I'm guessing they had a lot of spares from broken boxes and they had labelled up a 5th gear cog wrongly or something. It was a right cowboy outfit though and he had to go back about 3 times for various things, some place near Heathrow about 10 years ago.
Ever been ripped off by a garage?
- Thread starter Jonny69
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I'm guessing they had a lot of spares from broken boxes and they had labelled up a 5th gear cog wrongly or something. It was a right cowboy outfit though and he had to go back about 3 times for various things, some place near Heathrow about 10 years ago.
Soldato
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Never been ripped off with car servicing as I get it done at mates rates, I've had garages try to sell me things I don't need such as tyres shocks oooh your batteries faulty etc when I first started motoring many moons ago. But I usually only replace what ever fails on the mot or general wear and tear stuff.
In my experience, there are far more monkeys out there than people worth the money. At the end of the day, doing it myself I know for a fact every nut, bolt and seal has been replaced and re-fixed correctly and that everything is tip top.
The very fact that they see the same cars day in day out means at some point they must get bored and eventually (not always deliberately) something will get an oversight. Either because they've had a crap day, a busy day looking at loads of cars or generally they just cba at that moment. When it comes down to it, its not their car and whilst I'm sure many would want to remain professional, I don't think they'd give the job quite the same attention to detail as if I were to do it myself. I admit they are under time constraints which I would not put on myself doing the job but again this is just another reason for me to want to do it myself.
Soldato
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That's a ~10 min job you lazy git!
Not really been ripped off my garages though, had a few mess jobs up a little, but nothing major.
seriously people, you don't need to change track control arms when changing shocks do you?
Depends if they are duff or not I suppose, on a newish car though I'd have thought not...happily be told I'm wrong mind.
Soldato
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Your basing this on one bad experience which seems a little harsh considering you do all your own work now, there are plenty of garages to choose from, its easy to shop around for quotes and speak to customers thats had work done at them.
Depends if they are duff or not I suppose, on a newish car though I'd have thought not...happily be told I'm wrong mind.
i had the front springs changed not two weeks earlier at my friendly dealer, so i'm sure he would have mentioned something.
sod's law that a shock went between then and the MOT. the garage said, "we only change both [shocks and arms]". live and learn
Soldato
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They should only change both shocks, not the arms too, unless they are some 20year old rusted out pieces of crap...but on your car they shouldn't be.
Back when I had my first car and knew absolutely nothing, the brake pads had worn right down to the metal and were scoring the discs.
Not wanting to drive the car back to college (lunch break) I drove to the nearest garage which was a Nationwide Autocenter and asked them to sort it.
Not knowing what sort of price to expect, I handed over £175 to have the brakes changed.
Yeah, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE POUNDS for some tiny little 238mm discs and a set of pads!! I was sore for the next few days!
Not wanting to drive the car back to college (lunch break) I drove to the nearest garage which was a Nationwide Autocenter and asked them to sort it.
Not knowing what sort of price to expect, I handed over £175 to have the brakes changed.
Yeah, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE POUNDS for some tiny little 238mm discs and a set of pads!! I was sore for the next few days!
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Who said I was basing it on one bad experience? I have used plenty of garages in lots of different towns/cities.
Only recently tried to use kwit fit to get my MOT in Bristol only to have them try to tell me stuff was broken that wasn't....
Soldato
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Nah, I'm not middle class and female. 
I don't even go to garages tbh, i'd rather be without my car for a few days strip it down and learn how to do something myself. Seeing as I'm looking at a motor mechanics apprenticeship it seems a good route.
I don't even go to garages tbh, i'd rather be without my car for a few days strip it down and learn how to do something myself. Seeing as I'm looking at a motor mechanics apprenticeship it seems a good route.
Soldato
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Sorry my bad in your first post you said you had a bad experience and then did the car work yourself from then on. Didn't think this was much of an experience to say every garage rips you off, true there are bad places but then you get this with all trades.
seriously people, you don't need to change track control arms when changing shocks do you?
on some cars the track arms have to be disconnected from the hub to get the shocker out, removal can easily damage the end joint or threading especially if its been in there for a fair few years.
but i have to say ive only had to replace them once during a shocker replacement and they had been in place for the best part of 12 years and were pretty tired to begin with.
i cant remember if this is the case with your car but it is *possible* even if unlikely.
A lot of people seem to have serious trust issues around here.
At the end of the day, a car that's been maintained well by a reputable garage with all the receipts is going to be more appealing to a buyer then one thats been serviced DIY.
Yes there are plenty of places out there that will rip you off but there are also plenty of places who are in it to make an honest living.
