Getting car fixed - What is the catch?

saintjanet

I think some replies to this confirm what i always say,find a good garage and stay with them,if you cant do repairs yourself.Shopping around for the cheapest price is not always the best thing to do,sorry to say on a money saving forum!!

To the op,have you dealt with this firm before? if not you must be dealing with a good company,slip the mechanic a few quid for his trouble,always assuming they dont find anything else wrong,it has been known im afraid.

Buster_Danog

OK, here's what happened. I felt awkward ringing the guy who offered me that little job for free today, and asking him if he was busy, (I think he wanted me to come in yesterday) so I phoned another branch, which again offered me to do it for nothing.

I got there, and the first mechanic I seen asked me about the job, and before I even told him the conversation I had had with his office he said "it isn't free you know". I then told him what they had told me on the phone, and he said they were out of order for telling me that, and the mechanic would expect a few quid for a little job.

He put the car up on the ramp, and put the bits on. He then told me I could give him what I wanted. I gave him 15 (I was planning to give that much anyway). I got the impression some of them might have a laugh in the office about that type of thing when they are hanging around. That's OK though.

Buster_Danog

A couple of rubbers on the exhaust. I am car dumb, but I expect my dad could have done it on a good day, only his hip is bad. Although It's easy to say that, but when you have the car up on a ramp, it is often ten times easier than trying to crawl under it and do a job.

Cumbrian_Male

I have had my current car for nearly a year.

I had a vacuum hose split so went to my Volvo main dealer's parts department to buy the hose.

The parts guy came out to look to find the right part number, and having seen it told me to hang on.

He came back with a bit of rigid pipe and cut out the split and bridged the gap with the pipe. No charge.

A few months later I needed to get the head gasket changed and went back to them, nearly £900 to fix.

Then about a week later I had a heater hose split, returned to dealer, and they replaced it free of charge.

Guess where my car is going for it's service in a couple of weeks?

BTW it's a '96 Volvo 960 with 216000 on the clock.

kingmonkey

Franco78 wrote:

OK, here's what happened. I felt awkward ringing the guy who offered me that little job for free today, and asking him if he was busy, (I think he wanted me to come in yesterday) so I phoned another branch, which again offered me to do it for nothing.

I got there, and the first mechanic I seen asked me about the job, and before I even told him the conversation I had had with his office he said "it isn't free you know". I then told him what they had told me on the phone, and he said they were out of order for telling me that, and the mechanic would expect a few quid for a little job.

He put the car up on the ramp, and put the bits on. He then told me I could give him what I wanted. I gave him 15 (I was planning to give that much anyway). I got the impression some of them might have a laugh in the office about that type of thing when they are hanging around. That's OK though.

I think everyone involved in this is unprofessional (except the client of course). If it was quoted for free then it should be for free.

The mechanic basically pocketed the money (imo) so I consider this tax evasion.

I think there is a national problem with garages charging whatever they want.

Buster_Danog

I agree Kingmonkey. To some extent they are having a laugh at my expense. When I went into the office after the job had been done and seen all the mechanics and office staff standing around it is obvious they are giving that type of info over the phone to get people there.

On the other hand I expected to give the mechanic a few quid anyway. I know he pocketed it, but I got the job done for £15. I might even go back to him if I need to. He seemed OK.

The other issue is that my car is an old banger. They might suspect that if they do the job for free, they may not see me again. I am not the regular service type in their eyes.