Sick of the negativity toward the motor trade

dor843088

As the title says im sick of people bashing the motor trade. A quick scan through this forum reveals an impressive amount of rip off this and rip off that. Iv worked in the trade for 15 years and have very very rarely come across anything personally that I would consider a " rip off" but on this forum you would think it was happening left and right . Huge variance in price is present in all industries whether it be mechanics , hotels or hospitals and if you dont like the price you go somewhere else simple as that. Iv noticed that the people saying "yep you were ripped off " generally arent mechanics (by there own admission) so thats funny. Truth is there are many many times more difficult customers than bogey mechanics and theyre the ones usually willing to spout off about it to anyone who will listen and the bogey mechanics dont last as you cant run a business without repeat customers. Why not take the responsibility for your own affairs and educate yourself on who is a good honest mechanic in your area and dont bother with anyone who hasnt come recommended? And another thing this "mechanics rip off women " thing is a complete myth ,a business that rips off 50% of its customers would be closed in no time. Anyway thats my rant over.

dor843088

OSI wrote: »

Motor trade or mechanics? They're different things.


And yes, certain mechanics do try to pull the proverbial with women that they wouldn't with men. I've seen it first hand.

Im referring to mechanics. You've seen it first hand or you have made assumptions? Unless you have worked in an unscrupulous garage im not sure how you can make that judgement.

VeVeX

OSI wrote: »

And yes, certain mechanics do try to pull the proverbial with women that they wouldn't with men. I've seen it first hand.

That mechanic would probably do the same to a man. If you're a cowboy I don't think you'd discriminate.

Irishcrx

Well I've worked in a garage and I've seen it happen first hand....so...yes it without a doubt does happen , not everywhere but certain garages will take the piss out of women and out of men who don't know any better...

aujopimur

I've enough bad experience of the motor trade not to trust any of it.

dor843088

Look lads I know it happens as it does in all industries and trades. Iv been swindled by a landscaper and a plumber on different occasions but there doesnt seem to be pages and oages of people on boards.ie giving out about it ( some of which is nonsense anyway) . And Idont think the fact of whether youv got a penis or not matters . Money is money.

dor843088

aujopimur wrote: »

I've enough bad experience of the motor trade not to trust any of it.

Your the very person im talking about generalisation to the max. Maybe you have been very unlucky which is a shame . Hopefully someone will change your mind in the future.

BigEejit

As happens with all professions or services, people say nothing when things go well and make a lot of noise when things do not go to their satisfaction (whether or not that means it was done badly or cost too much is another thing)

Most people are risk averse and will will actively try and find out stories about the bad things that happen. When there are enough of those stories people get an impression about that entire sector/group. They dont know about you personally, they just know that there are plenty of people who said they were ripped off/treated badly/not satisfied with someone who does the same job as you.

Can you fix this? I doubt it.

pippip

dor843088 wrote: »

Your the very person im talking about generalisation to the max. Maybe you have been very unlucky which is a shame . Hopefully someone will change your mind in the future.

Sorry, but as a honest mechanic yourself surely you wouldn't experience it?

Posters on here are going to garages across the country so they would be a better judge than you of the industry from actual experiences, no?

Stheno

dor843088 wrote: »

And Idont think the fact of whether youv got a penis or not matters .

It does, I'm a woman and nine times out of ten if I take my partner with me to do any motor trade related business I might as well be invisible

I quite enjoyed the shocked face of the last car salesman who did this when I told him everything wrong with the car oh and I both test drove.

Oh stood there sniggering

s8n

Stop ripping us off then !!!

Tea 1000

pippip wrote: »

Sorry, but as a honest mechanic yourself surely you wouldn't experience it?

Posters on here are going to garages across the country so they would be a better judge than you of the industry from actual experiences, no?

He's got a point in fairness!

