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Any reliable/decent/honest/fair priced independents in or near South West London? Any recommendations or suggestions gratefully received.

Hi. Have sent you a PM. Thank you.

Hi to all My partner has just discovered that her black Octavia Estate (2010) has been keyed by some ****er down almost the entire length of the offside . Down to the bare metal in some places. Never dealt with a situation like this before. She's v upset and wants to get the paintwork repaired asap at a reasonable cost. Are there people who come out and repair this kind of thing or does she need a bodyshop. She's in SW London so would need to be somewhere local. Many thanks for any advice and recommendations.

Hi I've just emailed you. Many thanks

Hi Is the car still for sale? If so, could you please give some more details re service history, cambelt/water pump changes, work done, parts replaced etc. Many thanks

Is this still for sale? Thanks

Asking for a friend who has an Octavia ('60, diesel, estate) that needs servicing, aircon regas and checking over. Any advice on independents and/or dealers who you've used and trust? Ideally near Richmond, Surrey or close - work in Chiswick. Would find it pretty hard to get to VolksAuto in Sutton so looking at alternatives. Many thanks to anyone who can help Cheers

Is the car still for sale?

Hi Also potentially interested. Whereabouts are you?

Hi Potentially could be interested in this. Could you answer a couple of specific questions first:- Does the boot have a power socket? How many and where are the power sockets in the cabin of the car? Do the rear seats fold completely flat or at an angle as in the above video? Many thanks

Anyone able to point me in the direction of a knowledgeable, trustworthy independent or individual? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

I do appreciate everyone's suggestions about the possible causes of the judder & noises - these are all things I will mention to whoever I take the car to. Sadly, I know very little about cars and really do need to find someone or a garage who are trustworthy and knows what they are doing. If anyone can recommend such a garage or person within reasonable distance of London or Leeds, then I'd be very very grateful. Thanks

Ah ok. If I can find a garage or anyone who comes recommended by people on here, then I'll ask them/him to check that out. Thanks for the advice.

I've just added a PPS to my OP to make it clear I'm no car expert - at all! I honestly can't remember if suspension bushes have been mentioned. Given my mechanical ignorance, I think it probably makes most sense to find and rely on someone who knows what they're looking at, talking about and is a hard-nosed realist...

Hi to all I'm hoping that the clearly very knowledgeable and helpful people here can advice and help me. I have an 03 Octy Estate (1.9Tdi/110) that has done nearly 255k miles! I've had it serviced and repairs done a couple of times in the 1.5 years that I've owned it - it's cost me quite a lot of money in bills but the car has never been 'right'. The brakes still judder badly (despite the replacement of discs and pads), there are still an awful lot of unnerving noises/creaks/groans (from the suspension?), the car makes an odd noise when turning (CV joints?) etc etc. I've spent money on the car to ensure it remains reliable and to be fair it's not broken down (yet - touch wood!) and the mpg has been ok-ish. I totally understand it's unrealistic to expect a car of its age and mileage to be completely free of faults and to behave/sound like a newer car but.....I'm now at the point of wondering whether it's worth spending yet more money on the car to keep it going. I've lost confidence in the place I've had the car serviced and repaired. They've cost me a lot and the car is still not in great shape. So I'm looking for some advice about where and to whom I could take the car to get it checked over and to be given some cold, hard but unbiased advice about what the car actually needs how much it's going to cost to (properly) rectify the faults, and whether it makes economic sense to do the work at all. The situation is somewhat complicated by the fact that my daughter and I have to do a 400 mile round trip every fortnight to/from specialist hospitals (in London and Wakefield/Leeds) she has to attend. Therefore, I need a car that is reliable but, as a single parent where funds aren't exactly flush, I need to decide whether it makes better sense to cut my losses and invest in a replacement car or stick with the Octy but plough more money into it in the hope/expectation that it will serve us reliably for the next year or two. Does anyone know of a reliable, honest Skoda independent garage or an Octy 'expert/specialist/fan' based in either London (South West) and/or the Wakefield/Leeds area who would be able to:- give the car a detailed going over and make a accurate and confident diagnosis of what's wrong and what needs doing, and give me an unbiased report with a reasonably accurate, non-loaded estimate of the costs involved and importantly a hard headed view as to whether it makes sense or not to spend whatever it needs? If you do or can help in any way, I'd be truly grateful. Many many thanks to all who offer advice, suggestions or help PS. In addition to the above, the car needs 2 rear tyres (c£100?) and the road tax expires at the end of December so the need to make some kind of decision is fairly pressing. PPS. I'm no car expert (as is probably self-evident!) - hence my need to find and rely on someone trustworthy and knowledgeable...

