Arnold Clark Servicing

Gunner567

Hi, a bit of a long shot but I'm wondering if anyone knows what type of oil Arnold Clark use when performing services on cars? Some say they use reconstituted oil, some say they use unbranded bulk buy rubbish and then there is Arnold Clark who are telling me they use Castrol Magnatec

oldernonethewiser

Do you have some reason to disbelieve Arnold Clark?

AdrianC

They'll use the correct grade and approval for the vehicle. (Or, at least, they should.)

What brand they use is a different question. Arnold Clark own a couple of decent-size factor chains (Midwest and Autoparts UK), so they'll certainly have big distribution deals with oil companies.

tonyh66

I wouldn't be surprised if Arnold Clark put olive oil into cars if it was the option with the biggest profit.

fred246

All garages work on the same basis. "How is the customer going to prove what was used?". In reality it's very difficult to know. You would have to pay a lot of money for a report detailing the likely oil put in a car. If you paid for a report and found them to be lieing what would happen? You would show them the report and they would say they disagreed with it but if you bring your car back they will repeat the oil change. They would then probably put the correct oil in. The only way to know which oil is put in is to do it yourself. Oil changes are very easy. Always have been.

SHAFT

fred246 wrote: »

All garages work on the same basis. "How is the customer going to prove what was used?". In reality it's very difficult to know. You would have to pay a lot of money for a report detailing the likely oil put in a car. If you paid for a report and found them to be lieing what would happen? You would show them the report and they would say they disagreed with it but if you bring your car back they will repeat the oil change. They would then probably put the correct oil in. The only way to know which oil is put in is to do it yourself. Oil changes are very easy. Always have been.

How do you know what goes into your car?

fred246

YOU are the ONLY person with an interest in the type of oil put in YOUR car. The bloke at the garage just wants to go home or have a pint. They're not bothered. So just do the sensible thing. Service YOUR OWN car. That's the only way to know it's been done properly.

SHAFT

fred246 wrote: »

YOU are the ONLY person with an interest in the type of oil put in YOUR car. The bloke at the garage just wants to go home or have a pint. They're not bothered. So just do the sensible thing. Service YOUR OWN car. That's the only way to know it's been done properly.

How do you know what oil you're putting in? Maybe the bloke in the factory had too many and just wanted to go home.

EdGasketTheSecond

Gunner567 wrote: »

Some say they use reconstituted oil, some say they use unbranded bulk

Yeah, used chip fat mate.

Gunner567

oldernonethewiser wrote: »

Do you have some reason to disbelieve Arnold Clark?

Only that what they told me in person doesn't match anything on the sheet they gave me telling me what was done! The sheet tells me they used part synthetic oil, the service manager said they used Castrol Magnatec fully synthetic. They ticked off things that they didn't do (they told me they took all the wheels off, greased them and put them back on yet the locking wheel nut was in my pocket!) ... Then of course there's the many negative posts you find when you Google Arnold Clark - But no disbelieve here at all :rotfl:

fred246 wrote: »

YOU are the ONLY person with an interest in the type of oil put in YOUR car. The bloke at the garage just wants to go home or have a pint. They're not bothered. So just do the sensible thing. Service YOUR OWN car. That's the only way to know it's been done properly.

Yeah, but sadly it won't have a full service history - I know I can stamp the book myself providing I stamp it with something like "DIY service" or "Serviced by owner" but I don't think it'll hold much merit as opposed to an actual garage stamping it.

Ebe_Scrooge

Gunner567 wrote: »

Yeah, but sadly it won't have a full service history - I know I can stamp the book myself providing I stamp it with something like "DIY service" or "Serviced by owner" but I don't think it'll hold much merit as opposed to an actual garage stamping it.

A stamp in the service book isn't worth toffee - especially if, as you said, they claim to have done things they clearly haven't. If it bothers you that much, you can buy fake rubber stamps on Ebay for a couple of quid. The only time an "official" stamp is of any conceivable use is if you're trying to get work done under warranty - even then, then garage should have all the details on their systems anyway, so they can see that they've serviced it.

What's far more reassuring to many buyers is a sheaf of receipts showing the parts you've bought to do the work yourself, for simple stuff like oil changes.