Anyone had good/bad experience of Nationwide Autocentres?
Need a full service and first Mot on my diesel. Dealer charged me £400 last year for what's little more than an oil change and giving the tyres a kick so won't be using them again. With Nationwide they quote £235 on their website for service + MoT and I see I could use Tesco points on a 4 to 1 basis - so assume would cost just £60 worth of points.
I've seen a lot of negative comments about them on review sites. Could they seriously muck it up? Should I give them a whirl or find a decent independent and save my points for something else? Would do it myself but need a stamp for the extended warranty.
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I used them for my tyres experience was just average. Nothing really bad to report nothing really wrong to report. I am not asure I would trust any of the big fast fit centres for an MOT though.
They offered to bleed my brakes for £27 so I am half thinking about doing it but only once I have the pads replaced (so they can't start saying my brakes are dangerious etc).
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Hi Flynn, I would not touch them if I were you. I used them a couple of years ago and found that they will replace items which don't need replacing. They tried telling me my suspension arms needed replacing on a Nissan Micra of only 2.5 years. I had it checked at another garage, and this was not the case. My old dad had his car serviced with them, and seems to think they put the wrong filter on his car.
sorry to be so negative, but go to a good recommended indie if this doesn't affect your warranty.
Sheldon
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They use a lot of college C&G training on the job and todays version of the YTS placement scheme.
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Used them once 3 years ago. Was tempted by offer as an AA member to have MOT there. Car failed on emmisions, headlight aim and a rear indicator having the orange colour worn off it.
The indicator I could accept (just) on the emissions they hadn't run it at the correct temp( they tried to sell me an engine/fuel cleaner which surprise surprise had the desired effect after 20 miles) I would have taken the car elsewhere but needed to get to the airport for a business trip.
I complained bitterly to the manager who was totally dismissive. A work contact who is a VOSA inspector told me what they did re the emissions was incorrect.
I've never had a problem with emissions before or since that. Car is now 10 with 160000m.
I'd avoid them at all costs.
Find a reliable local independant and build up a relationship with them.
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One concern I did have is they jacked my car up from the back (not from the sills) the jack was facing the rear, the main ramps were all busy. Since then my silencer has been knocking a bit but I am not sure if it was related. However is it ok to jackl of the car from the rear like that? I thought you had to jack it from the sills.
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My previous car was MOT'd by these. Booked via lease company and they used them not me.
I had recently replaced the windscreen wipers (with genuine Ford parts) and they replaced with OEM cheaper items. They didn't need replacing as they were already new. Okay I didn't pay but not the point.
They also replaced the rear number plate. Front and rear (for which I had paid extra for) were Euro plates with the GB symbol.... they replaced with normal plates. Took time to get the to order a new one that was a Euro one. They claimed they hadn't been asked to but the car had Euro plates which were options.
We use a good independent to MOT my wife's car.
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bargepole touch wouldnt them a with
make a sentence out of those words........
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Avoid at all costs.
My experiences with Nationwide Autocentres comprise bodged repairs, highly dubious MOT failure items, and hundreds of pounds worth of wholly unnecessary invented work. Don't be enticed by the cut-price MOT offers.
I would echo the advice to seek out a trustworthy independent.
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They seem better than they used to be around here, but more expensive and hardly any customers. Check their website, as they regulary have voucher offers.
They are to car servicing what McDonalds, KFC, BurgerKing are to dining.
The maker's dealers are something like Franky & Bennies or Wagamamas.
Independents are like anything from Cob Shop to Claridges.
Edited by Hamsafar on 28/05/2009 at 23:12
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More like food poisoning ,
Does anyone know if Nationwide Auto Centres are a member of the good garage scheme?
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Used them many times for MOTs, as using Tesco Clubcard points I get the MOT done for not a lot more than a tenner. Apart from appalling "customer" skills, I have no real problem with them - had some failures on small items but that happens elsewhere too, and certainly hasn't happened consistently with them.
