Motorists suspicious of garage advice

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Tue 8 Oct 2002 07:35
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - Cyrill666 {P}
Hello,

Not exactly a revelation, but an interesting story all the same:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2307601.stm

Kind regards,
Cyrill666
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 10 Oct 2002 20:13
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - Hugo {P}
You're right there. No revelation.

A garage once totally jinxed my car with the excuse they could not find out why it kept cutting out. This was an early PUG 205 GTI derivative.

My neigbour (a qualified mechanic) sorted this problem out in minutes. No expensive full service here.

My advice to anyone out there is use personal recommendations from work colleagues etc, don't just flick through the yellow pages. If you're a lady take a male friend with you (preferebly one who hasn't shaved for a few days and looks scruffy) and get him to ask searching questions.....
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 10 Oct 2002 21:17
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - Flat in Fifth
I'm sure some members of the trade feel hard done to by all these tales of this and that. Never cease to be amazed by the incompetence though.

Can testify this story is true. Galaxy Tdi not running properly, flat as a pancake.

Walk in the office one day, see the bloke whose car it is, hows your motor I ask. Get the latest update, Dealer has had it over two weeks, trying this, trying that, changed the turbo, Christ knows what else, virtually had the engine in pieces. Thought they'd fixed it twice only to find on test drive it was no better.

Oh so it wasn't the MAF sensor then, I ask in surprise.

Next time I see him, motor now back running as normal....cure?

a new MAF sensor......and the bill was?











£2400!

Needless to say it was not paid in full.



Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 12 Oct 2002 11:45
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - Thommo
I am always slightly suspicious of motorist complaints as everyone seems to want something for nothing these days but where you are using main dealers and paying top dollar obviously that criticism does not apply.

In any trade there are going to be good and bad, that is just life. In the motor trade there always seems to be one garage in an area where the rest of the trade sends there unfathomable faults to be fixed. This garage is usually easy to find if you ask and it is the one I use.

In my area Grosvenor Garage, Guildford (Toyota cars) and Jack Lilley, Shepperton (Triumph motorbikes).

Neither are cheap but the service is incredibly good and at the end of the day you (should) get what you pay for.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 12 Oct 2002 12:27
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - The Watcher
Is it any wonder when they nearly always present you with a bill for being unable to find what's wrong with the car?

Fr too many garages attitude appears to be change every item one by one until the problem is fixed, if ever. Frankly, with labour costs being around £30+ per hour, I expect mechanics who KNOW what they are doing to be working on my car and not using a process of elimination to cure the problem.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 12 Oct 2002 12:55
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - THe Growler
>>Frankly,>> with labour costs being around £30+ per hour, I
expect mechanics
who KNOW what they are doing to be working on my
car and not using a process of elimination to cure the
problem.


Obviously you do, but could it be a matter of a disconnect between the rapid advances (perhaps changes is a better word) in auto technology and the available skills in the trade catching up?

How many garages institute systematic programs for skilling up their personnel as models change and auto technology changes? As an ex-HR manager/consultant I might ask for example, what's your training spend as a percentage of budget? What's the typical number of hours annually your personnel spend on uptraining/retraining? How do you assess in your business planning which areas you will need to skill up in over the next business cycle? How do you inventory your current skills against these?

Presumably there must be a lot of keeping up to do and could it be only (again I say presumably) a well-managed well-resourced profitable operation is likely to have provided for this and have coherent ongoing plans for investing in its skills base.

Or maybe I'm wrong and the old "mechanic" skills as I knew them have given way to just plugging in new bits based on a readout from a computer diagnostic. If the latter is the case then things ought to be getting better! Maybe also there is now too much complexity for the old "generalist" approach to a being a mechanic and those kinds of places are not up to snuff when it comes to anything more than changing the oil.

It ought to be relatively easy to figure out which service places have good hiring and retention and training and sem to know what they are doing above those that may not.

I have absolutely no idea of the answers here, just chucking around the questions. Where I live any street corner shop can fix anything rapidly and for good at low cost up till about 1990/92 models. After that they tell you straight "got to Toyota/Honda" etc, which is what led me to think in the above terms.


Change is inevitable. Progress is optional.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Oct 2002 16:12
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - The Watcher
Considering that garages which charge £30+ (and above) per hour for labour do not pay the mechanic anywhere near that, where is extra going?

Many main dealer garages pay the 'grease monkey' around £10ph tops. So what are they doing with the other £20+?

I really do not believe car internals have progressed that rapidly ahead of training. However, if the dealerships are not maintaining that level of training then that, clearly is another matter.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Oct 2002 17:53
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - Robert Fleming
Main dealer garaged are in the business of selling new/nearly new cars, servicing and warranty repairs.

Why on earth would anyone in their right mind take their car to a main dealer for an out of warranty repair - if you need a cobbler you're daft going to a shoe shop.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Oct 2002 21:03
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - The Watcher
Why would anyone go to a dealer for an out of warranty repair? How about to maintain a car's service \ repair history for future resale value?

I'd also suggest you have more comeback on a franchised dealer (how much is debatable) including the ability to involve the manufacturer in any dispute than you would any other motor mechanic who is not part of the network.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 13 Oct 2002 20:51
Motorists suspicious of garage advice - smokie
I'm no expert here, but I would guess there is rent and rates, equipment, training, coffee machine in the customer waiting area, courtesy cars etc. Plus probably the fact that the guys are not occupied 100% of time.

On the other hand, there are definitely some jobs which have a "book time" of say 2 hours (which is what you get charged) but the average competent mechanic can complete them in little over half that.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link