On February 8th 2012 I went to Kwik Fit (1 Tessa Rd Richfield Ave, Reading, RG1 8EQ) with a puncture. They were able to repair this but then approached me and said that one of the wheel nut bolts was cross threaded resulting in the whole hub requiring replacement. This was on the same hub / wheel that the tyre was replaced on.

I had been driving on this tyre for a months to London and was surprised to hear that such a dangerous fault had gone undetected until then. They said the whole hub would have to be replaced and that they would leave that bolt empty while they ordered another one. So I left with one bolt missing from my front passenger side. I asked if it was safe to drive and they said yes but it needed to be replaced asap. I agreed to have this replaced and they placed one on order.

I returned on the Saturday (Feb 11th) to drop off my car and asked how much this would cost to be repaired. They quoted me a minimum of £600 as it was a long difficult job to replace the hub and bearing. I left and 30 mins later they called me back and apologised profusely about the fact that although they ordered the part it hadnt been delivered. I returned and collected my car and he offered to reduce the amount by £50 as a "good will gesture".

I was very shocked about the price of the replacement and also about the fact that when I previously had my tyres changed and a full service this was never mentioned. So, I decided to call up a garage that I'd used recently called Bromley Gargage Services (Poplar Lane, Winnersh, Nr Wokingham, RG41 5JR) and ask them for a quote.

When I explained what Kwik Fit had quoted me they were very surprised as the hub costs £110.32 and the bearing is £72.35 and would take about 90 mins to repair. With VAT this totalled £292.64. They actually laughed out loud and said Kwik Fit must charge a premium for labour as there is no way it should cost anything like £600?

Needless to say I never returned to Kwik Fit but I think that they should certainly be looked into as over charging motorists that probably dont know any better or are too scared to leave without the repair is not fair.

I know that Kwik Fit have a bad reputation but surely this is an excessive mark up on a repair that I'm not entirely sure they didnt cause in the first place. I've reported them to trading standards.