Ripped off over car service?

Kai123

Hello,

I was going to ask for recommendation of which mobile car service company to choose from. I do not trust mechanics and try and research as much as I can about a place before I take my car anywhere.

CarAutoService have a very good price but I dont know them. I am willing to spend an extra 70 Euro for the AA service because I do trust them. A local garage has a 80 Euro car service but I dont trust them at all.

Am I being really stupid and paranoid? Has anyone been ripped off over a car service before?

Kai.

Gary ITR

Kai123 wrote: »

Hello,

I was going to ask for recommendation of which mobile car service company to choose from. I do not trust mechanics and try and research as much as I can about a place before I take my car anywhere.

CarAutoService have a very good price but I dont know them. I am willing to spend an extra 70 Euro for the AA service because I do trust them. A local garage has a 80 Euro car service but I dont trust them at all.

Am I being really stupid and paranoid? Has anyone been ripped off over a car service before?

Kai.

You do realise a lot of mechanics post here

No harm in research but no need to insult people

Kai123

All of the mechanics I have met have been shady. I was always told never to trust a mechanic as a kid so its hard to shake off. Sorry if I cause anyone offence but I have had bad experiences before so im very cautious now about how I deal with garages.

I know its a minority. I have just been unlucky.

cletus

Maybe you should learn some of the basics of servicing and maintaining your car

Ronnie Beck

If you want it done by a main dealer or big franchise your going to have to cough up big money.

You should learn how to do it yourself. Which parts have to be changed, what clean oil looks like etc. At least then if you go to backstreet mechanic you know if its been done right. I find these mechanics are the best around but if you go in with no knowledge and a bad attitude then of course some of them will fleece you and you'll never know.

Atlantic Dawn

These €80 or €150 services you speak of are basically oil changes, air filter and that's it. Everything else will cost money, some car may need new brake pads, new brake discs, new spark plugs, new pollen filter, new coolant, brake fluid change, that "service" may cost €400, this can't be called a rip off if the car actually needed all these items replaced to keep the car in a safe running order. At the end of the day it depends what your car needs, most of the €80 adverts you see are glorified oil changes usually with the cheapest oil you can buy which is not recommended for the majority of modern cars.

Jimdagym

Why is this thread called "Ripped off after car service?"

Kai123

AA intrim service is the most expensive, but you get what you pay for?

The full service they offer is something like 220 Euro. My old car last year went for a service and they ended up billing me around 250 euro for 2 breakpads, oil and oil filter change.

When you have such a gap between prices for the same service its worth checking it out. Changing the oil is something I really should learn to do, my girlfriend questions my masculinity at the lack of interest of doing so :P

Alanstrainor

Moved to motors, as this is not DIY.

OP, get a mechanic to price whatever job you're getting done before you give the okay.

Jimbob 83

What wizardary to these sinister mechanics get up to in their lair's(garages)

wex96

Saw a garage quoting €75 for a service p;us parts and vat, could work out expensive. Get quoted for parts and labour separate.

Jimbob 83

Oil filter well thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaats atleast 500 euro, it's magic you see i wave my magic spanner and your wallet dissapears !

But i will stamp your book there for 75 euro laaaaaaaad

GoodisonPark

Always do my own , €20 for a set of spark plugs , same price for 5L of oil , €10 for filters , so €50 covers me and I get it done in under an hour.

Kai123

Jimbob 83 wrote: »

What wizardary to these sinister mechanics get up to in their lair's(garages)

That is exactly how I feel

I think I will go with the AA. The price is fixed so no nasty suprises and ive heard good things.

Kai.

George Dalton

I would trust most independent garages over the AA or anyone else doing mobile servicing to be honest. The best thing you can do is find a good local garage and use them for all your servicing. Chopping and changing from one outfit to another or using a mobile service like the AA where you have a different guy working on your car all the time is not a recipe for good preventative maintenance.

That is my opinion for what it is worth. However I must warn you that I service and repair cars for a living so I must therefore be a shady character and not to be trusted :pac:

Nonoperational

There's no need to be so skeptical of menhanics as long as you choose the right one. George that posted above and Nissan doctor are regularly posting here and they are both highly recommended if your from Dublin or the surrounding areas...

Kai123

George Dalton wrote: »

I would trust most independent garages over the AA or anyone else doing mobile servicing to be honest. The best thing you can do is find a good local garage and use them for all your servicing. Chopping and changing from one outfit to another or using a mobile service like the AA where you have a different guy working on your car all the time is not a recipe for good preventative maintenance.

That is my opinion for what it is worth. However I must warn you that I service and repair cars for a living so I must therefore be a shady character and not to be trusted :pac:

Your taking it out of context :P I have been unlucky but I know most mechanics are sound.

I know literally nothing about what happens under the car, all I can go on is advice from here and compare the details of checks from different car services around Dublin/Meath.

