"I don't see where the misinformation is. 3mm is when they should be changed. Stopping distances start to increase in the wet below this. "

 

Being a company car driver who does 40-50k a year in work mileage I have been screaming at our fleet department and previous lease company to use this as the guide line.

 

The last lease company wouldn't change the tyres at unless they were 2mm and even then it was a shouting match with the kwick fit chap and the lease company as they didn't want to change. Was real fun in the snow after i got down to 3mm

But to ring you up and say this and that  need doing and expecting  me to say yes... how many people just cave in and say yes??

Enough for them to keep trying their luck, if 4 out of ten challenge them then that's 6

out of ten that don't. I think the term is 'easy money'  or is that 'daylight robbery'.

Most of us here are probably savvy enough to challenge them but then we are a minority of reasonably informed motorists (and more informed in some cases!).

But some people just don't understand cars and I think making up unnecessary work or overcharging for work is no different to those people that cold call and repair a whole roof when its fine etc.

I was quoted nearly 2k, yes 2k, by my dealer for work after a service that my indie mate charged me 60 quid for. Most was labour, the parts were less than 100 quid of the 2k. I couldn't believe the cheek of them but someone would have paid it as it was made out to be quite serious.

I will now only use them for my free servicing which they owe me for damaging something on a warranty job. I've since used a dealer in Sunderland over eBay or Skodaparts.com for my parts needs.

Adam

Yup, what he said.

 

An ex of mine was in that other bracket of society in terms of she just blindly renewed her insurance when the letter came through. When I baulked at what she'd said, she said she just didn't want the hassle...

 

...until she got her renewal and went on the comparison sites I'd told her to look at and more than halved her bill! To say she was happy and did a massive backpedal would be an understatement!

Also, my neighbour had the same problem with Screen Wash saga, being charged for something that wasn`t required, as he had topped up his screenwash the day before his service.

 

 My last service with Skoda i topped up the screenwash. On checking the bill I'd been charged and I raised it with them. They said they'd noticed the tank was full so they stuck an unopened screenwash bottle in the boot and billed me anyway.

Edited 29 July, 201312 yr by Aspman

I would go absolutely ballistic if they tried the above on with me. I'm not into overcharging, nor am I ok with over servicing a vehicle. Safety parts? yes, if out of tolerances. A bottle of screen wash? Absolutely not.

I've lost count of the number of times a certain dealer has tried to con me out of stuff, and indeed tyres were the most recent example. I got a call a couple of hours after I'd dropped the car off for a routine service to inform me that all four tyres needed replacing due to bad alignment issues, and that the fronts were borderline illegal, and they could offer me the very competitive price of £400+ so swap them there and then. I politely declined and reminded them that they'd passed the car through its MoT two weeks earlier without a mention. Cue slight pause and cough.

 

Funnily enough when I collected the car there was no one willing to show me the tyres, nor was there any advisory note on my service receipts.

 

I took the car to my local tyre dealer for a second opinion and they just laughed. The fronts did need replacing eventually for other reasons but the rears are still on and perfectly fine 14 months later.

 

They'd also not bothered to change the brake fluid either, which was specified on the schedule, so I had to take the car back the following week to get that done.

Why does 'mikeholroyd' always manage to say it better than me?

I bought a service pack from a dealer in the North West (Who will remain Nameless), 

 

First service - Pads and Discs front and back 80% worn ,  quick check with Kwik Fit (who does our company car) reveals front pads are on the way but everything else is fine

 

Second Service 10,000 miles later- Pads and Discs front and back 70%!

 

Same place also quoted me circa £250.00 for a whole new wing mirror as my LED was cracked and had let in water.  £25 from Skodaparts.com for the part plus an hour of swearing on the drive - all done!

 

It's the same as anything though - take the first price / advice and you aren't necessarily going to get the best deal 

I've been in contact with mechanics and body shops – both dealers and independent – for a long time and also have a good friend of mine being a used cars trader and part-time restoration advisor and I've seen and heard lots of interesting things.

 

First of all remember that not only money but also time is a major concern for shops. They want to get rid of a car a.s.a.p. in order to cash the bill and free the space for other jobs.

This brings to one typical trick: If car A needs a bit which is slow to come, then just take it off from car B which is in for a major work.

Result: car A will go off quickly while the "stolen" part is just added to the long list of needs of car B.

Obviously, the "stolen" part will be billed as new to owner of car A.

 

Trick 2: Bill a part (usually a normal wear part like a filter) but not change it. You cash the price, cancel the part from the inventory and then re-sell the part "in black" (i.d. with no invoice) to an independent. This is a trick expecially popular with mechanics working in large dealers, so they can "round up" their wages a bit.

 

Trick 3 (very common): bill a "new" part (at rate card price, obviously) but actually use a second hand one, thus saving 70-80%. This is very popular with expensive parts like injection pumps or alternators, etc.

