Note that it says "It came as a poll found half of motorists believe they have been ripped off by a garage." I've no doubt that that particular half of motorists don't know anything about the economics of running a garage (or any other business for that matter), and what costs the charges made have got to cover.
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Well L'escargot ... Obviously the £8 Billion figure is pure fantasy but - speaking personally from my experience in (and out) of the motor trade, motorists are still being "ripped-off" by *The Minority* of garages large and small.
One of the problems with the UK is that any Dog, Dick or Harry can call him/herself a car mech, plumber, builder etc., etc. without any qualifications at all, not that this new? "tough" code of practice will do much to alleviate I dare say.
- - - caveat emptor - - - !
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 28/08/2008 at 11:21
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I agree this is a wider UK problem than just garages. There are cowboy plumbers, electricians, builders and just about everything else you can think of. This is where the remedial action needs to be taken, not by imposing toothless codes of practice on individual businesses.
I think it's quite hard for someone with no mechanical understanding to judge when they are being ripped off or not. This clearly is how cowboy outfits make their money, but it also cuts the other way in that genuine garages who might find genuine but costly work, could also be accused of being rip off merchants by people who don't have a clue how a car works.
The latter is going to get far worse as components become more complex and more expensive. How would you justify to a layman that a simple fuel pump costs four figures for the part only?
Cheers
DP
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I hate it when you see these fat builders, plumbers, roofers, garages from hell on the box - they'll even take the old and infirm to the cleaners.
At least I can sleep soundly at night (after a few golden throat charmers) knowing I never conned anyone but ... believe me, there's nothing worse than customers !!!
)unless you haven't got any that is :o)
At least if you reside in a small (ish) community, you're less likely to get ripped off, as "The Word" soon gets around, compared to a city.
I could tell you some stories about double glazing - having 2 relations in the game, but that's not motoring is it.
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I could tell you some stories about double glazing - having 2 relations in the game but that's not motoring is it.
Didn't that huge Merc have double glazing?
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