John_Rambo

Kai123 wrote: »

I do not trust mechanics

In fairness, they destroyed the country.

rebel.ranter

Again it needs to be pointed out that a "service" is normally a very specific, set list of items & checks that are carried out. A service is not where a mechanic waves a magic wand over the car & everything is rectified.
These cheap service deals in my opinion are counter productive in the long run, they will spend the least amount of time on your car in order to make the price viable for them to stay in business. They will then only check the items that are big money earners & less complex to do like brake pads/discs.
A proper garage will, if run right check the car over properly to identify every problem during a service & report back to the customer what needs to be fixed. This is the right thing to do but it confuses people because they think the garage is attempting to rip them off by jacking up the price when in fact they are doing what they are meant to be doing, telling you what is wrong with your car. Good garages do this & will invest time in the inspection/checklist.

As mentioned it is always good to have a single garage/mechanic looking after your car. Provided you find a good one that is. They will keep records if your car & will also help advise you on how to keep on top of the jobs that need doing. Some garages will offer to do jobs that are not quite due just to get the extra business, or others will avoid complex jobs as there is little profit to be gained from doing the job. Using a regular garage with a good reputation means they are more likely to deal with these types of things in an honest way as they know you're a repeat customer.

Independent mechanics can sometimes be the better option than a main dealer (not just from a pricing point of view), especially an independent specialist in a particular brand of car e.g. there's a good few BMW/Mercedes specialists out there.
Very often these independent specialists have served their time in a main dealer & have done all the specific training for that brand of car. On top of that the real problems for most cars start later in the car's life, this is very often when the car is no longer being maintained within the main dealer network, so the main dealer may actually be less experienced than the independent mechanic in dealing with these types of issues. Also an independent mechanic is running his own business, he is more likely to be keen to see things done right when it is his name over the door. Well, that's my theory anyway.
I'm not saying main dealers are bad, far from it, I've had good (& some bad) experiences with main dealers, the majority of my interactions with them have been positive & sometimes I've even felt like I got value for money. And I do the majority of my motor maintenance myself, only convenience or specialist equipment has pushed me to use someone else.
Finally, you should look at going a lot of these jobs yourself. You will save a fortune if you are any way savvy. If you don't actually do the work yourself at least you'll have a better understanding of what your mechanic is doing (or should be doing).
Best of luck finding a mechanic!

BengaLover

From a ladies point of view I have always found that you can always get a good price on any car related jobs if you wear a low cut top and bat your eyelashes whilst getting the quote..Maybe send the missus out with the car next time it needs work..;)
No, that was a tongue in cheek post, actually Im a firm believer of shopping around, and try to get a word of mouth mechanic firm with a good hourly rate.
I now use a few polish lads who have set up a place, and they are extremely honest and work for a fair price.

barura

I got some stuff done at an Atlas repair place. Seemed high standard and if you're paranoid, why not ask them can you watch your car being worked on? Having said all that, you can do a basic service yourself which would put your wallet in a much happier place.

Check out this thread in the DIY section of this forum. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055422868

Anan1

Kai123 wrote: »

All of the mechanics I have met have been shady. I was always told never to trust a mechanic as a kid so its hard to shake off. Sorry if I cause anyone offence but I have had bad experiences before so im very cautious now about how I deal with garages.

I know its a minority. I have just been unlucky.

Best thing you can do is learn as much as possible about what needs doing to your car and when (and preferably why). Like every other trade, profession & business, mechanics generally impose an ignorance surcharge. IMO it's not shady in the least, it's simply charging what the market will bear. Educate yourself and you'll pay less. A good local independent is the way to go.

Kai123

A smaller garage would most likely give me a list of what was done. Someone like the AA has a checklist that they go through.

How much would you pay for a quality intrim service? From here and other forums 89 Euro services are very cheap and people who know would not say its value for money.

Im actually looking for a Haynes manual for the car. I had one for my last car but im very cautious and ended up not doing anything with it. Changing the oil should be simple but for me I would have to treat it as a surgical procedure.

I have "serviced" peoples computers before for a small fee (25 Euro), and it is playing into peoples ignorence. Apart from the time it takes to scan for malware etc, a full defrag makes such a difference that they are happy to pay while they could run defrag themselves within 5 clicks.

I would probably write down how many times to turn the nut to drain the oil. If I forgot I would have a panic attack.

bladespin

The AA's nothing more than a middle man, are you really going to trust an agent over the real thing?

I'm not questioning your experiences but how were these mechanics shady? What could they have done?

Anan1

Kai123 wrote: »

A smaller garage would most likely give me a list of what was done. Someone like the AA has a checklist that they go through.

How much would you pay for a quality intrim service? From here and other forums 89 Euro services are very cheap and people who know would not say its value for money.

Im actually looking for a Haynes manual for the car. I had one for my last car but im very cautious and ended up not doing anything with it. Changing the oil should be simple but for me I would have to treat it as a surgical procedure.

I have "serviced" peoples computers before for a small fee (25 Euro), and it is playing into peoples ignorence. Apart from the time it takes to scan for malware etc, a full defrag makes such a difference that they are happy to pay while they could run defrag themselves within 5 clicks.

I would probably write down how many times to turn the nut to drain the oil. If I forgot I would have a panic attack.

Every car has different servicing requirements - a quick look in the service book will tell you what your car needs, and when. You don't need to know how to do any of this stuff, a basic understanding of the principles involved will suffice. You can then shop around for quotes, compare prices, negotiate, etc.