I had my 60K service done there a few weeks ago too.
Where my car is now 5 years old, I thought I would look into getting it serviced at a specialist rather than the main dealers I've used so far. My last service was at Sherlodge Garage in Wigmore, and while I had been happy with it, it had been a pricey one (I'd needed work doing on the brakes as well as the cam belt replacement). So I found a couple of specialists and asked an Octavia vRS owning friend if he had any recommendations. He hadn't actually used Whitehill for servicing, but had bought the car from there and was generally impressed. So I got a quote from Sherlodge, and one from Whitehill. As well as needing the service, I needed the carrier arm bushes replacing too. I also thought the front pads were on the way out, so got quoted for them. Finally I needed an MOT.
For the service costs and the MOT, both garages quoted the same. For the brake pads, Whitehill quoted £89 against £119 from Sherlodge. For the carrier arm bushes however, Whitehill quoted £160 against £360 from Sherlodge (This included the 10% loyalty card discout I get from Sherlodge). I was stunned by the difference so asked the mechanic how come they were so much cheaper, and told him how much Sherlodge had quoted. The funny thing was that he only said good things about Sherlodge - said they had a good relationship with them and that they were a good garage. The difference largely came down to the fact that his garage generally only replaced the bushes as that was all that needed doing, while Sherlodge replaced the arms as well. So I told him I wanted to go with them and we started talking through some dates. I had only a two week window before the MOT expired (Having left it late as usual...) but they had some slots available, and we were talking about the chance of a courtesy car. I'd already told him where I worked, and as it was only 10 -15 minutes from where he lived, he offered to come and get the car from work the morning of the service and then drop it back later that day! Naturally I took this offer up as it saved me a load of bother.
With regard to the service, everything was done as I expected, and to the quoted cost. In addition, the wiper blades were replaced, and they even had a go at my squeaking electric window motor. They washed the car which I hadn't expected at all. They inspected the brake pads, and told me I had about another 6000 - 8000 miles left in them, so no need to change them. I'd asked the mechanic if he could have a look into my non-functioning air con as well, just to give me an idea of the problem and the cost of fixing it, which he did too.
So all in, I was very happy. The cost of the work was a lot less than it could have been, and everything I asked for (And then some) was done. So next time I get the car serviced it will be at Whitehill again.
