I hate having work done by garages

I've an old school garage where my
10yr old car goes, and the wife's is still under warranty , so goes to a local Ford dealer, who's showroom is full of classics for sale and the workshop always has at least one project being worked on. He's only too happy to walk around the workshop showing you what he's up to.
My VW specialists on the other hand, thinks he's a main dealer...glass walled reception, no access to workshop and despite often not being busy, needs to consult his computer to book me in a fortnight later !

 

the message is do it yourself or find a trusted garage to do it for you. if the garage is modern with lots of fancy fittings and glass they are going to be expensive to pay for it and probably have uni graduate mechanics with their computer diagnostics. I like the old school garages with old chaps working in them and bits of old cars everywhere. But I always do work on the van and mgb myself even though I am a bit old and not so much muscle power. If I can get under my van to do jobs then younger folks on here can do it as well.

 

Old school garage near me does my mots he’s genuine guy and knows what he’s doing . Never worry if I have to let him do sumink

 

It’s not just the quality of work - it’s the price.

My neighbours son - an impoverished student - drives an inherited BMW Mini.

He had a brake warning light come on and took it into a BMW Mini dealer.

They diagnosed worn front pads and quoted over £200 to change them.

Luckily he couldn’t afford it.

New pads and discs from German & Swedish cost £60 delivered and I showed him how to do it himself.

I now have a ‘lift back from the pub’ in the bank.


Stirlingmoz

 

Me and @paulcalf have the best old school vw mechanic, the fabulous peter fletcher. Folks come from miles around to have him sort out their vws. Sadly he doesn’t do welding too

 

Yep, if we still had a classic dub, it’s Peter we’d go to.

 

I use DTH in Tilli for fabrication, paint and most anything I can't do, the rest is all myself, with a local friend. We have learned to take our time and not be scared of the cars. Took me a couple of hours to change the front shocks on my bus, but I'm in no rush. Last year we did engine out, gearbox out, etc. Great fun, even when we had the odd disagreement; we're still friends, so it can't have been that bad

The daily goes to a VW specialist in Dysart, I have only caught them out once, but it was a biggie, the car passed its MOT then brake line failed from corrosion two weeks later. I think it's down to the fact they rush things in order to make a living at it.

 

Dealers are rip off city, and often treat the techs poorly, as a consequence the techs often cut corners since they loose pride in their work, as a consequence good work is not rewarded, better to find a specialist.

 

The VW and BMW main dealers in Tamworth send me videos of their techs pointing at things when the cars go in for a service.

These days I buy stuff so old it’s not worth spending on the dealer service stamps.

 

I work in the electronics industry, my latest Polo is chock full of great, but unessential, electrickery. I don't have a bad word for the car, nevertheless, I will be trading it in at 5 years old, assuming I have cash, as the electronics will start to fail...I can almost guarantee it.

 

He is so lovely and ace! there's a vw bug that comes to him from Croatia - guess i'm lucky to live closer, except when the reason i'm going is because the brakes are rubbish! bloody yorkshire hills

 

Sound like a good bunch ...I think it's all about knowing the customer and having decent communication ...and most of all them having a conscience .

 

I do like YouTube for learning. So much stuff on there for vehicle DIYers and anything else you want to learn about.

Had a great day at the Laughton Show today and going to the Aylesford Priory car show tomorrow. Talking to classic owners its clear we all have the same issues with lack of suitable garages, poor quality parts, ethanol in fuel, and so on.

Owners clubs can help as many members are very knowledgeable and can teach and support the members and advise on garages.

 

It's actually likely to be the various sensors that pack up. Was nothing wrong with my old Mk 4 Golf, apart from some blinking transducer packing up every week

 

I have mk4 Polo and my son has mk4 Golf, both have been pretty reliable. Had a worn out coolant temperature sensor cause starting issues on the Polo, vw dealer quoted £200 to fix. Did it myself, bought new sensor and clip off ebay for £15. Took 5 minutes to pull out old and fit new and coolant top up.

Did new brakes all round on Polo, garages quoted £600 parts, labour, Vat. DIY cost about £180 for new parts. YouTube showed in detail how to do it. Easy job and brakes are excellent.

ABS light came on 2 years ago and garages quoted a huge amount to replace a 'faulty' ABS unit. I used Google and YouTube to learn that it was a common fault caused by a cracked ABS fuse at the battery fuse box. Checked it and sure enough the fuse had cracked across, new fuse £15 off ebay, problem solved.

Garages are a rip off.

 

You do get dome flaky vids as well though.

I watched one earlier on replacing gearbox oil and the fella undid the drain plug first then obviously found the filler plug was a problem - the vid cut from him straining so hard that the entire bus moved forward, and jumped to show the plug miraculously loose and removable!

 

I have another tale to tell. My old dad bought a new Cortina mk2 (many moons ago) and after a few months left front tyre was wearing out at the edge so back to Ford main agent and told him 'That's because you turn more lefts then rights'! He was a flight engineer so had a look at set up and found left side was 1.5 inches lower with GT strut there and normal on the other side. Perhaps it was built on a Friday just before knocking off for the weekend. I still love Fords though.

 

I bought a gearbox drain and filler plug socket to ease the pain- it lives with an oversize socket I bought, but I can't remember what for !