a bit unnecessary.
I work in IT and to be honest there are hobbyists who work in other industries that are way better than some of the pros, its the same with mechanics, the term mechanic sort of spans from a terminally thick 17 year old trainee tyre fitter (like the one that put a bulge in my Fiat Coupe Turbos floorpan carelessly sticking a jack under it) to a time served engineer who has worked on all sorts and can do a bit of everything to a high standard, both get categorised as "mechanic".
My car needs a service in Feb, at 18k it needs an oil and filters, apparently spark plugs, £600 or so for that one, can easily do it myself but have to work out whether the knock on its value for not having a BMW history is worth not spending another £300 odd, having to take it, lurk round and not knocking whether it gets done anyway, before it goes for a spot of drifty action round the local area.
Ironically the worst experience I had was from a BMW main dealer.
Refused to acknowledge issues on the car. Said that a stone/rock had defied the laws of physics (by going into an intake, stopping, pushing plastic out of the way then suddenly accelerating to puncture the condenser). Couldn't answer how it did it, that was amusing.
Advised that a rattling exhaust "wasn't happening" and they couldn't replace it under warranty. It sounded like a smackheads teeth rattling on startup. Even with video proof of it happening they said "it could be you rattling something off camera", despite it stopping when the car was revved.
The window regulators had to fail completely before they could replace them under warranty (3dr, so if they failed it would've locked you out of the car completely)
The boot latch had apparently been tampered with, causing it to fail. Caught them out as they said it had never been off before and was awkward, but they told me it had been removed and tampered with. Kicked up a right stink, and they eventually honoured the warranty on this (not like they were the supplying dealer either!)
Advised that the steering rack wasn't damaged and knocking when turning. Said they took it out on a 20 mile test drive, they did 0.2. Showed them what was happening, and the head tech even told me it was common and this had gone. They decided that BMW released a memo saying not to replace any going forward. Called BMW UK infront of them who told me it was bullst.
iDrive system would randomly decide to cut out completely, and just die. Had to disconnect the battery and reset it for it to come back. Their response? "Just keep pulling the battery terminal off"
Took it back to the supplying dealer about 4 hours away who confirmed all of the issues (bar iDrive as that was working at that time) and replaced the lot. £10k of work, all of it warranted.
Sent an extremely stty email to the MD of BMW UK, who called the supplying dealer, confirmed the story, called me apologising profusely and then the local dealer tried calling me with their tail between their legs, still trying to defend what they did. When asked why they lied to me on numerous occasions and actively allowed me to leave the dealership with a dangerously faulty car, they couldn't answer, only apologised. Ironically, they then sent me a "how did we do" email, that was all 1's.
In the end I sold the car, as it became a burden, not something to enjoy.
When owning a Honda, I used HondaHQ, recommended by a mate big in the Honda scene, they were fantastic.
For my Megane 250 I tend to use a company, Cooksport. Collected the car from me, did the work, kept me posted with what was happening. Advised me that there was an issue with a seized part, told them to go ahead. Got the car back as I left it with them. Really pleased with them.
Refused to acknowledge issues on the car. Said that a stone/rock had defied the laws of physics (by going into an intake, stopping, pushing plastic out of the way then suddenly accelerating to puncture the condenser). Couldn't answer how it did it, that was amusing.
Advised that a rattling exhaust "wasn't happening" and they couldn't replace it under warranty. It sounded like a smackheads teeth rattling on startup. Even with video proof of it happening they said "it could be you rattling something off camera", despite it stopping when the car was revved.
The window regulators had to fail completely before they could replace them under warranty (3dr, so if they failed it would've locked you out of the car completely)
The boot latch had apparently been tampered with, causing it to fail. Caught them out as they said it had never been off before and was awkward, but they told me it had been removed and tampered with. Kicked up a right stink, and they eventually honoured the warranty on this (not like they were the supplying dealer either!)
Advised that the steering rack wasn't damaged and knocking when turning. Said they took it out on a 20 mile test drive, they did 0.2. Showed them what was happening, and the head tech even told me it was common and this had gone. They decided that BMW released a memo saying not to replace any going forward. Called BMW UK infront of them who told me it was bulls
t. iDrive system would randomly decide to cut out completely, and just die. Had to disconnect the battery and reset it for it to come back. Their response? "Just keep pulling the battery terminal off"
Took it back to the supplying dealer about 4 hours away who confirmed all of the issues (bar iDrive as that was working at that time) and replaced the lot. £10k of work, all of it warranted.
Sent an extremely s
tty email to the MD of BMW UK, who called the supplying dealer, confirmed the story, called me apologising profusely and then the local dealer tried calling me with their tail between their legs, still trying to defend what they did. When asked why they lied to me on numerous occasions and actively allowed me to leave the dealership with a dangerously faulty car, they couldn't answer, only apologised. Ironically, they then sent me a "how did we do" email, that was all 1's.In the end I sold the car, as it became a burden, not something to enjoy.
When owning a Honda, I used HondaHQ, recommended by a mate big in the Honda scene, they were fantastic.
For my Megane 250 I tend to use a company, Cooksport. Collected the car from me, did the work, kept me posted with what was happening. Advised me that there was an issue with a seized part, told them to go ahead. Got the car back as I left it with them. Really pleased with them.
J4CKO said:
My car needs a service in Feb, at 18k it needs an oil and filters, apparently spark plugs, £600 or so for that one, can easily do it myself but have to work out whether the knock on its value for not having a BMW history is worth not spending another £300 odd, having to take it, lurk round and not knocking whether it gets done anyway, before it goes for a spot of drifty action round the local area.
Sometimes I wonder if it'd be worth buying a fake stamp for the service history and doing it DIY in those situations...I think a with lot of ordinary garages it all boils down to price - everyone wants to pay £10/h for labour, so in the race to the bottom the quality of work suffers. Why have two staff members doing admin when you can have one over-worked one and another twirling a spanner? Why bother trying to refit fiddly plastic engine covers when they can bodge them?
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 20th November 09:01
Tankrizzo said:
Took my 147 GTA to a small indie in Hampshire that came quite well recommended on the Alfa owners forum.
Turned up and he had no ramps (at all - he jacked all the cars up by hand), smelled a bit of booze and had no facilities for taking card payment in 2016.
Gave the 147 a clean bill of health. 2 months later I put it into Autolusso Bournemouth where it underwent £1200 of remedial work to replace rotting coolant pipes, knackered bushes and a completely fked rear shock.
I take a lot of recommendations with a pinch of salt now.
Interesting. My local Alfa specialist hasn't put a foot wrong in the 15 odd years I've known them, and I'm very picky about, well, everything. The only problem I've ever had was when the apprentice cleaned the car over enthusiastically with a jet wash and flayed the paint off the bumper - they fixed it before being asked. They're not the cheapest, but I've picked up a car after major work and driven straight to the Euro Tunnel for a long trip, and it has never occurred to me that something might go wrong. Turned up and he had no ramps (at all - he jacked all the cars up by hand), smelled a bit of booze and had no facilities for taking card payment in 2016.
Gave the 147 a clean bill of health. 2 months later I put it into Autolusso Bournemouth where it underwent £1200 of remedial work to replace rotting coolant pipes, knackered bushes and a completely f
ked rear shock.I take a lot of recommendations with a pinch of salt now.
As regards fault finding .... the only criticism is that they may be a bit brutal for sensitive souls. I was told that my GTA was a shed in no uncertain terms - and given 2 pages of stuff to fix. I've done most of it now!
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