Don't be driven up the wall by your garage! (Garage Services in general)

Member Name: Claribella

Product:	Garage Services in general
Date:	29/06/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some are honest

Disadvantages: Some are not!

We don't own a car at the moment; we gave it up to pay off our debts. One thing I don't miss is the constant worry of it going wrong and then trying to figure out which garage in my area had the least chance of ripping me off. At the end of the day unless you know someone personally how can you tell if your car actually needs the work that they say it does? You can't and you have to trust that they aren't making it up. When our car went wrong I always wanted to get a second opinion because I never quite trusted that it was what they said it was but of course that would have been a costly affair so I let them get on with the work. One day we stumbled across a guy who was a friend of a friend and our worries were over because he was honest and cheap.

Most garages offer a service and Mot which usually starts from £100 but you do have to pay extra for the work that needs to be done if any. More often than not they will come back with a big list of all of the problems that your car has and you end up handing over shed loads of cash. Most people pay the cash without thinking twice about whether the work needs to be done because there is nothing more you can do right? Wrong! There are a few things that you can do if you can be bothered.

First of all you can double blag the garage and explain that someone has offered you a lower price somewhere else. They might consider coming down on there price. We did that with the garage we used for a while and he gave us a considerable amount of discount on the grounds that we paid in full with cash.

Secondly you can take your car somewhere else and get a second opinion. This is a timely thing and takes a bit of effort but we have done it in the past and on some occasions the work that one garage said we definitely needed done actually didn't.

Thirdly, do what we did and find someone who is a friend of a friend. They are less likely to 'shaft' you if they know they know your mate.

Fourthly, go to a smaller company. Some of you might disagree with me on this one but the smaller companies only have their reputation to keep them going. If customers think they are being 'shafted' and word gets around then their business is at stake. They are more likely to treat you well and charge you for what needs doing!

Finally, go back to college and train as a car mechanic!!!

Summary: When you find a good one you can stop worrying!