Can a garage refuse to give your car back...

Gavin83

d123 wrote: »

Try anyone but KwikFit, as everyone says, they will always find faults, even with things that aren't faulty.

Worst place you can go IMO.

I took my car twice to be serviced by them and both times they told me of recommendations but said they weren't totally necessary yet and gave me the choice. I chose on both situations just to have the basic service. Maybe I've got one of the few good KwikFits near me but I'd take my car to them again. Other people have also reported good things from them.

hartcjhart

are there a couple of kwik fit workers in here;)

Inactive

hartcjhart wrote: »

are there a couple of kwik fit workers in here;)

It does make you wonder ..;)

Strider590

hartcjhart wrote: »

are there a couple of kwik fit workers in here;)

No....

Their vocabulary is very limited, "tyre's" is the first word they learn, followed by "brakes", then it's "zorst", then they get promoted to management

Kilty_2

I've taken a car to them for the free brake check before :rotfl:

Arnold Clark (!) had serviced it and pointed out the rear discs and pads were absolutely shot and the front pads were a bit low but not desperate.

KF of course suggested it needed discs and pads all round :cool:

Flyboy152

vikingaero wrote: »

Isn't that the point? On a low use car the fronts will normally be OK and cleaned off each time it's driven. The rears will never have a chance to clear the rust and the pitting gets worse over time.

Not necessarily. The rear brakes will also be applied, just at different forces.

TimothyEBaldwin

Whiteknight wrote: »

Can they refuse to give me the car back until the work is done citing safety reasons

If the car is dangerous to drive, and they have told you it is, then anyone can use reasonable force stop you from driving it. If you have no intention to drive it in a dangerous condition, and all agreed payments have been made, they must return it to you.

Whiteknight

TimothyEBaldwin wrote: »

If the car is dangerous to drive, and they have told you it is, then anyone can use reasonable force stop you from driving it. If you have no intention to drive it in a dangerous condition, and all agreed payments have been made, they must return it to you.

The original reason for my question was to find out if a garage could keep a car if they thought it was unsafe and refuse to let you drive it away. I asked this as I knew that I had a problem with my back brakes and had called in to my local Kwik Fit to get as price for new disks and pads, as I wanted to shop around to get the best deal.

Kwik Fit would not give me any idea as to how much the disks and pads would cost but wanted me to bring in the car for a "free" brake check. I wanted to be sure that if they told me that hundreds of pounds of work was needed that I could politely thank them and get the work done cheaper elsewhere without them holding me hostage

The car was taken in today and surprisingly they only quoted me for the back disks and pads at £215.

While I was waiting a woman turned up and asked about prices of brakes (again they suggested a check) but finally gave her a top price for the work - they quoted her £215, she told them that the local ATS would do the same work for £140. Kwik Fit after a few minutes said they would match that price.

I only wish I had been more persistent in getting a quote first.

My back brakes had last been changed in June 2009 and I only do about 12,000 miles a year much of this on motorways.

colino

Please find a local, friendly, recommended, independent garage near your home. Back shoes on a light little car like this take an age to wear out and when required should have cost you around £25 + an hours labour + VAT.

Flyboy152

colino wrote: »

Please find a local, friendly, recommended, independent garage near your home. Back shoes on a light little car like this take an age to wear out and when required should have cost you around £25 + an hours labour + VAT.

Disc brakes are quite different to drums.