Why do garages always WRECK cars?

fred246

The clutch has just gone on my VW Galaxy. I decided it was probably a bit much for one person working on his drive so I took it to a well respected garage. They replaced the clutch, dual mass flywheel and slave cylinder. The clutch now works. However on picking it up there was some bodywork damage that I repaired with sikaflex. I opened the bonnet to find the battery loose and incorrectly fitted which is an MOT fail. I sorted it. A couple of days later I checked the engine oil. It was way above maximum. I have had the car over 10 years and the oil is kept between min and max. Do they change the oil during a clutch change? Why have they overfilled it? I immediately start draining some off. I went to remove the under engine cover which I have removed and replaced at least 16 times to do oil changes without any damage. They have broken the plastic and snapped a mounting off. I drain over a litre of oil off. I look at the driveshafts which I have removed 2 or 3 times each side to repair CV boots. I use a triple square socket set. God knows what they've used. All the splines are chewed up. Apart from MOTs I can never remember having taken a car to a garage and it coming back without damage. I can't imagine how a car can last very long if people take them there for service and repairs. They just WRECK cars.

livetoclimb

Do you know all these issues were not present prior to taking the car to this garage? How often do you check the state of the bolts within the engine compartment? When did you last take off the engine cover, and when did you last check the battery was fitted properly?

fred246

I removed both driveshafts last year for CV boot repair. Very easy to do with the correct socket. Not sure I'd get them off now. They have damaged the splines so badly. Plus they probably won't have torqued them correctly. I changed the oil 3 weeks ago and engine cover was perfect. Probably changed the battery a couple of years ago. I buy my cars nearly new and try to keep them that way. Only damage previous to that was to the sills where garages had jacked the car incorrectly when changing tyres. The wheel brace was also damaged because a garage had over tightened the wheel nuts. I damaged the brace trying to undo the nuts. I then took it back to the garage who couldn't undo them either. That sort of problem doesn't happen if you torque the wheel nuts to the correct spec.

Johnmcl7

I guess the simple answer to your thread title is they don't, I've never had a garage 'wreck' my car and always used garages I trust to work on them.

If you don't like this specific garage which since it's unnamed you're not going to get any advice on, find a better garage.

John

fred246

When I do a job on a car I disassemble everything carefully, fix the issue, and then carefully re-assemble so the car is the same as it was before the repair. I don't think garages exist that will do that quality of repair. Maybe they're not given enough time. Apart from the bodywork I don't think the average person would realise what damage had been caused. It will just lead to further problems in the future. Maybe then they'll get further business from the damage. The oil filler clearly says overfilling will damage the catalytic converter. Maybe they want to fit a new one of those in future. I don't think they're a bad garage, they're just normal for UK garages. I wonder if they would repair their own cars to my standard? Could I pay a higher labour charge and ask them to pretend they were working on their own car?

roddydogs

Impossible, just the same as a builder/decorator or whatever will never do your house as well as he would do his own.

facade

roddydogs wrote: »

Impossible, just the same as a builder/decorator or whatever will never do your house as well as [STRIKE]he[/STRIKE] you would do[STRIKE] his [/STRIKE] your own.

Fixed that for you

When I do a job, it takes me 10 times longer than a "professional" because I take the time to get it exactly right (to my satisfaction), and fix everything else that I notice along the way.

Just take a look at the personal cars of garage mechanics, the last thing in the world they want to do is waste any of their own time fixing them, when they have spent all day trying to fix someone else's in the minimum time possible (be different if they can do them in works time, but that sort of thing stopped in about 1990)

arcon5

You don't touch engine oil for a clutch change -- so if the engine oil has been overfilled you've either checked it immediately after turning the engine off or you've done it yourself.

prowla

fred246 wrote: »

Why do garages always WRECK cars?

If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times not to exaggerate!

fiish

It sounds like you need to find another garage.

I've not had any problems with the garages I've used.

chrisw

I can't say I've had any cars wrecked, but I have had them back a few times with broken hose clips, trim clips, brackets loose or missing, wiring not routed and clipped in place properly, etc.

Not something I would do myself, hopefully, but I don't worry about it unduly as it's easily done. If I was that concerned I'd take it back.