RIPOFF air at garages...

Pssst

I am used to garages ripping us off for 20p for air these days. Once upon a time it was free but not anymore. The Tesco garage near me charges 20p. You get a very short length of time,certainly not long enough to inflate a tyre if its lost a fiar bit of air AND the gauge is inaccurate when checked against my BS air pressure guage.

Anyway this morning i happend to call by a local Shell garage and was outraged to see that they charge 50p for air !

I drove out.

I visited a local Sainsburys and they do complimentary air and water.

Not only are many garages ripping people off but their guages can also not be trusted as they are wildley inaccurate.

VfM4meplse

Pssst wrote: »

I visited a local Sainsburys and they do complimentary air and water.

Agreed - but there is often a queue at Sainsburys. Having said that my nearest (E4) offers competetive prices for petrol as well.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Agreed - but there is often a queue at Sainsburys. Having said that my nearest (E4) offers competetive prices for petrol as well.

That reminds me.

When the fuel prices were at there highest some independent garage near Kidderminster undercut the supermarkets by about 5p (or something) for fuel.

It was news all round for a couple of days.

A lady was on the news who lived in Redditch, she was pleased to be on TV & boasted she drove to fill up her car there & was very pleased.

It was a round trip of about 35 miles, all for 5p off a litre.

I guess she must have been driving an Artic then!!

(sometimes its makes sense to pay the 20/50p - as annoying as it is)

sjc_2

Why not just buy one of the Air Compressors that run of the Cigarette Lighter Socket and use that for checking/topping up your air. Saves going anywhere and is always available. I've had and used one for years. Also use my own Digital Pressure Gauge to double check the pressures.

Hintza

OK if you want free air are you willing to pay an extra 1p per litre of fuel?

That is what it amounts to now days. We all want the cheapest price on everything and then moan when we get charged for air (OK I moan as well).

My point is that the days where old fashioned service counted have long gone in this country we can't have it both ways. We either choose price or service. We have chosen price.

flutterbyuk25

sjc wrote: »

Why not just buy one of the Air Compressors that run of the Cigarette Lighter Socket and use that for checking/topping up your air. Saves going anywhere and is always available. I've had and used one for years. Also use my own Digital Pressure Gauge to double check the pressures.

Out of interest how much roughly are these?

I'm scared of the machines in petrol stations! :rotfl: Silly I know, but would prefer to do it elsewhere so one of these machines would be ideal for me.

x

Pssst

sjc wrote: »

Why not just buy one of the Air Compressors that run of the Cigarette Lighter Socket and use that for checking/topping up your air. Saves going anywhere and is always available. I've had and used one for years. Also use my own Digital Pressure Gauge to double check the pressures.

I had a look at some of these on a freview site and couldnt spot a decent quality one. But yes,if i can find a half decent one. I wonder what the max pressure is though? I need about 49 psi max.

Hintza

Pssst wrote: »

I had a look at some of these on a freview site and couldnt spot a decent quality one. But yes,if i can find a half decent one. I wonder what the max pressure is though? I need about 49 psi max.

They are all crap (or the ones I have tried) go for a foot operated one. The double barrel job from Halfords is cheap and OK (although I don't expect it will last that long) pumps up very fast though.

lincroft1710

Why not just buy ordinary footpump and tyre pressure gauge. Providing you're reasonably healthy, the exercise isn't too exhausting.

vikingaero

Forget electric pumps. Noisy as hell and take up to 5 minutes to inflate a flat. When you need to pump the tyre up it will be at 6am or midnight and your neighbours will hate you for it. Also when you need it in 6 months time you'll find the power cord damaged or the fuse has fallen out of the ciggy lighter plug.

The Halfords double barrel is good as Hintza has said. The best one is the double barrel Michelin pump.

antilles

I don't see the problem here. OK air costs nothing, but the garage has to pay for the cost of the compressor, electricity to run it, servicing, repair costs etc. Why should they supply this service for free? Anyone who does it for free is just adding costs onto something else to pay for it.

Personally though I won't pay for it either so I bought a footpump.