Get a second opinion

If the doctor said he needed to chop your leg off and it will cost you £500, what would you do? Personally I would get a second opinion, so why is it so different when we take our cars to the garage?

Confused yet? (This one's actually electric)

If you already use a garage that you have built up a relationship of trust with, then there is no reason to read any further into this post. You are one of the lucky ones. I thank you however for reading my blog and I promise that I will write something more suitable for you soon.

There are some 30 million cars on the roads of the UK and all of them have a common requirement. Regardless of make, model or age, they all have a need for regular maintenance. Many motorists will make regular trips for tyres, routine servicing or maybe just to investigate that annoying rattle. Most will have a pleasant experience. There are however a number of motorists that do not have a great experience when it comes to car maintenance. A quick search of the Internet forums or review websites will show some pretty unhappy customers. The purpose of this short post is to give you a few tips when dealing with a garage to ensure you are one of the happy ones.

I have lost count of how many times someone has said to me “I took my car in for a service and it cost £xyz by the time they had finished”. It does make me a little cross when I hear this, no one has had anyone over a barrel (at least I hope not), and the whole truth is never fully understood or even explained.

I’m going to use a common example. Car goes in for a service (£200) and leaves after having the service, new brake pads, and 4 new tyres- Total bill £600. The numbers may be different for you but, I can assure you this is common scenario and the response from the vehicle owner is often the textbook example from above. If you have used an honest and trustworthy garage all of the additional work will have been required and you should have been informed before the remedial work took place. That being said I have made a short checklist below of things you should be doing or asking.

Brakes - A common source of unexpected bills

• ·         Check the vehicle before you send it in. Faults with lights, tyres, wipers and washers should not be a surprise, you should be checking these every week. On most modern vehicles even brake pads and discs can easily be seen through the wheel. This is the most common source of additional repair work found on a service.
• ·         Use a reputable garage. Get a ‘word of mouth’ recommendation from a friend. Be careful with Internet forums and review websites, they can be misleading and miss-representative. Even the garage approval schemes do not tell the full story. ‘Gut instinct’ will also give you a good clue, if the place is filthy dirty and in general need of some TLC, ask yourself “how will they treat my car”?
• ·         If you are advised of any additional work, ask questions; “Why does it need replacing”? “What is the manufacturer’s recommendation”? In the case of brake discs/pads, always ask for your measurements in comparison to the manufacturers recommendation. Just because a brake disc has a ‘lip’, does not mean it is worn out.
• ·         If you leave your car at the garage and authorise work over the phone, always ask them to retain the parts for you to check later.
• ·         If nothing else, if you are not sure, take it somewhere else for a second opinion!

This is obviously a short list and it would not be possible to cover every scenario, but if I could ask you to remember only two things, they would be:

Check it yourself first

 and

If you are in any doubt, get a second opinion

All the best

Stuart