Finding a garage you can trust...

SixTwoSix

SixTwoSix

SixTwoSix

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How do you guys go about finding a trustworthy reliable garage in your area to do car repairs? I'm asking because as a new driver who's only been on the road 3 months, I don't know where to start.

Ideally it would be word-of-mouth i'm guessing, however everyone i've spoken to seems to think they know "the best" place and when you mention somewhere that someone else has mentioned, they tell you not to go there.

I'm fed up of being told "pop into xxxx, tell them I sent you and they'll look after you".

I've tried looking online, come across the Good Garage Scheme website and seems pretty decent, however on further investigation, it doesn't actually allow negative reviews to be posted so the so called 95% "good reviews" don't carry much weight in my eyes :(

So idea's folks, where do I start?
 
I started with a garage my mate worked at, he was cheap and OK a bit of a bodger and unreliable but cheap, he let me down a few to many times on simple things like getting tyres etc

So asked a mate who suggested someone who I always now use, he's great, reliable and is so busy it's not worth him making stuff up, he'll pick the car up from my home and drop it off, he's not the cheapest but I've learnt that's not always the best option. He charges £35 ph + vat and his parts are cheap.

Also when I went to his set up I was suitably impressed with the amount of Yank muscle laying around and his 6 page spread in one of the Yank car mags on his Pontiac GTO Judge.
 
Mostly through word of mouth, but preferably through those who know about cars. Plenty of people claim they know a good mechanic but all too often they are gullable and/or naive purely because the mechanic was nice to them.

Most mechanics hate the sort of people we are - people who know (or claim to know) about cars.

It's the same for any trade, I don't want to have to walk someone through every element of my job because they think they know a bit about it - I just want to show them it works and then **** off.
 
redeye_uk said:
If it doesn't allow negative reviews how can a garages rating be anything less than 100%?
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Because not all the reviews submitted are a 100%...if someone submits a review that's say 90% positive then that drops the average down, it's still a good review, just not a 100% good review.

I did a bit of googling and came across 4 different instances of people who tried to submit bad garage reviews but they were just ignored by the site.
 
maccapacca said:
I started with a garage my mate worked at, he was cheap and OK a bit of a bodger and unreliable but cheap, he let me down a few to many times on simple things like getting tyres etc

So asked a mate who suggested someone who I always now use, he's great, reliable and is so busy it's not worth him making stuff up, he'll pick the car up from my home and drop it off, he's not the cheapest but I've learnt that's not always the best option. He charges £35 ph + vat and his parts are cheap.

Also when I went to his set up I was suitably impressed with the amount of Yank muscle laying around and his 6 page spread in one of the Yank car mags on his Pontiac GTO Judge.
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:confused:. The cheapest I've ever found is £45ph + vat. I guess your oop north?
 
I don't trust any garages except CAMsport in Cwmgors, South Wales.

Inconvenient given that I now live in Leicestershire.
 
I would never use just one garage. Once they think you think they are trustworthy they will shaft you. I like to use a variety of places and sometimes only tell them part of a story and see if they finish it off with truth or lies
 
The garage that I trust the most is one found on an owners club site.

However whilst being very good, club discount on all work done (10%), cheap labour (£35ph) etc, they still aren't perfect.

But on the whole good enough and the only place I really take my cars to.

Agree with Fox to a degree, even the best garage can be incompetent at times.

And most are dishonest as hell, went into one I used to trust to get a puncture sorted, the guy came out syaing they weren't going to fix it as all my tyres were worn and needed replacing.

Suffice to say they were fine and I'll never be going back there and sticking to the one place I like from now on.
 
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I only take my car to Fairtest in Moberly (near Tean) for repair work when I simply don't have the time to do a job or don't fancy dealing with trying to swing a hammer in 6 inches of space (like changing core plugs). I have had MOT's done there when I knew I needed other work and didn't have the time to do things like putting new CV boots on, if I have time to fix jobs then I take it to McKinnen's in Cheadle (SoT) who only do MOT's.

For tyre's it goes to Wheels'N'Tyres (pretty much next to McKinnen's). Of the lot I can't complain at McKinnen's and Wheels'N'Tyres but Fairtest can be dead slow to get things done; better since my younger brothers best mate started working there though!
 
JayMax said:
Call me cynical but I'd take a guess that the garages have to pay to be a part of this scheme? I don't know - just my gut reaction.
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There is a lot of information on mse/other sites but basically the company behind it is forte (they sell engine flushing fluids/lubricants) and from what I gather, the garage get "free" listing on their site and allegedly none of the bad reviews make it to the site, the garage gets all the bumph and flashy signage.
The garage apparently have to keep buying the products and must use them on every service.

IMO it's really misleading and totally useless.
 
you rarely find a good one you can trust

Just treat them all with caution, outline exactly what you want and tell them to call you if its going to be more work/money than you have previously agreed with them.

If they then go back on this, refuse to pay and stand your ground that you need to come to sort of agreement as saying one thing then doing another isnt on.
 
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