Support your small garage

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Fri 17 Sep 2010 11:14
Support your small garage - Glenn 42

Car well out of warranty, main dealer quoted £ 80 for an oil and filter change( basic service), I am distrustful of these chains of tyre centres that now do servicing( not mentioning any names but have been ripped off in the past), so decided to take my car to a local family garage who quoted £ 35 inc VAT. Turned up at 8.50, car was ready at 9.20 and none of this, " by the way, sir, I believe your brake discs and pads are on their last legs", as happened last year when I left my car to be serviced at a chain that did " cheap" servicing.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Sep 2010 13:23
Support your small garage - veryoldbear

Lordy, if that includes 5 litres of jollop and a filter, he's doing it for free !

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Sep 2010 13:27
Support your small garage - Glenn 42

Lordy, if that includes 5 litres of jollop and a filter, he's doing it for free !

Actually the sump only holds 2.7 litres on Almeras, but even so this is still way below the main dealer, who quoted £ 80 for a P1 service. Also having been ripped off by one of these chains of tyre centres who have moved into servicing last year, I decided to consider my local garage again. Again all he did was what I asked of him, not try to find extra work, and also I have an A4 printed receipt to show what work was done as evidence for selling time( possibly a few months time).

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Sep 2010 13:28
Support your small garage - Armstrong Sid

Turned up at 8.50, car was ready at 9.20

Could they actually do everything which would be expected in a normal service in that time?

If mine came back that quickly, I'd be a bit suspicious

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Sep 2010 14:22
Support your small garage - Glenn 42

Turned up at 8.50, car was ready at 9.20

Could they actually do everything which would be expected in a normal service in that time?

If mine came back that quickly, I'd be a bit suspicious

It was only an oil and filter change and I did see the mechanic working on the car. Also Valvoline oil, which they use, is quite a good oil, so for £ 35 I think I've got my money's worth.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Sep 2010 15:40
Support your small garage - daveyjp

A normal service is now little more than an oil change. My wife waited for her Aygo to be done - 40 minutes including washing it - in essence they only changed the oil.

Next service will be an oil change at the local garage and I'll change the air and pollen filters myself. I check tyres and brakes regularly so once these need doing I'll go local again.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Sep 2010 18:42
Support your small garage - Glenn 42

The Nissan service schedule tends to be minor( little more than an oil and filter change) and then major( which I had last year which involves changing all the filters, safety checks and replacing the sparkplugs), every 9000/ 18000 miles. I wasn't prepared to pay main dealer prices now the car is 5 years old and the independent seemed to do a good job for the money. Possibly because I was the first through the door the car was done in 30 minutes.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 17 Sep 2010 20:31
Support your small garage - galileo

My local small garage throws in a 'free' MOT with a full service and explains that as they perform most of the MOT checks as part of the service it is not much additional work and saves the customer making two appointments.

Their service price is well below dealer levels and I have found them trustworthy over many years.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 18 Sep 2010 15:53
Support your small garage - Roly93

Turned up at 8.50, car was ready at 9.20

Could they actually do everything which would be expected in a normal service in that time?

If mine came back that quickly, I'd be a bit suspicious

It is only an oil and filter change so I dont see why not, car up on ramp-loosen drain plug-drain oil-remove old filter-refit drain plug and new filter-refill with fresh oil..

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 19 Sep 2010 18:56
Support your small garage - hillman

I generally take my car to the supplying dealer, who charges the earth but seems to do the job.

As far as 'support your small garage' - Which? runs a members recommendation service for garages. I noticed that almost all of my local garages are on the recommended list, even one that had a very bad reputation in the past. When I took my car in to have the offside front wheel bearings replaced it began groaning again shortly afterwards. I did the job again myself, finding three different types of grease in the hub and that the bearing had been forced in. The damage to the hub was such that I had to replace it. Things must really have changed.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide