POLL: What do you look for when having your car serviced ?

Tim_Nicholas

Hi All,

Interesting one, just wondered what people on here look for when getting their car serviced ?

Wig

Pity it's not an open poll i.e. open = you can see who voted for what.
And you could have made mulitiple answers possible.... This is just an observation of what I would have preferred to see, that's all.

Anyway, I voted for "I service my car myself" it currently needs some new spark plugs.

Weird_Nev

Wig wrote: »

Pity it's not an open poll, and you could have made mulitiple answers possible....

Anyway, I voted for "I service my car myself"

That makes 2 of us.

If I am getting a garage to do work, I look for a decent garage without extortionate labour rates, with older mechanics who can chat all day about cars.

Notmyrealname

I'm with Wierd Nev. I chose "I would never move from the current garage I use" as that and the main dealer are the only ones I do use.

I used to service the car myself but I'm getting less physically able to and less inclined to sit at the side of the road with axle stands and trolley jacks crawling about under cars. The last service I had was at a main dealer and was £99. It included 12 months AA breakdown cover.

If you assume the breakdown cover is £30, I could have barely bought the genuine parts used in the service for much less than £35, going on their retail prices for the oil and filters, meaning the labour was about £30. I consider that a reasonable price to pay for having someone else getting covered in oil and muck and saving me having to do it outside in a cold December.

dorsetlady

The thing I look for isn't on the list and it's the cost.

TrickyWicky

I voted for the DIY option but on the ocassion we need to use a garage I have two real qualities I look for:

Someone geeky who knows the car, its common faults how to access the parts and fix them, and is the quiet but very geeky type
Someone who isn't an arrogant know it all type - they're the ones who have let me down the most.

Ranger8

Not on the list.. Supplying main dealer

Crabman

The cost of the job together with the quality of parts are factors in my decision as to where to go.

I've never been confident enough to get under a car, only time I've seen underneath is when it has been on the garage's ramp

mikey72

Crabman wrote: »

The cost of the job together with the quality of parts are factors in my decision as to where to go.

I've never been confident enough to get under a car, only time I've seen underneath is when it has been on the garage's ramp

I find less need to get under them now, gone are the days of lying under the hillman minx with a gearbox on my chest, and hypo 90 running down my arms.

Weird_Nev

Crabman wrote: »

The cost of the job together with the quality of parts are factors in my decision as to where to go.

I've never been confident enough to get under a car, only time I've seen underneath is when it has been on the garage's ramp

They're really not complicated things. People say they are, but they're not.
Driveshafts, suspension bits and bobs, an exhaust, some pipes for the braking system. By and large they adhere to the same principles.

The only complexities these days is the electronics that have taken over the security/safety/engine management features.

TrickyWicky

Rubbish.

Some cars are a PITA to work on whilst others are easy. Yes they mostly work the same but all the parts are designed differently with different bolt positions, hidden nuts, bolts, clips etc.