Not so sure about the "service". It looked like good value for money and was quite reasonable - especially using Tesco points!! But I recall reading the list of stuff they do, and there seemed to be very little of substance. Mind you, manufacturer's recommended services don't seem to cover a lot except visual checking...
My only thought on the service was that it's very generic and would probably not take account of any idiosyncrasies in the manufacturer's schedule.
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Good Garage Scheme in for independents. But it's not all it seems. It's run by Forte additives, basically any garage can join just by being a customer of Forte and filling in a form.
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they used to be called apples in my area im fairly certain?
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National bought out lots of smaller fast fit centres. I know one of them bought out Charlie Browns not sure if that was Natonal. I once looked in the old 1969 Kelly's directory and the National near me used to be an indie garage and looking at the building they use it is a 1950's style building.
That is what the big fast centres often do, rather than starting from scratch they just buyer smaller chains out.
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they used to be called apples in my area im fairly certain?
That's the one, bell boy
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Any franchised outlet is only as good as its employees.
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However is it ok to jack of the car from the rear like that? I thought you had to jack it from the sills.
Using a trolley jack (which I assume you mean, Rattle), you can use other points under the car... but you have to be careful that the bit you use can take the weight and not distort or damage and suspension bits... for your exhaust to rattle it just sounds like they could have knocked it, it certainly couldn''t have been used to jack the car up! Stick your head under the back and wiggle the rear exhaust pipe, soon tell you if it needs fixing!
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A certain place seemed to do the following - 10 years or so ago on an old Uno
1) insisted on replacing a trackrod end for MOT when it seemed OK to me
2) Changed the brake fluid in the following fashion.
One guy sits in car operating brake pedal - other guy turns the bleed valves..
The guy in the car STAMPS on the pedal and Jets of fluid blast into the wheel arches hitting the paint and then further spraying all over the place as the jet of fluid breaks up and `bounces` back.
It up into the wheel arches - sprayed out and over the suspension paint then running down under the wheel and under body paint. This is repeated until brake fluid is all over the place including the workshop floor
Yep, no tube or container although they did have brake fluid having gone out for it and returned with a cheap looking 5 lite container of DOT3.
They then hand the car back, dripping fluid and proceed to wipe the workshop floor.
It was fortunate they had a hose - which I used to wash off.
Edited by oilrag on 29/05/2009 at 10:23
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I thought you had to jack it from the sills.
What does it say in your car's handbook?
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Dealer ......... for what's little more than an oil change and giving the tyres a kick
I'm sure that's not all that's specified by the manufacturer in your car's service guide. Have you read it yet?
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I use them to change the oil every 6k miles at £20 a go - cheaper than i could do it and I have no problem with their service.
I wouldnt use them for MOT's - they often have a £20 voucher in the local paper but i get the feeling that my car would always fail!
Brakes & tyres etc are cheaper sourced from and indi or off the internet and I wouldnt even bother asking them for a quote.
Everytime ive been in for an oil change there is normally someone old dear at the desk paying for loads of work to his/her car.
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Oh dear. Sounded a good wheeze with the Tesco points thingies but that all seems to tie in with other opinions I've found on the net about them. Seem to have a few unimpressed customers. I'll have a look round at the alternatives. Cheers.
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don't go there.
I'd guess there must be reasonable ones about, but you did ask for personal experience.
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If you search this forum you'd probably find just about every "style" of garage being slagged off. The major chains are easiest to slag off, as they are all over the place and lots of people have first, second or third hand experience of them, or at least a juicy bit of hearsay. They'd probably be followed by franchised dealers (who apparently often charge too much), and independents would come out on top.
I'm not suggesting that all of the above tales didn't happen, but these businesses are (mostly) still in business so they can't be all that bad. I think it's a feature of forums that bad stories outnumber good ones.
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Time for us to wear buttonhole cameras and post on Utube ;-)
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If it's the cars 1st MOT and the car is still under guarantee, I would get a main dealer to do the service - any problems fixed under the guarantee
MVP
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