best place for low cost car service?

bassitt74

each year i have my car mot'd and serviced by a local guy whose rates are very reasonable and have given him my business for several years. he has increased his rates slightly over the years to cover any increases in his costs and despite this im more than happy to keep using him because he is quick and honest.

this year i had him mot the car and told him that i would like it serviced the following month when i get paid. he seemed very happy with this quaranteed business. however i have contacted him twice a week for a month and i get the same reply of him. he's not near is garage and hes currently working on a customers car so he doesnt have access to his diary to book me in. it sounded genuine at first but now after hearing it for the fourth week im starting to think he doesnt want my business anymore.

with winter coming im in desperate need to get my car serviced, and if this other guy cant do it then i will need to go somewhere else. i couldnt do it myself as i have neither the skills, tools or knowledge. ive not been driving long so i have little experience of anywhere else. i did use kwikfit a couple of times for new break pads and a new exhaust following a failed mot, and both times got bad service and ripped off, so im wary of something similar happening again.

im on just over minimum wage and need my car to get to work which is not near any good public transport links.

Can anyone recommend a good place to get my car serviced?

Hammyman

Why not ask the main dealer? If the car is an older one, sometimes they do "standard service" for older vehicles such as the Ford scheme which is £99.

bengalknights

Have you tried asking family and friends to see if they have any recommendations.

forgotmyname

For £99 or so any of the major chains will change your oil and give you a long list of essential
work that needs doing before they allow you to take the obviously dangerous car away from them.

Finding a good honest local garage is the key.

Had a broken suspension part on my car, It caused no problems but i knew it needed sorting. Because
i couldnt do it myself at the time i asked around. Sister recommended a guy who used to work for crapfit
and got fed up with their tactics to scare people into paying for work that didnt need doing.

When i got the car back is made a knocking noise from the suspension. Strange i took a silent car in with a
broken part and came out with new parts and a knocking noise.

4 times i took it back to him. Never again.

George_Michael

forgotmyname wrote: »

For £99 or so any of the major chains will change your oil and give you a long list of essential
work that needs doing before they allow you to take the obviously dangerous car away from them.

Funny that you should mention that.
Only last week I took my car to a major Ford dealer for a service (Their "value" service at £99).
My car is only about 18 months old and had a full service about 6 months a go, but as it had been sitting unused for a fair while and before that it had been driven for lots of short journeys, I decided to get an oil and filter change and the service was the easiest way to get it done.
I normally do this myself but as I'm currently staying in a hotel, this wasn't an option this time.

Below is a copy of a letter I sent to the service manager of the garage concerned. I've not had a reply yet.

Dear Mr XXXXXX
On the 10th October I took my car to your garage to have a Ford value service carried out on it.
I dropped the car off at 9am and was advised that you would telephone me when it was ready for collection.
At 2pm I was called and told that the service had been completed but that whilst this was being done, the engineer noticed that both front wiper blades had "split slightly and needed replacing". (this was the exact wording used in the telephone conversation). The price for these to be supplied and fitted would be £42.80.

I expressed my surprise at this news seeing as both the front and rear wiper blades had only been fitted 3 weeks ago and I had purchased them from your parts department, so if they had split then they must have been faulty so any replacement should be paid for either by Ford or by yourselves.

Approximately 1 hour later when I collected my car, I enquired about the blades asking if they had been replaced and was told that they had not as the engineer had cleaned them up and they were now okay.

My question to you Mr XXXXX is this.
Could you please ask your service department how it is possible for 2 windscreen wiper blades that "had split slightly and needed replacing" suddenly managed to fix themselves once it became apparent that the cost of the replacments would not be covered by myself but would in fact be the responsibility of either Ford or yourselves?

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter as I feel that it is only fair to read your opinion before I contact the customer relations department of Ford UK directly.

Regards

XXX XXXXX