Garage Warning!

[320Touring]

Took the touring in for an MOT a few weeks ago- failed on several silly things and a couple of "big" jobs.

the biggest of these was "brake pipe from T piece to rear flexi's excessively corroded" n/s and o/s.

My heart sank at this news-as it'd probably involve taking the tank out and disturbing more (read expensive) issues.

But I wasnt giving up on the ole touring that easily-took it to my mechanic and got him to looka t it and price the job....

turns out all the pipes are NEW and COPPER! that means they are certainly not corroded to excess

suffice to say i'll not be going back to that garage again.

so now the touring is off to get an MOT at my mechanic's place on wed and should hopefully be back on the road next week.

so make sure you are present when the test is done, and that they leave the car up on the ramps to point the stuff out to you

[Widge]

I agree with this. when I took my coupe in for an MOT in December one garage said rear brake pipes and nothing else then quoted £200+ to do the job. Another said brake pipes and body tub corrosion round front jacking points, and a list as long as my arm, 3 pages iirc.

So I didn't drive it for 2 weeks took it home, did the brake pipes my self, and poped down to the local garage. Passed first time, with the MOT man commenting although it looks like sh1t it's surprisingly solid underneath!

I wasn't going to argue with the garage in Byker but I knew that the jacking points are rusty but it's no where within 30cm of the suspension mounts etc... but he was big...

Moral of the story either know your car, or get the garage to show you what needs doing.

I dread to think how many non car people get shafted by garages.

[PaulyV]

A job for Trades and Standards? Or at least a letter to them

best

Pauly

[bootyman]

I took my Polo is to the same wa@kers that crashed my Rieger and they told me to pick it up in an hour. They done the MOT, but i got a £200 bill for silly little things like "Had to adjust headlights". It's a fcuking dial that you turn

I will certainly insist on being there next time i take my car to ant garage

[Widge]

I hope you didn't pay Ben, on principle they should call you before they do any chargeable work on top of what you have agreed, such as the MOT.

I can't believe you took it back to them even if it was just the polo, after what they did to the Reiger

Anyone know anything about the Guild of master mechanics or whatever that they are supposed to belong to????

[bootyman]

I didn't take the car to them directly. I took it to a mate who run a garage as i thought they did MOT's, but they didn't and it was him that took it there, so i had to pay. They Mot'd the Polo before the Rieger. I was fuming though it takes seconds to adjust headlights

[Project_E30]

My MOT man adjusts stuff like that for free

[Widge]

I've come to the conclusion that the whole garage industry is bent. they all seem to over charge for little jobs and stuff.

Unless you actually know the guy.

[Project_E30]

I have a brillient one in Bristol who is honest and fair.

Would love to take over once he decides to sell up!

[320Touring]

the problem I have is that I cant really go to trading standards as "corroded to excess" and other such terms are open to the testers interpretation!

suffice to say it'll get a badmouthing around my town and they should be very quiet.

[bootyman]

You are right there mate. I took my car for a electronic diagnosis to make sure all was well and they gave me a list of things they wanted to do. I took thecar along with list to a mates uncle who was retired, but was a technician for 45 years at BMW and he couldn't stop laughing cause none of the stuff on the list needed doing. Only 1 thing and it cost a couple of £'s for the part. The problem with a car like mine is that everyone thinks i'm minted and they try to milk me, but like i keep saying i have to eat beans on toast to run my car so i'm just as poor as the next man

[Geeman]

I know it's 'slightly' off topic, but I'm similarly pissed off with both my business bank AND acountant... the fees they charge is ridiculous... The accountants want £2450 for doing last years accounts... how ridiculous is that?! We didn't even trade anything last year, it was all development time and very little account activity.

Thieving gypsy bastards!

And another thing... my E38 is in the garage for a running problem. Turns out it's an inlet cam sensor... so I phones my dealer just to check the price of the part so I now what to expect when I get the final bill... £58.30 + VAT. Okay, not too bad I guess... but then my mechanic rings up and says... "Oh, it's £67 + VAT for the part..." okay, so it's only £9... but cheeky fucker! So I told him MY price and he made out he was mad with the dealers for giving him an inflated price. Hmm... I think not. And that price I got was BEFORE my usual discount.

They're all trying to make a fast buck for doing nothing. - Move abroad I say... in an English speaking place so you don't get ripped off even more!

[320Touring]

You are right there mate. I took my car for a electronic diagnosis to make sure all was well and they gave me a list of things they wanted to do. I took thecar along with list to a mates uncle who was retired, but was a technician for 45 years at BMW and he couldn't stop laughing cause none of the stuff on the list needed doing. Only 1 thing and it cost a couple of £'s for the part. The problem with a car like mine is that everyone thinks i'm minted and they try to milk me, but like i keep saying i have to eat beans on toast to run my car so i'm just as poor as the next man

Yeah they seem to do that. luckily I'd had the car on the 4post a couple of months back and knew it was as solid as a rock underneath

ben-just as well you have a convertible with all those beans

[bootyman]

That's why i'm looking forward to taking the hardtop off

G that man was trying to do you for more than £9's cause he would get a nice trade discount on that price. Best thing is to tell the garage whay is needed and you go and buy it and you want to see the old parts they replaced.

