Westley Garage - Acocks Green, Birmingham (Recommended Garages/Mechanics)

Name: adamdavid

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Product:	Recommended Garages/Mechanics
Date:	02/02/01 (1687 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, trustworthy, independant

Disadvantages: None

The other day I went to get a new exhaust fitted at my local Tyre Sales. I went there because my exhaust had snapped in two and I had the afternoon off. I sat waiting for two hours while they fitted a whole new exhaust system to my VW Polo. When they had finished, the came in and told me that I needed four new shock absorbers because they were all in a really bad state, especially the front left one. They said they were probably the original shocks so it would be expected that on a car of that age they would need replacing. The front left was only eighteen months old. They quoted me a price of £37 per shock rear and £47 per shock front.
I don't know much about the mechanical aspects of cars, but I'm not stupid. I knew that there was nothing wrong with my shocks. The ride and handling was fine and the bounce test showed the car settled in less than two bounces (MoT recommends less than three).
The following day I popped in to Westley Garage (Station Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, tel:0121 706 3266) and asked them if they could have a quick look to check. They did and told me there was absolutely nothing wrong with them.
I have been getting my cars serviced and MoT'd at Westley since I started driving eight years ago. In all that time, I have never had any complaints at all about the work that has been carried out.
On one occasion when my rear light stopped working, I popped in to see them and they fixed it right there and then, for no charge. The bulb had come loose and it took thirty seconds to fix it. They could have kept the car and sold me a new rear light and I would have been none the wiser but they don't work like that. My mum and sister used to get their cars serviced at Westley but stopped when they got BMW's that needed the main dealer service history to protect the resale value.

As well as doing mechanical repairs, they also have a body shop which can do body repairs. On the rare occasions when
my car has needed to be kept, they have lent me a courtesy car to help me get to work and back.

If main dealer servicing is important then Westley can't help because they are a small independant garage. If you want your car to be well looked after and not be lumbered with bills for work that didn't need doing then they are certainly worth a look.

As for my opening couple of paragraphs. Don't go to Tyre Sales unless you know what you want because they'll try to flog you stuff you don't need. They even gave me a report telling me in writing that my shocks were knackered. To their credit, they didn't try to pressure me into having them, but I doubt I'll go back. If I had known nothing, I might have forked out nearly two hundred quid unnecessarily.

Summary: