Just to try and redress the balance a little (if that's possible !), I think it would be nice (and possibly very helpful) if fellow BackRoomers could relate any positive experiences they've had when dealing with garages and/or dealers recently.
I know there is the Good Garage section but it'd be nice to read some good news for a change !
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Lindfield Rover:
Put two *pattern* bushes into my rear swing arms at no charge!!! (I'd removed the swing arms myself of course)
Warners Rover (Now Citroen):
Done two cambelts without fuss or problems. Both times they were the cheapest quote against national fastish fit places and local independants.
Tune Up (Andrew Moorey):
Helicoiled a plug thread in the head of my K Series. Understood the difficulty (which many independents did not) and did it anyway at a pretty cheap price.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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Traffic Garages at Walton-on-the-Hill, Tadworth.
Independent Citroen specialist, always a pleasure to buy cars from (they'll source anything at a decent price) and service department goes out of its way to be helpful. Even polite when SWMBO complained they'd got the wrong colour touch-up kit for her Berlingo. Seems she didn't shake the bottle!
Terry
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Hildenborough Volvo, Hildenborough near Tonbridge.
Flexible, helpful, friendly and efficient.
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If you have a Mercedes and live in Northern England I strongly recommend Merc-Care at Pudsey near Leeds.
I always felt completely happy with the servicing work carried out by them and on the one occasion when I had a problem with the car (an indicator relay burnt out one Friday evening) they kept me going on the Saturday morning by taking one out of one of the cars in their showroom until they could get the replacement part early the following week.
Their labour costs are also much lower than Merc main dealers.
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If you live near Pudsey I imagine your car will be eating shock absorbers.
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Another Independent Citroen Garage in Tavistock in the South West deserve high praise.
Richard Walke Motor Services (Citroen and Peugeot Specialists) charge £24.00 Per hour labour, about the same as most back street places.
They came to my rescue over an ABS ECU when Main Dealer didn't want to know. Full diagnostic check, subsequent fitting and final test for around £35.00. I sourced the ECU from South West Renault Spares in Cornwall (Renault Peugeot and Citroen spares place) for £80 including delivery.
Richard Walke Phone Number is 01822 616977
South West Renault Spares is 01209 314181. These guys are very competitive. It doesn't matter where you are they'll take your credit card number and sent the stuff to you by courier.
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......Oh, nearly forgot.
When I took my car for an MOT they provided a full report on what they did and noted what may need doing for the next MOT!
H
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Please keep at this and our webmaster will pick them up
"Our webmaster" being me, of course!
and put them into The Good Garage Guide which relies on recommendations. HJ
I will, and gladly. But please provide as much detail as you can, so that someone searching the Guide can find them easily without too much local knowledge. Oh, and -- as well as posting them here -- please email them to me at the address below or use the "Contact Us" link on the left to send them to me.
Ta!
Martyn [Back Room moderator]
====================
mailto:webmaster@honestjohn.co.uk
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I have used the same motorcycle dealers, Hadlers of Baddow Road, Chelmsford, Essex for many years for purchases and servicing and have found them to be outstandingly fair and helpful.
They are a Honda dealer (+ Suzuki?).
Tel. 01245 354844
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Got a banger? Live in Norwich? If yes to both, you can do no better than G&N Autos on Music House Lane. The proprietor Gerry is the most singularly helpful bloke I have ever dealt with, and is superb at keeping much loved old crates on the road.
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I suspect Gerry will be getting an early-morning visit from the SMMT. It's people like him that are killing new car sales....
:op
No Dosh - but then who has?
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Lairgate Motors, Beverley, East Yorkshire are excellent for MOT and repairs.
Always do a thourough but fair discounted MOT, explain and show you any problems. Dont charge you for Re-MOT even if you fix it yourself. Even offered loan of a special tool so I could repair something myself.
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Lindbrook Audi, Five Oak Green Near Tonbridge Kent.
Excellent service and always courteous and helpful despite the fact that i'm a whole load scruffier than their normal customers.
After buying my car (used) from them, I continued to travel from Orpington out to Tonbridge for the time I owned the car.
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Is this forum becoming the Orpington Car Enthusiasts' Club??? ;-)
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haha K yeah, I'd wondered myself exactly where 'Arfur' came from, but didn't like to ask :)
HF
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Both excellent BMW specialists, the latter being owned by a BMW dealership with actual BMW Modic test kit.
Munich Motors - Wokingham/Berkshire
Autotecnic - Fareham/Hants
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>>Is this forum becoming the Orpington Car Enthusiasts' Club??? ;-)
Not yet, but its quite novel to see other people talking about your own area from time to time.
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I would like to nominate a good indepedent garage that my family have used for the last 15 odd years.
Ken, Paul and Ian are the fairest chaps I know and have never disappointed me yet even though I know the inner workings of the motor trade!
Details are:
Moserve Auto Engineers
9, Avon Indust Estate
Rugby
Warwickshire
CV21 3UY
Tel (01788) 561099
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Knightsbridge Garage, on the A339 Basingstoke-Newbury Road at Headley, Berkshire. 01635 268099. www.knightsbridgegarage.co.uk
I've been going there for 6 years and even took the old Jetta back on the ferry from Guernsey over Xmas for them to check it out.
Superb service, and have always done quality work for me and have plenty of knowledge to sort problems out properly at the minimum cost.
