Air pumps

G_M

Do any garages still do free air, or is that a thing of the past now? I'm sure it discourages people from checking their tyres so often.

Flying-High_2

Our local village garage still has free air..... Seems everywhere else is 20/50pence....

[Deleted User]

I use my own foot pump. Cost a fiver from Woolworths 10 years ago.

Parva

Free air pumps appear to have gone the way with many things in the modern world. Provide a free air pump, tyre explodes, compensation claim.... That aside, it obviously costs to provide the equipment to do it and I'm sad to see its demise but I can also see why it's now a charged-for product, not least for the upkeep of the equipment and resultant court claims when tyres explode.

It's yet another victim of the blame and claim culture in my opinion.

steady__eddie

Shell garages around here, (W. Dimlands) have them. In the time that it takes me to put a couple of hundred quids worth of diesel in, about 2 or 3 cars have pulled on, inflated and legged it. It seems to be out of action quite a lot though, the other week I was talking to a fitter who was repairing it and he said that Shell keep him pretty busy repairing their air pumps so it obviously costs them a few bob.

Ebe_Scrooge

Yep, a lot of people don't seem to realise that a compressor actually takes a fair bit of maintenance. It's not the "air" you're paying for, it's the purchase and running of the compressor.

Whilst I, like most other people, would prefer to have "free" air available, I do understand why garages make a charge - whether 50p a shot is reasonable I don't know, but it's not unreasonable for the garage to charge some sort of fee.

Personally, I use a foot pump, as a previous poster mentioned. A fiver from Argos many many years ago and still going strong. Also handy to keep it in the back of the car for emergencies.

Strider590

A lot of people (shockingly) don't bother to check their tyre pressures, after all it's MOT is just 6 months away and if they tyre goes flat they just call the AA :mad:

The charges for using the compressor at garage's actually has more to do with vandalism I fear.

G_M

Not convinced by the

upkeep of the equipment and resultant court claims when tyres explode.

arguement. Personally I'd be more likely to sue if my tyre exploded when using a paid-for pump!

I'd also be inetersted to know if anyone's actually managed to pump up all 4 tyres (never mind the spare) in the time allowed by the charge?

shaun_from_Africa

I'd also be inetersted to know if anyone's actually managed to pump up all 4 tyres (never mind the spare) in the time allowed by the charge?

All 4 and the spare, providing I've got the dust caps off and the boot open with the spare sitting ready.

Personally I'd be more likely to sue if my tyre exploded when using a paid-for pump!

But there would hopefully be far less chance of this happening with a pay pump, as the garage may use some of the money taken to maintain it.
I also seem to recall that a paid for pump must be properly calibrated as you are paying for a product to be delivered, but this doesn't have to be the case if something is supplied FOC, so again, there should be far less chance of a tyre exploding if a calibrated pump is used.

derrick

G_M wrote: »

Do any garages still do free air, or is that a thing of the past now? I'm sure it discourages people from checking their tyres so often.

Sainsburys do,(plus water), at least round my end.


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movilogo

Why not buy a portable air compressor for £15-£20? You can plug it in your cig-lighter socket and then use it anywhere.