I hate having work done by garages

For those that asked. My brothers garage is Direct Autos in Newent Gloucestershire
https://www.directautos-online.co.uk

 

15 mins from my brother and sister in law's.

 

Your missing a trick there Malc. You need to start charging if you can't find the company your delivery to and need to go back a few times

 

If I charged over the odds, did a half arsed job because my overheads were too much for my business, I'd soon be bankrupt with no reputation worth talking about.

 

It's going to get worse when we all go electric we'll have electricians to deal with

 

That 2.5k tractor bill stinks. I wouldn't have paid them, The dealer failed to carry out what the customer asked and the dealership could have just kept it at their premises, not even looked at it and charged the foolish farmer.

Another garage ripoff.

 

One of our franchises is Mitsubishi. The manufacturer pays about £45 an hour labour for Warranty repairs. Compare that with what say a Solicitor would change for an hours work. Not easy to meet the overhead costs.
However regardless of profit & costs bad workmanship is not acceptable.

 

Cool, ask for Steve and talk to him about triathlons, you'll be his favourite customer

 

When I first moved to Berkshire from Brighton, not knowing anyone in the area, I had to pick a garage at random to fix my ailing Volvo V70 workhorse. So I booked it in at Rosewood Garages in Slough, and crossed my fingers.

They called to tell me my air con motor had seized, I didn’t give two hoots about the air con, but as it was part of the fan belt run, I’d have to fix it. £700 for a new one, gutted.

But then the owner says ‘you’ll probably get one for £20 on eBay. You can leave the car here, see how you get on and we’ll fit it’

So I did, £25 inc postage. Took it in and they fitted it for £100. I was shocked, he didn’t have to do that, he could’ve just said that’ll be £800. I’d have paid it, or bought a new car. With 180k on the clock, and only having paid £1k for it, probably the latter.

I’ve been going there for 8 years now, with both our cars and heartily recommending them to anyone whose asked.

When I first got the camper, I took it in and asked if they’d be cool servicing MOTing etc, something this old. They were, no problem. They’d learnt their trade on cars that age, and turns out, the manager has a 60 year old Hillman Imp.

They’ve been great, and because of that first visit, I’ve never felt I’m getting ripped off or cheated, just lucky.

 

The place I go to, Pottery Service Station in Poole , is just great. I took both my little crappy Clio and Fiesta there for MOT and Servicing. They all knew I was using the cars mainly for getting out to the workshop to restore the van and didn't laugh at them too much when i turned up with them caked in mud. It felt great to finally be able to take the van to them for it's MOT and not turn up in an old banger!

Turns out the guy that runs the place, Andy Saunders, is pretty well known in the hot rod and custom car scene (https://www.andysaunders.net/cars/). He was the ambassador at Beaulieu's custom car day this year and has build some pretty impressive cars over the years (check out his picasso inspired 2CV!).