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May 15, 2017 22:39:30 GMT
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So our volvo 850 T5 went to a local garage for its mot. I use a few garages for our 6 cars, I dropped one last Jan after being asked why I drove old curse word (my Landy s2 which passes most mots in the last 15 years of ownership) and I think I'm done with the next one. So, last week I check the car over, a few iffy bits , shock gaitors split, a small leak on the steering and rear discs and pads were replaced. The fluid looked horrid so I pumped a couple of litres through to flush it. The car has done 200 odd miles, no fluid lost. Drop car for mot, notice 2 new staff, hand keys over, and leave. A call later to say that it's failed on the rear calliper.. me- "oh, it was free last week when I had it apart, is it a low reading? Lad- err, no it works ok, and it's got new discs on the back, but there is a leak where the pipe goes in. It's going to need a new pipe, and maybe calliper if the thread has gone £75 to do pipe, and £255 +vat if it needs the calliper. Me- ok, I had it all apart last week, and the pipe and thread all appeared ok, so maybe it just needs nipping up, give that a go first. Lad....ok, it's on the ramp now, I'll ring you back. 1 hour later, me- How's the volvo doing? Lad- yer, it's still on the ramp mate, we're trying to find the leak....... 5.30 I go to the garage, no volvo, told to wait in the waiting room, car arrives swiftly into the yard, cooling fans blazing. Lad gets out looking sheepish as he spots me. I get charged £25 for the 'repairs ' and £45 for the mot. Now, I've got no issue if it had a leak, I don't mind someone ragging my car, I do mind being treated as if I've no idea what a car is by a teenager! Rant over.
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May 15, 2017 22:49:58 GMT
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I'm so picky about who I leave my cars with, to be fair there's only one tyre place and two garages I go to. Certain cars I wait whilst the mot gets done as I'm paranoid of such instances. Surely if you use a few garages why not pick your favourite for the majority of work?
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May 15, 2017 23:12:30 GMT
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I know what you mean, I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket, and I've used some garages for years, and I feel that if they are local, know me, and the vehicle, then it's easier. I've used another garage as of a year ago that's 7 miles away......you book it, you wait, you go. The staff like old cars, like to have a chat and genuinely like seeing something different, if there is a problem they show you what it is whilst on the ramp. I took my stiletto last week, and the tester asked me if I was happy to put it on the ramp and do the test with him as it was unfamiliar to him and he didn't want to make a fool,of himself. That's something I've not done for many years. I will be taking everything there in future. The days of me supporting local are over.
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May 15, 2017 23:25:56 GMT
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Locals good if poss but it's worth travelling for service and peace of mind in my opinion, my preferred garage is 20 miles away. It's good that the other place didn't have your pants down over the caliper. It's their loss now
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Ryannn
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,421
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I probably pass 10 or more garages to get to my preferred one, been going there over 10 years. They know I do the work myself and aren't interested in taking on jobs, so there's no push to "find" a fail.
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MiataMark
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,963
Club RR Member Number: 29
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I probably pass 10 or more garages to get to my preferred one, been going there over 10 years. They know I do the work myself and aren't interested in taking on jobs, so there's no push to "find" a fail. Same with me, except the bonus is the garage is walking distance.
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1990 Mazda MX-52012 BMW 118i (170bhp) - white appliance 2011 Land Rover Freelander 2 TD4 2003 Land Rover Discovery II TD52007 Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon JTDm
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jgtr
Part of things
Posts: 270
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I can't really see what your issue is with the garage?
The MoT is just a visual check and doesn't involve any repair work, they found a leak on the calliper (after you had repaired it) and gave you a quote for repair work before carrying out any work, they then did the repairs, road tested your car and only charged you £25.....I'd say that was a good service, especially considering some of the horror stories you hear!
Braking systems don't just leak, they either have faulty parts and need repairing/replacing or someone had been working on them previously and hadn't done the job properly, which to be fair the garage wouldn't know about hence they gave you a quote for repair work. Your quick to criticise the garage but you left you car with leaking brakes.
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I dropped on a local garage getting my missus megane MOT'd. The next local garage tried to rob her blind, until i took the car and repaired it myself.
