Let's hear it for the Backstreet Boys! (Recommended Garages/Mechanics)

Member Name: dawnfrancis

Product:	Recommended Garages/Mechanics
Date:	21/11/01 (1010 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheaper than big name garages, more honest, more friendly

Disadvantages: hard to find, might be some distance from your home

Well I'm a bottle-blonde 30something woman and sadly yes, when I first started driving I lived up to the stereotype - I could just about tell which was the boot and which was the bonnet - on a good day that is.

However after bitter experience I'm now something of an expert on crap garages. No-one pulls the wool over my eyes any more! And I've come to the conclusion that there is much to be said for the quiet army of backstreet mechanics in Britain, working away in their spidery rusty little old sheds, but coming up with the goods. See what you think...

KWIKFIT AKA KWIK-S**T
as a naive young driver I fell for their tricks left right and centre. Every single time I went to this dreaded place they conned me into believing something dreadful was wrong with my car other than the problem I'd gone in with. Being a new driver with absolutely no mechanical knowledge I believed they were telling me the Gospel According to Highly Knowledgeable Car-Type People.

Example - went in to get a new tyre changed, an 'inspection' revealed terrible brake problems, and I walked out 250 quid poorer. I've since learned that this is a real Kwik-Fit favourite. NEVER take advantage of any of their 'free checks' because they'll fleece you more than you ever thought possible. They will find problems that simply aren't there.

Not only this but when they do the job they dont' do it properly. They fitted new wipers for me but never bothered to screw them on tightly - with the end result that they flew all over the place the next time it rained. They fitted a new tyre for me but didn't put it on properly around the rim (which was corroded and so needed a special valve to get a good fit), resulting in the tyre deflating to an alarming degree on a daily basis.

Sitting in their waiting room is like being in a living nightmare. I clearly remember a woman giving them hell for making her brake pr
oblem worse, and me panicking because they were working on my car as she spoke!

BACKSTREET BACKLASH - dear J and A, operating their own little garage in a hidden corner of Birmingham, never let me down. Once I smashed up my old banger so bad it was a write-off....but they patched it up for me so it was legal. They never saw problems that weren't there, they just did what I asked with the minimum of fuss. Every job they did, they did it well....with rusty old tools, spare parts from the skip and with the minimum of money from me. They cared for my old Fiesta all the time I had it. They never even bothered to charge me for little jobs like putting bulbs back in the lights. whatever they charged I always used to add a fiver on or so, as they did love a drop or two of the amber nectar!

LEX AUTOCENTRES - AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
The worst rip-off I ever encountered was at Lex. The Fiesta started to overheat dramatically. Terrified I went to Lex as it was the nearest garage to me. They stood around the car like solemn funeral directors and pronounced a 'serious problem' which made the car 'highly dangerous to drive'. The head gasket was blown, other stuff was wrong, and it would cost 450 quid to mend.

Now the car was only worth about 500 quid itself and I was a student at the time with a sick mum who couldn't walk very far and thus the car was our lifeline. I went home in shock and cried like a baby, not knowing what to do.

BACKSTREET BACKLASH
In desperation I phoned....yes, you've guessed it, J and A, who said 'no problem love - fill up with plenty of water and just bring it in'. Once there they were absolutely gobsmacked at my story. The head gasket was absolutely fine. It was simply a little leak in the water pump which they replaced.......wait for it.......for 50 squid. Saving me the grand total of 400 quid. I have never trusted a main garage since.

DODGY DEALERS

Having owned 2 bangers I decided this year I was going to treat myself to something a little bit better. Thinking of spending up to 4 grand I fell into the trap of thinking 'I'd better get to a proper dealer who will give me peace of mind'.

Big mistake!

I bought a 3 year old Seicento with a 3 month warranty from Autoserve in Redditch, a small independant dealer . Oh, they were all sweetness and light before they got my money.....but afterwards.....

The car itself was basically fine (I got the RAC to check it out) but needed a few things done to it. There was a bad wheel wobble especially at low speeds, and the CD/radio didn't work. they told me no probs, we'll sort it out in a week, so I paid in full -3695 squid. Which was a very bottle-blonde thing to do, in hindsight.

They sent the CD off to be 'repaired'. meanwhile I took the car home and started to drive it around. And soon realized they hadn't fixed the things they should have. The steering wheel wobbles like hell even now and it feels like driving a big lump of jelly. Meanwhile I waited, and waited, and waited for the CD. I kept ringing, and ringing, and ringing. Eventually it got nasty and a few heated words were exchanged.

Almost 10 WEEKS later (and with no apology whatsover for the wait) I got my CD player. Only to find that a) it doesn't fit properly in the car and b) the sound only comes from one speaker. apparently the player is not the one that originally came with the car, but is a refit (and a very poorly fitting one at that). The garage had not told me this before I bought the car. They're now trying to worm out of the speaker problem saying that the CD was only wired up in the first place to come out of one speaker so there's nothing they are prepared to do about it. What B*****ks. I managed to locate the previous owner of the car who told me the CD was wired up in the normal way. So I'
m currently having a stressful battle with the garage, determined not to let them get away with it. And wishing I'd never set eyes on Autoserve in the first place.

BACKSTREET BACKLASH
The car I owned before the Seicento was an 18-year-old dear little Metro. I bought it for 350 quid from another backstreet bloke - Rob, who runs his own garage (which is a bit more upmarket than J and A's). He'd done up the car just as a hobby, and said he'd give it to me, along with an unofficial 3 month warranty.

That car lasted me for 18 months and the most major thing that went wrong with it only cost about 50 quid. Even when I had to take it back to Rob to sort the odd thing out, he always gave me a discount because he had sold the car to me. I can honestly say it was a pleasure dealing with him. I got ten times better service from him than from Autoserve, and yet I paid him ten times less.......

so the moral is - big names can hide big rip-offs. Of course, there are plenty of horror stories regarding backstreet garages around, but in my experience, the best names can also do you. Try to find a cheap mechanic by word of mouth. It's the best chance you've got of getting a really good deal.

good luck and happy motoring!

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