Puncture repair costs

[sparkythecat]

Mrs S complained that the brakes on her Ford Puma seemed to be making a "scrapey noise" and the fns tyre was a bit soft.
Investigation revealed a screw head in the middle of the tyre tread and the pads and discs in neeed of replacement.
Threw the wheel in the back of my car and headed for the trusty local motorfactors in town.
Along my route were National Tyres, Kwik Fit and HiQ tyre fitting shops.

Went into National Tyres first, where in the last 18 months I've spent around £800 on tyres for various cars.
"Puncture repair is £20 mate, but what you really need is a new tyre. This one's well worn and you can have a new tyre for an extra £20"
"You're having a laugh, it's less than half worn and good for at least another 12months, but if you can put a new tyre on this for £40 I might be tempted"
Clickety... clickety...clickety..."Ermmm.... £59.03"

Went into Kwik Fit, where again over the years we've spent a few bob on tyres.
"Puncture repair is £21.50, but I don't know when we can do it. We're snowed out and I've only got 2 lads in"

Went into HiQ, somewhere I've never ventured before as it's only recently opened.
Front of house chap, was pleasant welcoming and polite.
"Puncture repairs are £12.50 sir. What time would you like to collect it?

I know where I'll be going in future

[Dazz1871]

Best I payed was £5, that was about a year ago

[redstu]

Dazz1871 said:

Best I payed was £5, that was about a year ago

I paid £7 in October, I knew I'd been had!

[Classic Grad 98]

I pay ~£18 at my local independant tyre place, but don't mind since they bent over backwards to help me out in the past

[DanielC4GP]

Those prices do seem a little steep even £12.50 sounds too much to me.

I've had a few punctures done at National Tyres before as they used to be pretty much round the corner from where I lived. They used to charge £6 and one time the guy didn't even charge me and just did it quickly on the side.

It regards to Kwik Fit well I had no choice but to pay them a visit on Wednesday. Discovered the car had a flat tyre in the morning and since it doesn't have a spare I quickly pumped it up with a foot pump and drove to the nearest tyre shop which was a Kwik Fit.

Discovered a nice big screw in the middle of the tyre but when they took the tyre off the sidewall was too badly damage from when I had been driving and not noticed I had a flat. It was on the rear and I suppose I can thank hydraulic suspension and modern car sound proofing for not noticing.

Anyway he showed me the damage and put a new tyre on for me which after checking prices later online, although a little dearer was still quite competitive.

So a thumbs up from me for Kwik Fit but I still don't think I'd trust them to do a service.

[redstu]

It's nearly always screws!
fking lousy window fitters and builders, don't be so clumsy and pick up the stuff you drop!