Hi JPW Well, you've certainly got one with all the bells and whistles...glad you're enjoying it! Could you please drop me a PM with your contact details so we can arrange for me to come view it. Hopefully very soon...! I'd be extremely grateful if you could give me first refusal on the car, subject to viewing. I am finding the whole business of trying to find the 'right' car extremely stressful and time consuming. As a full-time carer of my daughter, it's not easy to find the time to do what it takes. Your car seems to tick most of the boxes and sounds as if it may be 'the one' for us! Cheers PS. If you sign up for an account with one of the many online image hosting sites eg tinypic, Photobucket et al, you can upload your pics to them and then link to the image url when you post - it's dead easy. Then people will able to see the photos in your thread rather than having to download a zip attachment to view them. For example, I use Photobucket, you will need to create an account, easy enough and free. Just upload your pics to there then select each image you want to upload to here. Near the bottom right of the page of the image you have selected to upload you will see a box the same as shown in the image below, just click the image code, 4th selection down and it will copy it. All you need to do then is to paste that code into the reply message box in your thread/post and add text or whatever and then just post as normal. Just a thought...

Thanks very much for the useful feedback. The fact that your Octy is an estate is a positive for me as the amount of medical equipment we now have to carry means we need every bit of load space we can get. Would love to see some pics...! :peek: As a matter of interest ,apart from its seductive looks , why did you move to a Superb? Was it mainly because it's a more relaxing, less noisy, more refined motorway mile muncher than the Octy or what other factors came into play?

Thought it was my 'puter that was having the 'funny 5 mins'! This may seem an odd question to ask of a car seller but I'd very much appreciate some unbiased advice. The basic question I have is: is this the right car? :think: To explain a little - my daughter and I regularly have to make 400 mile round trips to/from a specialist hospital. We also have to carry quite a bit of medical equipment for her on each trip. We used to do this journey in an 03 Passat 1.9 130 until some idiot piled into the back of me at high speed on the M1 and wrote it off . Thank god my daughter wasn't in the car at the time. A very kind friend has been lending us his Volvo V40 to make the trips but needs the car back soon. So, I'm in need a car that's cheap to run (fuel/tax/insurance/maintenance), ultra reliable (given my daughter's health, this is a must), safe (ditto), smooth and quiet at motorway speeds (it's tiring travelling such distances!), had most of the major jobs done to it (unplanned expenditure is my nightmare!) and with a good sized load area. As a single parent, funds aren't exactly flush - even more so since my insurance gave me a pittance for the Passat - so my budget is err...not very large! Given all that, I thought a Superb (basically a Passat clone) might suit our needs and budget. What do you think about your Octy? As a new Superb owner, what would say are the major differences between the two? Octy - smaller - inside and boot capacity, noisier,less refined, cheaper to insure/tax/service? Superb - larger - both inside and boot capacity, quieter, smoother, costs more to run? Is that too crude a summary and/or are there other factors I should think aboutt? I'd be truly grateful for your thoughts. Don't worry, I won't hold you to them... Cheers

Hi Perversely, I am actually looking for a Superb but I could potentially be interested in this as a stop-gap. Also you're probably not that far from me down the M3 from me (I'm up near the top). Is it just me but I can't see any pics in your OP...?! :think:

As a new member myself perhaps I'm not best placed to answer this ( :no: ) but perhaps upload the photos to one of the many image hosting sites and then use the image tags to link to them (found in the menu above the window when you post a message). Hope that helps..

Sent you a PM yesterday - hope you've seen it..