MOT's and garages

[s2driveruk]

Martyn,

Give me 7 months and we can do a swap so u can have mine and I can have your pampers mobile!!!! Failing that the RS2 outside Autopool would be a good trade in too!!!

Cheers,

David

[martinjs]

what do autopool charge for a 4-wheel alignment? when ive got my konis fitted i was going to go to qst to get it done, think they charge 70 or 80+vat,
looking back in my cars history and found that it was serviced by autopool a few times...nice to know as never heard of them till now.

martin

[s2driveruk]

Charged me about £85 +vat i think....

Thats actually quite expensive but it feels good and I didn't want the hasle of driving to Micheldever tyres or someone else to get it done.

Cheers,

David

[Martynf]

I always find it amusing.... I would RATHER pay more for a job very well done which inspires confidence, than get a cheap fix. Which... is why I personally would never, ever, ever... take any Audi to a main dealer! lord knows I should know.... 20 years with em...

IF the dealers where to take away the stupid tech's bonus scheme, then each tech would do a 'proper' job, by the book and actually look for any problems / double check their work, actually look up the torque settings etc. They have no incentive to do a proper job really (other than personal pride) as they have to drag them in the garage, change the bits you can see, then kick the car out for the next lamb's turn.... bonus, bonus, bonus, tick all the boxes on the job sheet, NEXT...

Just my personal thoughts and observations over a long period of time at many dealerships on the 'avg tech'. I'm going to write a book on this one day! like the one customer who came back to the dealership a few weeks after his service with a Gatso camera photo showing his car doing 85mph in a 30mph zone on the day his car was in for service..... hmm!! or the Golf Cabriolet which got all the way to the top of the 4 post lifts reach, then when the lift stopped, the car wobbled as they all do when a ramp stops and the car slipped off one of the lift arms and fell back to earth on its side the worst parts being the car could not be turned back onto it's wheel as there wasn't enough room between the lifting posts, so it had to be DRAGGED on its side out from the bay with a tow rope and LT van

[S2central.net]

Now T_H_A_T would have made a classic bit of TV if someone had the camcorder out !

Ouch...

[s2driveruk]

I dont mind paying if they do a good job, judging by the drive home, i'd say they have done me proud - must get me wheels balanced though I can feel one is out somewhere.

Martyn - get pen to paper!!! I reckon that would be an interesting read



David

[s2avant]

We've had customer complain that their own car overtook them at silly speeds when it was in for a service. At one of our branches a technician launched a brand new A8 he was PDIing off his ramp, while it was in the air, into the workshop wall because he left it in gear. To make it worse he couldn't get it out of gear so it bounced back and forth of the wall three or four times before he managed to stop it.

Most recently I watched a tech roll backwards down a slope because he released the handbrake to fit the centre console on a new passat. He would have been fine if the two nearside doors weren't wide open, unfortunately they went straight in a corrado. The corrado front end was wrecked and the passat need two new doors and a b-pillar. They looked quite good folded all the way round though. Door trim panels on the outside. Ten minutes later the valeter reversed straight out of the wash bay into a brand new polo that the owner was just taking delivery of.

The best one though was a golf VR6 and a new sharan trying to reverse of the ramps at the same time. They reversed into each other right in front of the workshop windows, just where the golf owner was waiting to pick it up :eek2: Strangely enough he was a little less than pleased when he saw his pride and joy have it's rear end and nearside quarter caved in.

As Martyn said, the majority of these problems and accidents come about because technicians are under such pressure to pump work out that they find it hard to get the job done to a satisfactory standard. Most dealers keep their techs on low basic wages to force them to be more productive. I know people who have quit main dealers because they would rather spend time getting the job done properly instead of earning a bonus.

In our group we have four Audi and four VW dealerships (along with loads of lesser brands ), and not one of them is allowed near my car. I use the local specialist for any work that I don't have the kit or experience to do properly. I've known him years and he has a great knowledge of the workings of audi big five turbo engines and the quattro system. I would much rather he kept the car for as long as he needed than have the job rushed so I could have it back the same day.

Ben

[Dr H]

It baffles me how some dealers get their reputation or why people believe that you get a better job. Just 'cause you put a monkey in a boiler suit with and Audi Badge on it, don't mean he's a mechanic.

Example of Merc (from a friend with a C class 250 Diesel):

In for some work that needed the injectors removing.
Got car back, next day pissing diesel everywhere as injectors not put in properly.
Finally got that sorted then the car stops changing gear properly (Auto), Merc say switch or rods in box and do both (£500) but still don't solve problem.
Then Merc say 'oh by the way you have a big hole in your turbo pipe' mate says could that cause gear problem (torque issue maybe)' Oh yeah say Merc. Question: could these have been caused by diesel - who knows?
Agree to do turbo pipes for free gets car back and it's fine.
Next day says he hears a hissing noise from under the bonnet but doesn't know what it is. Next day air con packs in. I have a look under the bonnet. When the turbo pipes were replaced the air con hose was routed the wrong side and has rubbed through because it is touching a pulley on the engine!

