Kwik Fit Service and MOT

Tobster86

Buy the Haynes manual for your car. One of the earliest sections is the service schedule which gives the full detail of everything it needs and how often.

Figure out (from past receipts or memory; if in doubt, consider it necessary) exactly what needs doing, see what Kwik Fit's service covers, and then ask a few local independants how much to do those service items.

I can guarantee it won't take long to realise how much of a rip off kwik fit are.

For added shock, price up the actual parts themselves, a small box of sockets & spanners, and a couple of hours on saturday afternoon!

forgotmyname

INTERIM service does not include sparkplugs and filters other than the oil. Its a £60 service at my local garage. And he does a proper job greases hinges etc.

I bet a toyota specialist would have done the service for less.

knightstyle

Toyota price for just the service is £269 not sure if that includes all the parts though, plus £95 for front brake pads and goodness knows how much for the tyres.
Oh and I forgot to say that the QF price included doing the tracking.
I always used to do my own servicing, repairs etc, reconditioned a Saab engine on the kitchen table, OH not amused. But dodgy shoulder waiting for opp. means this is no longer possible.
I am not saying they are great but our local one is as good if not better than local inde. garages I have used.

Yolina

The £269 Toyota service is for their "Full +" service, for the Auris the Intermediate is £129 and the Full is £199 acccording to their "fixed price servicing" page.

Edit: just noticed whilst having a browse through Toyota's website that they do free puncture repairs for owners.

steve-L

I have had very mixed KF experiences.
On at least one occasion and I suspect twice they have stuck a nail in my sidewall. The second time I had a nail I know where it was as I pulled it out myself to prevent further damage. I had a service & MOT booked so I waited until the service day and took the whole thing in asking them to repair the puncture as well (left in the boot).
When I went to pick the car up they had the tyre and a nail through the sidewall. I know it wasn't there before!

KF tend to only find problems when they have the incentive to repair. there are a lot of things they can't do so they don't pick up the faults.

The next day the turbo failed. I tried taking it back and they just said
nothing they could do. So I ended up at an indy....

While at the Indy he asked when the MOT was done and I told him the day before. He showed me the worn ball joint they missed and told me it was only about £35 to repair and probably dangerous and shouldn't have passed the MOT. He fixed the turbo (about £300 to strip and clean) and its since done 10k.... no problems. He also mentioned the pads were as cheap as you can get... and the better quality ones would have only cost another £5 each but no point changing them now.

Is he 100%? Dunno... but I since changed my opinion of KF.
The free pads for life sounds good but you have to then change anything else they recommend. I since decided next time not to bother getting free pads as it always involves paying for something more expensive to get the cheapest part free. In the same way they fit pads that wear away quickly so as you take the car back and get upsold on more work...

Just my 2c and experience

olias

Bottom line is there are some cr4p rip off independents and some good ones, and there are some cr4p rip off kwick fits and some good ones. TBH, I don't think I have ever trusted 100% a mechanic I have been to in my life, either independent or chain. Reccommendation helps, but I am new to my area so don't really have anyone to ask.

Olias

Yolina

Something like that I have to say that I had found an extremely good independent garage near me and went there for many years, but the owner retired 4 or 5 years ago and the new people running it were, well, just not that great really - all the mechanics changed too unfortunately and I have no idea where the good ones went!
I have a couple of ok ones nearby (one is very conveniently about 400 yards from home) but still not as good as the one I used to go to and more expensive too

steve-L

olias wrote: »

Bottom line is there are some cr4p rip off independents and some good ones, and there are some cr4p rip off kwick fits and some good ones. TBH, I don't think I have ever trusted 100% a mechanic I have been to in my life, either independent or chain. Reccommendation helps, but I am new to my area so don't really have anyone to ask.

Olias

True ... to be honest that was why I used to go to KF.....
I have had some decent experiences with them (my caliper stuck on and wore out the disk and they replaced the disk under warranty) but then I paid through the nose for the caliper.....

However I think if you can get a good indy who is part of the community it's better. When I was growing up we knew the family garage (went to school with their kids) like you knew the milkman and butcher....
They were less likely to rip people off because they would be exposed in the local community.

Carlos77

skivenov wrote: »

That and Kwikfit do have a bit of a reputation for telling you your car needs work doing that it probably doesn't.

I had the opposite problem with my MOT. Took the car in for an MOT with Kwik-Fit, and it passed with flying colours. A couple of weeks later, i took it to a specialist for its service, and they told me it shouldn't have passed due to the headlights being way out of line ( the self-leveling arm had snapped a few weeks before its MOT, making the headlights atrocious and pointing towards the ground!) Kwik-Fit didn't even mention any issue with the headlights, so makes you wonder if they check everything they should! No other issues on the service though so all is good (other than the price BMW charge for tiny bits of plastic!)