After I bought my fabia vrs, from a second hand dealership who claim to have serviced it I noticed a flat tyre. I took it to a tyre specialist garage an when they removed the wheel I spotted a spanner on the brake calliper.

Yesterday my mum said her car felt low on power (pug 206) so I had a look and found the air filter to be completely black on the intake side. I also found a latex glove under the plastic bonnet intake.

What the hell are these garages doing? Are we better off doing whatever maintenance we can ourselves?

Depends if the car is in warranty or not, if it is then if you wish to keep the warranty then you need to use a VAT registered garage who use genuine or genuine quality parts (note this does not have to be a dealer).

Once it is out of warranty, if you have the relevant skills and tools then DIY is the way forward IMO.

There are many, many bad garages out there and even dealers and I've heard some truly awful stories. I have a friend who does most of my work and he is meticulous in everything he does and has every tool to do any job. But I honestly think he is a one off. As for my car now it's in warranty so it goes to my local dealer who are spot on and I've never had a problem. In the past they've even shown me the parts they've replaced and what was wrong.

Once it's out of warranty my friend will be doing most of the work. I may still get services done at the dealer just to get stamps in the book but then this depends on how long I'll be keeping the car, if I'll still want it in 3 years. Looking good so far though

Find a good garage & stick with them. The only place that touches my car now is Alistair @ Unit 18. Decent, 100% honest and reliable, the fact 90% of my work take their cars there now and have yet to hear a single bad word says it all.

No.

HTH.

Nobody but me touches my car,

Have a couple of mates that only trust me to work on there cars

Seen alot of bodged work on cars that have come into work, some things dam right dangerious

I trust my local dealer

Known them for 8+ years now and always do a good job, they laugh at me sometimes for being a pain

I'm very careful about who I trust with it. If I have the time and skill to do something myself then I will. I did the last service myself and probably saved £200 on dealer rates.

My dad had a previous car serviced at a dealer and they over filled the oil, pretty shocking really.

Once the car is out of warranty the only way forward is to do your own service, why pay £100 plus just to get a rubber stamp in your service book.

Just keep all receipts for parts you have purchased and all will be OK

It's a blessing if you can get a good one. I still go back to the guy I used before I moved house just because he does things properly.

Yeah once you find a good one stick with them. Mine is now a good friend who I cycle with and I buy him a big bottle of brandy every Christmas