 

Trick 4 (this is mostly "against" the Revenue Service, not you): to bill parts dearly while heavily discounting the labour. In other words, they register income on things (parts) they cannot hide (for they had to buy them) while hiding income on labour (I recently had a normal, small battery charged at 105€ – supermarket price around 50€ – while having almost no charge for the towing of my car to the shop).

 

Trick 5: The most common one, suggesting change of things not needing it. Two years ago had an MOT station (and tyre fitter) "suggesting" to change "worn" tyres which my trusted tyre fitter deemed worth another 10,000km minimum.

 

I must say that all these things do happen depending on the honesty of the shop and are not limited to dealers. Therefore there's no way to state beforehand if a shop is "correct" or not. You have to try them and check them thoroughly.

Edited 6 August, 201312 yr by duro

To be fair, you don't have a workshop to run, staff wages to pay, a receptionist, a fleet of courtesy cars, public liability insurance, business rates, staff training etc to pay for.

 

By the same token, surely the independent garage has some these overheads, yet, seem disinclined to 'rip-off' unsuspecting punters and provide genuine value for money which in turn breeds return custom

I've been in contact with mechanics and body shops – both dealers and independent – for a long time and also have a good friend of mine being a used cars trader and part-time restoration advisor and I've seen and heard lots of interesting things.

 

First of all remember that not only money but also time is a major concern for shops. They want to get rid of a car a.s.a.p. in order to cash the bill and free the space for other jobs.

This brings to one typical trick: If car A needs a bit which is slow to come, then just take it off from car B which is in for a major work.

Result: car A will go off quickly while the "stolen" part is just added to the long list of needs of car B.

Obviously, the "stolen" part will be billed as new to owner of car A.

 

Trick 2: Bill a part (usually a normal wear part like a filter) but not change it. You cash the price, cancel the part from the inventory and then re-sell the part "in black" (i.d. with no invoice) to an independent. This is a trick expecially popular with mechanics working in large dealers, so they can "round up" their wages a bit.

 

Trick 3 (very common): bill a "new" part (at rate card price, obviously) but actually use a second hand one, thus saving 70-80%. This is very popular with expensive parts like injection pumps or alternators, etc.

 

Trick 4 (this is mostly "against" the Revenue Service, not you): to bill parts dearly while heavily discounting the labour. In other words, they register income on things (parts) they cannot hide (for they had to buy them) while hiding income on labour (I recently had a normal, small battery charged at 105€ – supermarket price around 50€ – while having almost no charge for the towing of my car to the shop).

 

Trick 5: The most common one, suggesting change of things not needing it. Two years ago had an MOT station (and tyre fitter) "suggesting" to change "worn" tyres which my trusted tyre fitter deemed worth another 10,000km minimum.

 

I must say that all these things do happen depending on the honesty of the shop and are not limited to dealers. Therefore there's no way to state beforehand if a shop is "correct" or not. You have to try them and check them thoroughly.

Thank Jebus i don't live in Italy then!!

Oh yeah! You know that thieves live in Italy only.

 

Uhmm... I assumed that all the preceeding 37 posts were about UK.

Edited 6 August, 201312 yr by duro

No, but they're not writing it as if the things they experience happen everyday. Perhaps you might possibly want to change the wording then so it doesn't scan like they're all regular acts of fraud that mechanics often carry out cos I know quite a few mechanics and garages and although it might happen occasionally over here, I've never actually heard of those things going on as it's not generally worth the court costs and legal lawsuits to do so. However, I HAVE heard this happen a lot more often and sometimes almost commonplace from continental friends in certain specific countries.

 

Not a xenophobe, this country is far from perfect, and only proud to be English not British, just saying it sounds a bit far fetched for it to happen en masse this side of the pond whereas for you make it sound like it's a pretty regular occurence.

 

Bit touchy aren't we??

Touchy? Why? Just because you said you wouldn't like to live in Italy? Naahh!

 

Anyway, I never said that ALL shops act like this. I said that, having had a long and frequent close knowledge of the industry, I found all these kind of tricks.

Having been in the British isles only a few times and only on holidays (without need for car repair, luckily) I have no authority for saying that UK is worse, or better, than Italy on this item.

Didn't say I wouldn't want to live in Italy, just glad I don't have to deal with mechanics there if that's quite normal behaviour.

Have only read the OP's initial post so not sure if someone has already mentioned this but i would try a different dealer.

I also had my VRS serviced recently but this was at Hortons Lincoln. I got no phone call as they serviced it while i waited,

but after the service when they handed me the keys they politely told me that i might want to keep an eye on the tyres and

had given me a bit of paper which showed the tread depths 3,3,3,4 mm They didn't try to sell me any though and they have

a sign up on their wall showing prices and they were very reasonable i think they were about £70 each from memory. Mine

are still about 3mm tread depth and thats 6 months on but these falkens are wearing remarkably well so i might get another

set of these fitted.