Car been with Merc for over a week now. He has demanded the air con fixing, the rocker cover gasket (that needed doing) for free, a valet and a courtesy car. He has also written to Merc UK to try and get a refund on the £500 they charged for the switch and rods that didn't need doing!

I'd have been so close to driving the thing through the plate glass window of the showroom just to prove a point

[s2avant]

If Mercedes Uk are anything like VAG he should get a nice fat refund and more than likely some kind of voucher for a couple of hundred quid. Volkswagen customer services hand out voucher letters ***** nilly to people who moan enough.

Moaning seems to be the best way to get a job done properly. Dealers hate it and you look like a right kn*b (then again with our flat caps, slippers and sherlock holmes style pipes, us avant drivers are used to that ) but it works.

You can even abuse the system. A mate of mine had a ford KA which he thrashed the living sh%t out of. Eventually the dealer refused to do any more work on it under the warranty so we sent a long letter of complaint to the head of Ford UK and BBC Watchdog detailing all the work that had been done.

Sure enough he recieved a phone call from the managing director of the local dealer and was invited in for a discussion of his complaint. He left the meeting in a brand new escort on the original finance deal for his KA so most of it was already payed for

A victory for the little man:nana:

Ben

[Sweeper]

s2avant: If it's not a BIG secret , who do you work for ?

[s2avant]

Sweeper,

It's not a secret, although I could get in trouble. Let's just say its the largest privately owned motor group in the UK and the way we keep buying up garages we'll probably own most of southern englands franchises within a few years.

Ben

[audiman]

Dont want to big up my own garage but when its just myself and my dad working, we always work to a high standard. Cars get checked out properly and fixed in the same way. All the local dealers in my area are known in the trade for poor bodgery work. I think it is appauling that garages like myself are cut out of the picture due to people thinking that having a dealer stamp in the service book makes their car worth more money.

My parents found this one out when they traded thier 3 year old A6 TDi for a new Passat V5. All work had been done by the dealer to keep the warranty and still were only offered bottom book price on the car!!

I think its about time people woke up and realised that most garages know what they are doing.

Sorry for the outburst, just get ****ed off when people talk about how, "only the dealer can do that" cos they are not the only ones.

[s2avant]

I couldn't agree more and I work for a dealer.

Ben

[Graham]

Hi all, i have always told my mates to avoid main dealers and kwik fit stlye garages as over the years i have seen some rediculous cons from these 'quality' places. Firstly my mate at college took his car (cavalier 4x4) for a free pre mot inspection at kwik fit as his missus insisted that he used a 'reputable' garage, Me mate was a 30mph man who never hammered a car. The car was with them all morning and when he went for it they gave him 880 quid repair estimate and he nearly collapsed, so on the afternoon i had a look round his car and done my own inspection for all the parts they had quoted to find that all parts were well within safe tolerance i.e. they said he needed new discs and pads all round (they even said he needed new drums and shoes on an all disc car!!!:mad: ) yet the pads had 7mm on them, the discs had 3mm to go before they were under size--the list was endless. Next our friends got a car and later it needed an mot, so i done a pre inspection (96 astra) the car was spotless, with only 32k on the clock, it should be. Andy was going to take it to the garage they have always gone to and trusted, but Angie decided to take it to the Mazda dealership for the MOT, cos it was 2 quid cheaper and 5 mile closer then the trusted garage. Angie is a secretary so as soon as they seen her they knew they might make a few quid out of her and failed the car on a leaking steering rack, headlights out of alignment and a flaking indicator bulb. They immediately started hasstling her that it needs doing asap and that it was dangerous but luckily she took the car away.they were so upset they called round to my house and showed me the report, and i done another inspection and found no faults, £580+labour+VAT for a rack they wanted, if anything there rack was a bit dusty and they wanted £15.95+vat for an indicator bulb plus 30 minutes labour I went up there and and got the manager down to show me the faults but he said there was no MOT mechanics out yet behind me they were doing MOTs!!!:mad: eventually we went into the mot bay with the car and the mechanic was dead arsy with me asking me what i knew about engineering at which i replied 'I am a mechanical engineer', he couldnt find a fault with the rack. By this point i was balling at the manager and mechanic as they said the apprentice must have done the MOT!!! :eek2: :eek2: . So i bollocked him for breaking the law and demanded an MOT certificate and a refund . He then said he is sorry but he has no MOT certificates left!!! (forgot to order them) and i bollocked him again as he is not allowed to conduct MOT's without certificates to issue.
Result---2 days later a special delivery of an MOT cert and a refund and free MOT voucher!!!!!
RULE NO.1------avoid dealers theyr not worth it
RULE NO.2------Dont let the missus make desicions about something she hasnt got a clue about
Graham

[Audi Parts Guru]

Graham,you should of reported these garages to the Department of Transport,their number should be on the MOT certificate somewhere