I can do a lot of DIY stuff myself, brake disks etc but I wont get into suspension bits and the like. I expect I'm not alone in my level of ability so I'll go to garages to have work done.
Avoiding getting ripped off is about common sense - agree in advance what the garage is doing and at what cost, make it clear to them that if they feel anything needs to change they should contact you first to confirm or you wont be paying. If they say something else needs done, challenge it if you dont believe it - go back and let them show you what the problem is. If you get there and they have done more than you agreed to, dont pay it - tell them to undo it if they have to. I had a situation like that a little while ago with my old Seat, it was in for a service and a few bits doing and they had replaced a handbrake cable without telling me. I knew the garage was a good one as I had used them before, as have plenty of friends etc - they ran me through the bill and when they got to the handbrake cable I told them I didn't agree to having that done. The manager apologised, said they were going to call but had obviously forgotten so waived the charge for that part of the bill
If you then find out they've done a bad job, you take it up with them, demand they sort it and don't go back to them.
And stop crying "oh noes i paid £100 to have a £25 part fitted!!!1!!" - you're not paying for the part, you're paying for someone's time and the garage's costs to do the job professionally. If you think you can source the part cheaper, ask them for a breakdown of the parts/labour costs before you agree and buy the part separately if you want, no garage is going to have a problem with that.
If you do your homework (taking advice from other people's experience, looking on the good garage scheme site etc), use your common sense (as above) and dont treat them like they're going to rip you off, you significantly lower the chances of being conned
Edit - oh, and try to avoid the big chains where possible. They type of staff they attract and the sales techniques they are told to employ mean they are more likely to try and rip you off than an independent. Some are good, some are bad - I know my local nationwide is pretty decent for example
At the end of the day, a car that's been maintained well by a reputable garage with all the receipts is going to be more appealing to a buyer then one thats been serviced DIY.
Yes there are plenty of places out there that will rip you off but there are also plenty of places who are in it to make an honest living.
I can do a lot of DIY stuff myself, brake disks etc but I wont get into suspension bits and the like. I expect I'm not alone in my level of ability so I'll go to garages to have work done.
Avoiding getting ripped off is about common sense - agree in advance what the garage is doing and at what cost, make it clear to them that if they feel anything needs to change they should contact you first to confirm or you wont be paying. If they say something else needs done, challenge it if you dont believe it - go back and let them show you what the problem is. If you get there and they have done more than you agreed to, dont pay it - tell them to undo it if they have to. I had a situation like that a little while ago with my old Seat, it was in for a service and a few bits doing and they had replaced a handbrake cable without telling me. I knew the garage was a good one as I had used them before, as have plenty of friends etc - they ran me through the bill and when they got to the handbrake cable I told them I didn't agree to having that done. The manager apologised, said they were going to call but had obviously forgotten so waived the charge for that part of the bill
If you then find out they've done a bad job, you take it up with them, demand they sort it and don't go back to them.
And stop crying "oh noes i paid £100 to have a £25 part fitted!!!1!!" - you're not paying for the part, you're paying for someone's time and the garage's costs to do the job professionally. If you think you can source the part cheaper, ask them for a breakdown of the parts/labour costs before you agree and buy the part separately if you want, no garage is going to have a problem with that.
If you do your homework (taking advice from other people's experience, looking on the good garage scheme site etc), use your common sense (as above) and dont treat them like they're going to rip you off, you significantly lower the chances of being conned
Edit - oh, and try to avoid the big chains where possible. They type of staff they attract and the sales techniques they are told to employ mean they are more likely to try and rip you off than an independent. Some are good, some are bad - I know my local nationwide is pretty decent for example
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thats because most people buying cars are utter morons, hence the total blind faith they put in low mileage. theyd pick a low mile dog over a higher mileage minter just because one had lower mileage. safety by numbers, because they have no clue about cars.
my 96 golf with 210k miles, tuned/modified, thrashed hard, is faultless. 101% reliable, i know ive torqued up every last bolt myself. garages just dont give a damn, hence most of the work they carry out is utter guff
That's because the motor industry as a whole have created their own reputation for untrustworthiness.
Which is why anyone with a scrap of sense won't be wooed by low mileage numbers, and will save money buy buying a car in as good or better condition with more mileage on it.
The only time I've been ripped off is when I bought and engine from a 'engine specialist' and they sent the wrong one. I tried to sort it out but they wanted to charge me handling, shipping and restocking totalling over £300. It turns out, even after several recomendations that they were a ***** outfit, with a good front.
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