However, the one we use now, I got abit of a rep going with the owners and now they bend over backwards for me. Even offered to open up a saturday they were closed to get me a test sorted. I use them for all my cars, they know I do my own work so they don't look for anything to make money etc and you get a genuine MOT.
I would use them for repairs too, as I feel they would be honestly priced and do a good job based on what ive seen.
Gold dust finding a good garage these days.
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Jordie
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jgtr
Part of things
Posts: 270
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Sorry not trolling but family business is a MoT and service centre, and I was a technician (mechanic in old money) for years and get a bit defensive lol
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I never EVER leave my cars without me for an MOT, comes of a few years ago when a mate had a MK1 cortina that was well modified, dropped it off and left it for MOT first thing. About 11am he gets a call 'Hello Mr Taylor, are you sitting down?' He thinks its failed miserably, turns out the garage lads (it was a Honda main dealer) had found out how rapid this 'tina was and were spinning it round the yard, one of the rammed it into a wall! 'We will fix it for you sir' 'No you @~:@@! well won't! I'll fix it, and you'll pay' And he made sure it got genuine front wings and panel, they didn't query the bill
Mind you, the place we use now backed my sons Series 2 military LWB Landy into another customers car whilst we stood there and watched! Turns out he forgot that military stuff has overriders on the back as well as the front. Still it didn't hurt the Landy at all!
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mgmrw
Part of things
Posts: 701
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Had this about 5 years ago, had used a certain local garage for years. No dramas.
Then issues started arising:
1) Nissan 200SX was up for sale, deposit taken. I agreed to have new temp sensor fitted as it always ran cool.
Garage said; "not a problem mate, it's same as primera engine, done plenty"
Car done Thursday, I take it 2 miles home.
Friday, collect new owner from train station, begin test drive on way back to mine.. car overheating badly.
I call garage, head straight there.
Turns out they'd let the YT kid do it, who was "doing a degree in Motorsports".
Garage owner rectified. Then it turn out that the 20 year old yt kid had taken my 370bhp car for "a good test run" despite having zero insurance to do so.
2) daily needed MOST, service and cambelt etc. Price quoted, £500 ish all in.
Collect car, £1100 bill including MOT fail for leaking fuel filter and leaking shockers.
They'd fitted springs as snapped (they said) but not noticed that the shockers were shagged.
The fail on fuel filter, was the filter they'd fitted an hour earlier and not tightened.
Needless to say, I voted with my feet.
ETA garage #2:
Alternator failed on daily. Needed doing ASAP. Local garage who a mate works for agreed, quoted £200 ish.
Collect the next night, £340. Load of excuses re: previous garage buggering up the bolts.
I get halfway home, notice a crunched hole in my front bumper.
Go back... "Err must've been a customer, go see bodyshop xyz across the road, we'll pay"
Took it there, old school place, says he'll need it 2 days.
Had it 5. Front end repair lasted 4 washes until flaked off.
I then pay trusted place to rectify at £200.
Now using another garage, thus far no issues....
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Last Edit: May 16, 2017 8:23:04 GMT by mgmrw
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I would say find a retro-friendly garage that offers an MOT service, but doesn't have their own MOT facilities.
That's what we do. Charge £45 to MOT a car, take it to out test station of choice (we go where we do because of the tester himself, rather than the garage), wait with the car to assess any issues with the tester if there are any.
That way, you have the peace of mind that the MOT station won't "find" faults that aren't really there or aren't really fail points anyway, as they know they won't be getting the job of fixing them either way.
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Specialist Bodyshop & Fabrication Classic, Retro, Prestige & Custom Small Repairs to Concours Restorations Mechanical Work Vintage to Modern
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I count myself lucky with the guys who do my m.o.t, they are a garage but know i do my own repairs so don't even quote, he knows retros and has no quibble about me being present during the test.
