Servicing & MOT

JosephCoyle

Hi there

I currently live in Belfast near the Ormeau and Ravenhill Roads.

I wanted to use a reliable mechanic who would service / prepare my car for MOT and take it to the MOT - as little hassle as possible at a reasonable price.

Any ideas or name.. I have read a few nightmare comments about a couple of garages on the Ravenill Road but thought there is bound to be someone decent. i saw Charles Hurst were doing a good deal....

Cheers

Joseph

don_ky01

The best advice is for you to book an MOT, they are open late and weekends, having first washed it including the underside take it up to the test centre. Dont worry they dont bite. Let them test the car and if it fails they will give you a written list of things that need done.If this happens book a retest before you leave the centre, allowing time to have the work done, then find a garage give them the list and tell them to fix the said items and service the car.
Its a cheaper way to do it as when it is retested they only check the listed work.

Oh and don't touch any of the large garages with a barge pole, they are notorious for NOT doing the work that they said they have done. I speak from experience on this and there was also a report in the Sunday Life a while back about this IIRC.

belfastgirl23

Ava garage on Ava avenue are good. 2 man business and you need to book well ahead cos they're always busy. Don't try to bargain, they ask a fair price for the job and don't like the implication that they're trying to fiddle you

Snoozle

don_ky01 wrote: »

The best advice is for you to book an MOT, they are open late and weekends, having first washed it including the underside take it up to the test centre. Dont worry they dont bite. Let them test the car and if it fails they will give you a written list of things that need done.If this happens book a retest before you leave the centre, allowing time to have the work done, then find a garage give them the list and tell them to fix the said items and service the car.
Its a cheaper way to do it as when it is retested they only check the listed work.

Oh and don't touch any of the large garages with a barge pole, they are notorious for NOT doing the work that they said they have done. I speak from experience on this and there was also a report in the Sunday Life a while back about this IIRC.

This is ok if you have two cars (we do it ourselves) but if you only have one car, and you need it to get to work, you can't afford for it to fail, as that means its off the road, possibly for weeks if the test centres are busy. When we only had one car between us, we would have been totally stranded if it had failed the MOT (we live in the country though, and the OP might not be in such a difficult position if his failed).

ballyblack

The poster wants the car serviced and Mot prepared properly by a good garage. Mot failure is false economy and hassle

Money_Grabber13579

As long as your existing MOT hasn't run out, you can still drive it, even if it has failed so this gives you time to get it sorted. Who knows, it might pass.

cautious_bob

Hello
I'd also highly recommend the Ava Garage -they do my service and MOT prep and I take it to the appt. Fair,decent and straightforward
(Prior to Ava I used another local garage- it took a while to find out monkeys with spanners would do a better and safer job - still amazes me that cowboys like them
remain in business)
Good Luck
Bob

JosephCoyle

Thanks guys will look at the Ava garage as an option. I need the car serviced as well (I like to keep it serviced) so I might as well do both... I'll chat to the guys at Ava and see what they say - I don't think the car needs much done but in my experience keeping a car serviced once a year does make it run better and last longer...