I always drop my car off with pretty much no fuel in it. Even now when I use Skoda dealerships. They won't use it if they have to put their hand in their pocket and put some petrol in!

Yeah from my experience that usually gets two responses - if it's a trustworthy good garage they might do a small test economically whereas the dodgier ones will try to get the fuel even lower to the point where it might run out on the way home!

Luckily I've never had the latter!

For anyone who is interested. I got this video of a mechanic driving this car after getting the cambelt and waterpump done. He didn't take it far, but he was an impatient driver.

 

Pixelated not to name and shame. The work done is good and a reasonable price, though the customer service lacks a bit. They are very handy for work, and took the car in with about 10mins notice. I just enquired on price, and they said they could do it that afternoon.

 

http://youtu.be/V5wxgObq97o

 

Dashcam will prove anything that happened really, and showing something like that will make someone think twice about driving badly.

 

I don't think this driver knew it was there, or didn't care. I didn't really want to go through 3hrs of mechanic conversations to find out, though 1 or 2 of them looked vaguely towards the camera.

Alan, I don't quite get it, he obviously was a bit stressed, but didn't drive it like a **** did he ? Whats the problem ? I honestly think there could be far more to worry about than that by people that isn't caught on dashcams TBH.

 

Its 3 minutes of the most boring video that I can't unwatch - thanks for that

 

Thats just my opinion

Alan, I don't quite get it, he obviously was a bit stressed, but didn't drive it like a **** did he ? Whats the problem ? I honestly think there could be far more to worry about than that by people that isn't caught on dashcams TBH.

 

Its 3 minutes of the most boring video that I can't unwatch - thanks for that

 

Thats just my opinion

I'm personally not keen on someone else driving my car. A trust issue, yeah probably. However it has to be done from time to time.

 

It isn't that bad agreed, but it is interesting, in my opinion, to know what does happen during a test drive.

 

In part of the video you can hear a little bit of tyre screeching, and probably driven a bit aggressively. So not too happy on that part.

 

Why should someone else treat my car differently?

I didn't have the volume too high, as its fairly restrictive on my laptop but I was expecting a wild joy ride or something, but seemed to be far from it thats all. I didn't particularly notice any really bad driving also (ie. illegal) but difficult to get the full picture with those dash cams.

 

I see where you are coming from, but on the opposite side of the coin wouldn't expect them to "baby" your car also. I do agree though, being professional they ought to drive the car "soft", but you have no idea of their daily pressures, clearly no fun was sought from the experience.

 

It was only down the road and back, just to test, be thankful it could have been a lot lot worse so I don't get the impression they let your trust down that badly, thats all ? Well compared to what the OP posted at least.

Agreed, it's not going to put me off using the same garage again, but a bit miffed about it. Price, service and convenience in general is pretty good.

 

It's also about that there are places who just do a test drive for what is required.

It's not too bad! Sometimes you catch people on a bad day with a heavy workload nothing worth losing sleep over but I get where you're coming from!

About 8 years ago I took my Honda Prelude 2.2 VTEC into a local garage for a service. On my lunch break I heard a car being raced through the town centre, turned round to see my Prelude racing a Celica. I was not impressed.

 

I have used a mobile mechanic for years now, he can be trusted and at 25 quid an hour is much better than these rip off garages.

They're not all crooks it's just as with everything there's some good and some bad!

Total ****take mate.

Thats why I never go to a garage anf I sort things myself.

Jobs dont tend to be done to the high std I like or even done correctly.

They domt look after the car and drive it lil

It's a tricky one I guess. I'd rather they took a test drive to ensure the job was done properly, and I didn't arrive only to get stuck leaving the forecourt or half a mile up the road.

 

How they conduct that test drive is another matter, but I'd be surprised if they managed to do something I hadn't done to the car already, but I agree - 30 miles is taking liberties! 

well it seems everyone loves driving a fabia vrs 

Handed my car in today at an auto electrician and to 2 my suprise returned with 14mpg on the clock from a 2mile trip.

how is that even possible???[emoji33][emoji33]

Handed my car in today at an auto electrician and to 2 my suprise returned with 14mpg on the clock from a 2mile trip.

how is that even possible???[emoji33][emoji33]

Car sat idling for a while will do that! What was wrong with it

After reading this thread thought the worse.[emoji29]

My right indicator wasn't working, But left one works and they both work when press on the hazards.

but after reading few other threads thinking this could b costly problem. throwing out intermittent fault;

01314 fault - engine control module no communication.

So went to get the wirings and fuses checked

Turns out it was a broken plug on the wiring loom in the dash.

After reading this thread thought the worse.[emoji29]

My right indicator wasn't working, But left one works and they both work when press on the hazards.

but after reading few other threads thinking this could b costly problem. throwing out intermittent fault;

01314 fault - engine control module no communication.

So went to get the wirings and fuses checked

Turns out it was a broken plug on the wiring loom in the dash.

Well the mpg would've reset after dash removal I assume and then it may have been idling then on a short test that speedo etc was still working!

I changed a window regulator on an audi a6......... The engine does not need to be turned on to complete this job. I would complain and asked for some compensation for the fuel / trust.