About 12 years back when I used a different place, I took a mk3 fiesta for test as a favour for someone, I was present and the new tester pulled out a pick hammer not the corrosion assessment tool, he began knocking the utter curse word out of the fiesta, I left him to it because I knew the gaffer, he came to me and said "Oh mate its failed on rust" i asked him to put it back on the ramp to show me, he had put a few holes in solid steel with this hammer, I popped up to get the boss and got him to look and pointed out the hammer used, he proceeded to rip shreds off this guy and made him weld it, I didn't see him there long after that
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Jgtr............no offence taken, I understand where you are coming from exactly, as I used to fix neighbors cars.......I don't any more, enough said there. My point was I'm not convinced there was a leak at all, there were obviously signs that fluid had been about as I'd had it apart........everything else is dry and dusty, this side I had removed the calliper and put pistons and seals in as it had seized. The pedal was firm, didn't leak after I had completed the job, and had done a good 2-300 miles with no fluid loss? My check after doing the brakes in the garage would involve brake test, stand on the brakes, take a look. Leak?
I normally have a good relationship with garages as they are aware I do my own repairs. I have not had a repair done be a garage in 33 years and 40+ cars. I'm usually on the defensive side FOR the garage, there are a lot of idiots who own cars,
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BT
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,772
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Once again I never leave my car. Not sure if it makes a difference.
I use and have used the same garage for a few years now. It's on the estate where I work and thus far they have been very fair and also very accommodating. Always go back and have always been sound.
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May 16, 2017 11:14:21 GMT
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I've learned my lesson, I'm going to use the new garage I've been using as they know their stuff, keen on old cars and have taken time out to have a good chat about the cars I've taken in.....the stiletto,and amazon so far. I appreciate most garages can treat customers as idiots, cos let's face it, most are! I had an interesting time at my local tyre place recently, went to get the tracking done after I replaced the swivels on the Landy. The lads had no idea how to do it, and said the couldn't, I said I could, but would appreciate their help. I explained how to do it, and we set about it. The lad was trying to centre the steering wheel, and adjust each front wheel to suit. I got him to adjust it to +4 one side and -4 the other, and he was astonished when I jumped in and turned the wheel "that's it!!! They're on zero mate!! They insisted non payment as it was a lesson in old school steering........so I spent £25 on buscuits, they were very happy
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May 16, 2017 11:37:51 GMT
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Once again I never leave my car. Not sure if it makes a difference. I use and have used the same garage for a few years now. It's on the estate where I work and thus far they have been very fair and also very accommodating. Always go back and have always been sound. What garage is this if you don't mind me asking? As I know you're local to me and its always good to know of decent places.
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May 16, 2017 12:05:17 GMT
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jgtr, I think these guys have charged £25 for running a rag over a fluid spill and taking an extended road test! If you are an MOT tester, do you charge for a rag and a tweek?
Having gone to college with part of a years intake of apprentices in my home town, i really didnt want to go to any of their garages! Think i only MOTed 1 car out of my first 6/7, usually going to places my dad trusted. After having to deal with the arrogance of a few who thought they were better qualified than myself, i eventually settled on someplace in another town for years who took time to know you, until their best mechanic decided to go on his own.
Even though I'm quite competent with a socket set, i do very few of the MOT repairs and big jobs these days, but will cover any advisories and all the servicing. Leads to very few advisories each year!
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May 16, 2017 14:38:47 GMT
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That's exactly what I tend to do mondeogrd! If it needs doing, fine, Any advisory gets fixed for next year. My original garage was fully aware of this as it returned each year for 15 years. But now the son has taken over and just sees the Land Rover as junk, and advised me to buy a newer van. Even though it only ever fails on a minor point, but 80% passes, not bad for a 56 year old Landy covering 5k a year of hard work. Don't thing a van would really cut it.
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bortaf
Posted a lot
Posts: 4,549
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May 16, 2017 14:56:13 GMT
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I have 2 testers i use, one (customers cars) is allways curse word after 1PM so i go in late and do most of the test myself, he build drag cars as a hobby and is actually a right nice bloke just a total pisshead, the other is 86, sober as a judge and the nicest bloke you'd ever want to meet, a fountain of knolledge and a classic american owner/importer, been going to him since i was 17 (with my own and family cars) LOL i get panioky if i have to go elsewhere, i have MOT tester trust issues i never leave a car for an MOT i pace up and down chain smoking whilst they (or i ) test it, honestly MOT time on my cars (and family) is like being at the birth of my first kid, every dam time LOL
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R.I.P photobucket
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