I was having some tyres fitted one day and whilst I was waiting I saw Kwik Fit relieve an elderley gentleman of the cash for new shocksa all round on the basis of non-existent leaking oil. How do I know this ? I was standing virtually next to the car belonging to the customer and there was no leaking shocks on it !

Didn't you pipe up and defend this old chap?

If it was that blatant i'd have had to shove me nose in.

I remember back in the late 1980's, my Father's colleague took his car there for a new exhaust in Avonmouth as he was there on business when it failed.

He then drove somewhere in the south where he lived but the exhaust internals fell apart on the motorways emitting a concophony of noises and fibre glass 'hair'.

He took it to his local Kwik Fit for a warranty claim, and they said - because he drove it on the motorway when it was new, it wasn't covered as it needs to get hot and cold a few times on local journeys before going on the motoway.

He pursued it further with the branch that fitted it and head office but I can't remember the outcome.

Also in 1999, gf took a Punto there as I was busy at work, the Punto had a concealed tailpipe and they fitted an exhaust that hung down at a funny angle and scraped the kerb if you drove half on the pavement. It was like a one-size-fits-many universal exhaust, and was £220, I had to take it backa nd they swapped it for a proper one and acted all surprised like they couldn't understand what the problem was.

I made a mental note of never going there. In the days when I needed a new exhaust every 2-3 years I never went on the motorway for a few days, never been sure if it was BS, but I can see how it could need tempering, but this should be done at the factory.

Edited by Hamsafar on 13/07/2013 at 11:48

I have noticed an increase in Halford autocentres.

Are they just as bad?

Some years ago I was having problems with tracking on one of my cars, a Ford Capri. So I took it to a local branch of Kwik-Fit and asked them to check the tracking. Needless to say, when they came back to me, the informed me it needed adjusting, and, knowing that there were problems, I told them to go ahead. Paid the bill and left, but the problems remained, so I took the car back. They rechecked the tracking and assured me that it was correct, but I wasn't happy.

So, I then took the car to my local Ford Main Dealer and asked them to check the tracking, after telling them of my previous experience. When the technicial returned he asked me if I wanted the good news or the bad news first! I said I wasn't sure, so he proceeded to tell me, anyway.

The good news was that the tracking was set to the correct figure. The bad news was that Kwik-Fit had tracked it "backwards", i.e. set to toe-out instead of toe-in! So I asked them to adjust it, and afterwards it was fine. I did go back to Kwik-Fit and, after a bit of an argument, did manage to claim my money back. They said I should have bought the car back to them, I told them I'd done that already and they failed to solve the problem.

My experience is mixed,

I will ignore teh stuff 20 odd years ago - and relate the past decade only.

Their winter offers of half price aircon recharging were good and they did a good job.

Their MOT service half price is excellent. No false claims, on time, no fuss.

But on tracking, they twice failed to track my Yaris correctly. I took it to ATS who did get it right and appear to have better equipment - that was 4-5 years ago.

I find ATS better for tyres and tracking as a result and no longer use KF for that.

Edit I would not take kindly to swindling.But then I am a reasonably semi competent amateur and the local branch know me.

Edited by madf on 15/07/2013 at 12:53