Trusting a Garage..

Littlenose

Littlenose

Littlenose

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Joined
27 May 2008
Posts
1,004
Location
Petersfield, Hampshire
Following in my dad's methods, I've always tried to be loyal to a single garage whenever possible for each vehicle.
Taking the car or motorbike to the same place over and over, trying to get some kind of familiarity, and know I'm not getting ripped off.
But over the last few years things have made me question that method, and maybe I should go back to getting a few quotes.
The most recent is the car exhaust. The flexibe joint on the exhaust needs replaced, and have been charged just over £400 for replacement (14 year old BMW 318D).
Does anyone have an idea if this is reasonable or not ?
 
I find ClickMechanic can often be a fair idea for estimates (although it's not always able to quote), or if you know what you need e.g. Brake discs etc you can find parts prices on Eurocarparts or the like (so you can make a judgement on how much the garages labour rate is worth)


With relatively generic things like Exhausts, Brakes, Suspension, it's often worth getting "Fast Fit" style Tyre and Exhaust centres to quote rather than even an independent garage - they make little margin on the work, so its all about the volume of work they get through, rather than on every little job that an independent garage might pick up.

There's also relatively little that can go wrong on this sort of straightforward work (as opposed to fault diagnosis), and they also don't want any comeback (in order to minimise time spent / maximise profit)
 
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Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to get a couple of local quotes to compare against, and decide from there.

I didn't do the KwikFit thing, as I wasn't 100% sure of the fault. It's the first time I've had an intermittent exhaust blowing, and didn't know what a flex joint was until the last few days.

Uther said:
Garages, like insurance companies, love people like you. I always shop around.
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yeah, I think you're right. I've had great service in the past, but places have closed, I've moved house a few times and found it harder and harder to find a single source each time.
Funniest one was being told I need a new light bulb for the numberplate to pass the MOT. I asked how much was the bulb, "about 50p" was the answer, only to be chaged 30 mins labor on top... never went back.
 
hmm i'm not sure i want to shop around as not all garages are as good as some others. i trust the garage i've been using for years, same owner for 30 years, always busy.
 
It is a tricky one, usually a mixture of time, money and convenience factors for me as to who I use. Along with how well they treat customer vehicles and level of customer service.

For my Nissans I've been using one particular dealer a lot as their prices while on the higher side compared to indis, they took care of my vehicles (mostly), nearby location and unlike many places 99% of the time if they said they were going to call me back they'd call me back and communication is always spot on. One time when I had some bad luck/timing having just sold one vehicle and had problems which stopped me being able to use the other 2 they even offered me an extended "test drive" on anything they had in stock with no obligation to buy. But their prices are creeping up now into normal dealer territory which makes it hard to ignore that factor, I was happy to pay a little over the odds for the level of service.
 
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Once I found a garage I trusted, that was it for me in terms of looking around - it helps they're also cheap and very pragmatic. More than once I've gone down there and he's had a look and said nope, that doesn't need doing, save your cash. But then he's also told me to do stuff myself so maybe he just didn't like working on my car :P

Sadly I've just moved out of London and had to decide between driving back to get work/MOTs done, or trying a new garage. Booked in for MOT at a decent looking place on Monday...
 
Littlenose said:
Following in my dad's methods, I've always tried to be loyal to a single garage whenever possible for each vehicle.
Taking the car or motorbike to the same place over and over, trying to get some kind of familiarity, and know I'm not getting ripped off.
But over the last few years things have made me question that method, and maybe I should go back to getting a few quotes.
The most recent is the car exhaust. The flexibe joint on the exhaust needs replaced, and have been charged just over £400 for replacement (14 year old BMW 318D).
Does anyone have an idea if this is reasonable or not ?
Click to expand...

Hard to say without pictures as it depends on how much of the exhaust is affected. Does it need cutting and welding etc.

With current labour costs it could easily add up to that.

I did find a garage that I stuck with after a few visits to sort out a twin carb setup on a Corolla many years ago. Recently my EV needed it's MOT but seeing as it's just the car I use daily I decided to use a closer garage. To say the least I was a bit nervous leaving it with them to do the test :)
 
My new "local" is a garage that my Wife's family have been using for nearly 20 years. Since moving up here, I have started to take my vehicles there, and they have been simply awesome. They even invited me out Karting with them and a few other selected customers.
They get stuff done fast with no fuss, they seem to genuinely care, and also are car enthusiasts in general. They even fixed something that another "specialist" garage managed to break when trying to simply swap a wheel bearing.
Not to mention they are generally cheaper than most places in the area. I would actually not mind if there were not the cheapest, as the reliability, standard of work, and care seems higher than any other garage I have been to over the years.
They have dealt with 3 of my 7 vehicles so far, and i would have no concerns taking any type of vehicle there, and will be using them going forward.

Previously I had a garage that my own family had been using for over 25 years. My Father used to run a business that adjoined the garage, and they did all the work on his business and personal vehicles. As such, I knew I would always get the truth, and honest work done. I did use other garages a few times, and paid over the odds for brand or type "specialists" and usually ended up less than 100% satisfied or needing extra visits.
Even when I moved slightly further away, I would book my cars in there whenever possible.

So, yes, it can be worth it finding a good garage and building a "rapport" with the people there, as they will usually go the extra mile, provided you pay on time, turn up when booked, and treat the people who work there as human beings.
 
Flexible joints are commonly placed on the down pipe housing the cat/dpf, dealers will just replace at large expense. Do all my own, even when you need to buy a specialist tool worst case you break even to paying to get it done, most of the time you save a lot.
 
Littlenose said:
Yes totally agree with this, and I do 80% of the work on my motorbikes over the years, but for some reason I've got a mental block when it comes to spannering on cars.
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I think I can speak for 90% of car drivers when I say we haven't got the foggiest how to do diagnostics and repairs or even routine maintenance and basic servicing like changing the pads when they start grinding on the discs or swapping the oil annually. I can inflate the tyres, put fuel in, and top up the fluids but anything else would be like rocket science to me.
 
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