Ava Garage

jenny-wren

Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much I might expect to pay to get my car serviced at Ava Garage?

I've always used the main dealership to get my car serviced in the past but as they are so expensive and the car is now out of warranty I'd like to try a local garage.

philbostavros

Can't you ring them and ask?

You do not give any details e.g. Make/Model/Year - mileage etc.

Get a price from the main dealer and then compare - simples.

jenny-wren

2003 petrol Focus, 53k

We would have paid about £200+ at Lindsay Ford.

belfastgirl23

I've used Ava for years and all I can say is that the price will be fair. I don't have a good memory but I think my MOT service with them costs around £30 unless obviously stuff needs done to the car. As the others say, call in and ask for a quote. But I'd highly recommend them.

Normskin

I serviced mine there recently for under £100. I'd also recommend them.

gmm30

I don't know anything about the garage in question, but thought I'd comment on this:

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

...but I think my MOT service with them costs around £30 unless obviously stuff needs done to the car...

A £30 service will basically just be an inspection prior to the MoT. I always recommend that people stick the car through the MoT early (you can get the car tested up to 28 days before the expiry date and if it passes you'll still keep the original date, i.e. up to 13 months on your new certificate). Worst case, if it fails, you just pay the £18.50 re-test fee, plus whatever it takes to fix any faults. But don't forget you'd have had to have got the faults fixed on top of the £30 inspection fee anyway, so the moneysaving thing to do is to bung it through the test first! Obviously check it yourself for obvious silly things like duff tyres, lights, etc.

Another reason is that any decent mechanic will advise you to get any borderline items fixed/replaced - he wants to protect his reputation. But on the day, the MoT tester might deem it legal, so taking the car for an inspection up front may well lead to you getting more work done than is strictly necessary for the test.

Of course, all cars need regular servicing and MoT time is as good a time as any, but just thought it was worth mentioning you don't need to pay a garage before getting a car tested.

Coolhandluke

A Focus has to one of the most easy of cars to service yourself,all the bits come to around £30.00 and takes less than hour to do it.

jenny-wren

The car's booked in with Ava so fingers crossed it won't need much done to keep it going for a few months longer.

I'm afraid I know where the water, coolant & oil go in but that's about it. Good job I do because the OH always forgets to check them!

belfastgirl23

gmm30 wrote: »

I don't know anything about the garage in question, but thought I'd comment on this:



A £30 service will basically just be an inspection prior to the MoT. I always recommend that people stick the car through the MoT early (you can get the car tested up to 28 days before the expiry date and if it passes you'll still keep the original date, i.e. up to 13 months on your new certificate). Worst case, if it fails, you just pay the £18.50 re-test fee, plus whatever it takes to fix any faults. But don't forget you'd have had to have got the faults fixed on top of the £30 inspection fee anyway, so the moneysaving thing to do is to bung it through the test first! Obviously check it yourself for obvious silly things like duff tyres, lights, etc.

Another reason is that any decent mechanic will advise you to get any borderline items fixed/replaced - he wants to protect his reputation. But on the day, the MoT tester might deem it legal, so taking the car for an inspection up front may well lead to you getting more work done than is strictly necessary for the test.

Of course, all cars need regular servicing and MoT time is as good a time as any, but just thought it was worth mentioning you don't need to pay a garage before getting a car tested.

Fair point and we have taken to doing this more recently now that the car's a good bit older. I have to say though I've found Ava really good on pointing out things we *might* fail on but saying it's worth sticking it through without getting them sorted just to see. But sometimes there's something that just has to be done alas Hope you get on well Jenny