Isn't it sad that we have to go through these extreme measures just to get a faird deal. What ever happened to honest anongst men

[320Touring]

That's why i'm looking forward to taking the hardtop off

G that man was trying to do you for more than £9's cause he would get a nice trade discount on that price. Best thing is to tell the garage whay is needed and you go and buy it and you want to see the old parts they replaced.

Isn't it sad that we have to go through these extreme measures just to get a faird deal. What ever happened to honest anongst men

good point well made ben!

I usually buy the parts seperately (usually GSF) and string them for all the discount they're worth (about £16 on a £82 exhaust)

then give them to the garage to fit , usually marked in some way so I can TELL that its my part

[Widge]

My flat mate had his timing belt done by Saab.
5 months and only 7000 miles later it was shreiking like feck so he took it to a local place who had to do the belt again, and said that the Saab dealer hadn't changed the tensioners when they did the belt!!!!!!!!

I mean WHF!!!! That's common practice, and you expect paying through the nose at a dealer you get a good job.....not true.

[Ziggy]

On the other hand, there *are* good garages out there - Little Canford Garage near me (as recommended by E30Mark), where I took my car for its MOT. Top old geezer, took plenty of time looking at everything thoroughly, whilst we were talking about old fords etc! He didn't find anything wrong with it, but I was looking over everything with him. Still don't think he'd have tried to rip me off, so I'll take my mum & brother's cars there too

Last time my mum's car (mk3 golf) was at the garage we've used for years, they fitted the wrong dizzy cap - it blatantly didn't fit properly. So that's the last time I'll go there...

[dazleeds]

couldnt agree more
garages now days have no scrupples at all

bring back the old days when they were helpfull and happy to work on whatever you drive in
now they seem to take the pish a lot more with any car over 10 year old

the only reliable mechanic is yourself sad but true

[Gwynleym10]

the only reliable mechanic is yourself sad but true

Very true!

Ive had MOT garages trying to fob me off with £8 bulbs and that kinda thing. ALWAYS argue with them!

One garage in wales after I had spun my old m10 and bent a trailing arm, bent the new trailing arm so it would fit the axel carrier (which was also bent) As you can imagine the car didn't drive right at all, but they didn't say anything to me! I complained big style, go my money back and and my self and a friend did it- properly!

[hammoj28]

Thats bloody terrible! Hate that kinda thing. Hope the m.o.t goes well and looking forward to seeing the tourer back on the road.

[PaulyV]

As a new owner I shall be trying Gilberts of Ealing on Tuesday to sort afew things out. I will let you know how they go either way. Perhaps we should have a board of trusted garages and mechanics on here.

best

Pauly

[Bob_S]

goes back to the old saying, if you want a job done properly do it yourself!!!

I'm sick of garages and MOT stations. I found a good fair one by me and I knew it would fail on 2 things which I knew about so not exactly a problem.

local garage is a bit of a hillbilly effort though rather do it myself which I do now

[stonesie]

There are some garages where they have to get off thier horse to work on cars (cowboys)...

but i work at a decent 1 where things like headlamp alignement and washer jets adjusted are thrown in free if required, £30/hour labour rate and £40 mot's with no retest fee within 14 days

[Brianmoooore]

the problem I have is that I cant really go to trading standards as "corroded to excess" and other such terms are open to the testers interpretation!

su.

Not on copper-nickel brake lines, it's not! I would certainly go back to the tester for an explanation.

[Grantley]

Project e30 who's the kind hearted dude doing you favours foe free then ?

[aauser]

I agree with Brian, go back to the garage and tell them that you are going to the Ministry Of Transport to complain and they'll Sh*t it

There are still some very good & honest mechanics/garages out there that would never dream of ripping off any customers, I know of a few but the problem is, there are a lot more cowboys and this gives everybody in the motor trade a bad reputation.

Once you've found a good one, stick with 'em!

[Widge]

I'd wait till you have an MOT on the touring firs then go around in it and put the sh1t up them.

[Morat]

Well, I reckon my garage is pretty good - but it took a while to find em. Here's the sheet from the first (and only) service I've had done on the 325i. Bear in mind I'd just bought it of ebay with 12 months MOT and said "It needs cambelt and have a good look round and see what it needs". Front disks/pads was a bit of a shocker having passed an MOT the previous week (1k miles before!) but they were certainly better afterwards. They also did little things like adjusting the clutch, fixing a light on the OBC etc.



BMW 325i Full Service. Strip brakes, renew front disks and pads, cleand lubricate and rebuild. Renew air filter, strip off aux drive belts and viscous fan, Renew cambelt and tensioners - rebuild. Change oil and filter. Renew spark plugs.

1 Distributer cap £37.42
1 Rotor arm £24.28
1 Cambelt kit £ 58.39
1 Air filter £9.62
1 Set front discs £60.00
1 set front pads £22
2 Fan belts £8.00
1 Oil filter £6.90
7 Engine Oil £19.50
1 sump seal £0.80
1 Sreen wash solvent £0.40
1 Brake Cleaner £3.20
6xplugs £18.00
1 tin spray grease£2.50
Labour £180

total inc VAT 528.06
OUCH, but at least I can go back and whinge if anything falls off!



Any comparisons?

[Widge]

Some fo those parts seem a little expensive, but if you are happy and can trust them to do what they say etc and have a good relationship that doesn't matter. It's when they charge you over the odds for parts that don't even get fitted that I would worry!