Specialise in Rovers and Hondas, and love German cars too, but will work on anything. Very well-regarded in the local area - I bought a nearly-new Civic a couple of years back from the local Honda franchise and they had no warranty-infringing qualms with me having it serviced with Knightsbridge.
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I would like to recommend 2 motorbike dealers:
Premier Bikes - Didcot, oxfordshire - very good service.
Abingdon Motorcycles - Abingdon, oxfordshire
Recently got a new exhaust system, all new transmission etc.. and they only charged me £18 for labour!- the price of it all was excellent and the service was top too.
If anyone is thinking of buying a motorbike to avoid the queues etc.. go to these guys if possible!
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We all whinge from time to time about our cars, garages, dealers, breakdown services, insurance companies etc. etc. but it would be nice to hear some really good tales of service/customer care above and beyond the call of duty. You know, the sort of thing that restores your faith in human nature and would make you happy to recommend the people and/or organisation responsible to anyone. Anyone got any examples?
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Yup - my wife recently and in total secret bought a Z4 for me (A cancelled order which she became aware of)as a silver wedding present. She had to make all the arrangements herself but the salesman was excellent. She wanted to have it delivered to me at work and he even came in on his day off to help her achieve the full suprise. Top Guy, he put himself out a lot and even roped in his sales manager into the deception when I called in on another matter. Company is Mill BMW in the north east. Got the full array of follow up phone calls checking everything was in order. All in all, a very good experience.
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Nice and I bet you've not stopped talking about them as a result - the best sort of publicity IMO.
A year or 2 ago through a freak incident, my youngest son (who has special needs) got locked in our car with my wife and I outside and both sets of keys inside!! Sadly, the police didn't want to know (citing possible compensation claims for damage to the locks - yet another example of insurance/ litigation driven policy) so we called the AA. Within about 30 minutes the guy arrived and proceeded to open the car without damaging it or, more importantly, distressing our lad. He was very caring and calming (unlike the police!) and opened it up within about 2 minutes (quite frightening how easy it is really). It wasn't 'just another job' to him and we gave him a healthy tip as a result.
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The other week I was up in Edinburgh for the fringe festival and some pranny ripped the wing-mirror off my car (BMW 525i E34). They'd torn it out of the door housing but not completely out so it was dangling by a bracket. Since I was due to drive back down to London the next day I wanted to get it sorted ASAP.
Anyway, I just rang up the local BMW dealership (Dunedin BMW) and asked if there was anything I could do about it. They told me to bring the car in, so I did. The guy I spoke to had a look and said that the guys who'd pulled it off must have really had a go at it because he'd pulled the bracked clean out of the door. Anyway, 15 minutes later (which I spent perusing the showroom) the mirror was back on. And best of all, free of charge. I was a happy camper again.
Remember - that's Dunedin BMW, Edinburgh ;)
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Recently, I was at a T-junction and slightly nudged out owing to a parked car obscuring my view of the road I was hoping to turn left into.
A moped came alongside this car coming down the road and braked sharply in front of the car, the car swerved into my car and did some damage to my bumper leaving a huge crack in it, smashing the headlamp, denting the wing and part of the bonnet and ripping out the indicator in the bumper.
We exchanged details and I got the car home.
I rang the insurance company, the lady at the insurance company considered a broken headlamp and indicator as making the car immobile, certainly illegal to use it on the road. They got in touch with the nearest approved body shop and they called to arrange collection of my car and a courtesy car.
A flat bed truck turned up at my house the next morning on time with the courtesy car on the back, they unloaded that, loaded on my car, they gave me all the paperwork for the car all I had to do was show my driving license and sign.
No hassles, no fuss and I was mobile and off to work on time.
The garage noticed the minor dent in the rear wing (a previous drive away probably a 4x4 attempted park up at a recent visit to a supermarket) and called to ask if I wanted that done at the same time. They had the paint already ordered for all the spray work to the front and they had a unit left over, all they were going to charge me was for three hours labour (£105 + vat). They also said they'd get a stone chip out of the bonnet as well.
I consider that above and beyond, the previous two quotes I got for that dent were £250 and £400.
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God for the AA
I hope you are going to make a formal complaint to the police though!
H
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Last post is in response to Volvoman's post about having his son locked in the car.
When Getting my van MOTed I needed to get the rear brakes sorted. I got another garage to fix the problem and returned it. They were still no better, sedpite the other garage ding their best. Due to the fact he stayed on late to do what he could, I couldn't knock him for that.
The following day, I saw the garage that did the work and explained the problem. He contacted the MOT place and sought further clarification. He was directed to the load compensator, which he adjusted.
The brakes were still no good, so the MOT station investigated and found the compansator to be siezed. They freed it up re tested the vehicle and it passed.
Labour 1 and a quarter hours. Cost £5
MOT test station - Moorview Garage in Launston Cornwall.
Hugo
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IIRC, there was a previous thread on this subject. I'll search later, but in the meantime should anyone else come across it, then please post the link.
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Thanks Charles.
Quite ironically that thread was started by V-Man as well. Mark or I will combine both threads later on.
Done. M.
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strangely enough I have to say that the service from my local BMW dealer (who has just be bought by HR Owen I think) was exceptional. I had a few very mior points as it is the last service before the warranty runs out. I was called a number of times to make sure that I would be happy and was told to call them back if the remedial work that they did was not successful.
Having said all that, I suppose for the amount they charge.......
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