And I do also think that the motor industry has more than its fair share of cowboys. I wouldn't dare put a percentage on it, but enough for most people to get bitten once in a while.
I also think the building trade has just as high a percentage, but seeing as in buildings most things are stationary, shoddy stuff takes longer to reveal itself.
I feel sorry for the honest folk in both industries, but that's the way it is really.

dor843088

pippip wrote: »

Sorry, but as a honest mechanic yourself surely you wouldn't experience it?

Posters on here are going to garages across the country so they would be a better judge than you of the industry from actual experiences, no?

Worked in a garage for 7 years and have been 8 years in the breakdown industry so I come accross all sorts in my job. " I got my car seviced 6 months ago and now its broken down , rip off mechanic " thats a classic one.

Reoil

I know of a mechanic, welded the old part, charged for a new one.
Every industry has its cowboys, but with mechanics, because everything's, literally, under the bonnet, they can get away with it a lot more easily...

James Bond Junior

Dishonesty, lies, cheating and other underhand tactics is the reason I got out of the motor trade. My conscience is worth more than brown notes.

Not talking about mechanics but the 2nd hand car dealer, Del Boy dodgy stereotype is well deserved in many cases.

The George daltons et al in that industry are an exception rather than a rule especially the lower end of the market you go.

J Mysterio

The biggest cowboys are the dealerships. I decided to go to the official dealership for a change as I love my car but the ***** were looking for 1500 for various repairs. Took it out and immediately brought it to my normal mechanic (who I should have went to in the first place). €650, done properly.

Agricola

Relative of mine had car in for brake pad replacement a while back. On her way out the guy in the garage told her the car was losing a lot of engine oil underneath and showed her a few drops on the floor. Asked to her bring it in again soon to check it out.
She asked me so I told her to put some newspaper under it in the drive way for the next couple of days and to keep a check on the dipstick......... result - no oil on the drive and no change in oil level......

Even not specifically shady practises........ Ive seen plenty of cars, admittedly usually from the UK, with services histories and receipts that would make your eyes water. The common theme seems to be, Customer has little to no knowledge = extract a premium from them through a litany of parts that may or may not have been fitted and a big labour tag to top it off.
For anyone that disputes this, you only have to look at how a customer who knows a small bit about what their talking about deals with a mechanic who might be his own boss of a small business. Explain the problem, work gets done properly, fair price charged for what actually needs to be done. Thats my experience anyway.

pred racer

I understand that there are competent, honest mechanics out there.
But if the muppet, thieving bastard brigade weren't widespread then how come every one of us on here (regulars who at least have some clue) has a story where we were taken advantage of by the motor trade?

Me. I was charged for replacing a rear hub+extras when all that was changed was an anti roll bar bushing.
And Another car I had just bought (and was supposed to pick up a few days later) was supposedly back at Mitsubishi for a recall, it was actually in the body shop getting repaired coz they had just crashed it..badly.

My dad. Charged for a service that was never carried out.

My best mate, charged for a timing belt that was never fitted.

I could go on and on.

But I will say, when you find a good mechanic, stick with them, don't always go looking for the cheapest price;)

H3llR4iser

The accusations from people not knowing anything about the trade/technicalities/job are something that happens in all fields.

As a software engineer, the amount of bullcr@p I hear being spat out by the "know it all" types who really only read a couple of tutorials would fill the Petronas towers. Take your pick: "kill switches" in laptops to force you to buy a new one, antivirus companies making viruses, bugs and issues being "planted" on purpose to force the user to go to the tech support, you choose. The biggest issue is the lack of understanding how time consuming and resource intensive are most jobs: resetting a system? sure 30 minutes and you're done. A totally ad-hoc e-commerce solution for 10.000 Euro? Complete rip off, my nephew will have you sorted for 100!

You get the drill. Same happens with mechanics and garages: most people are not technically minded in the least and can't understand the complexities of the job if their life depended on it.

The only remark that I must make is that, in my experience, a lot of mechanics/garages in Ireland (or maybe just the Cork area) could keep their opinions on certain brands and/or cars to themselves.

What I mean is this: If I talk to somebody and he/she goes on about dissing a specific solution just because it doesn't use their preferred platform (classic case: "ah it's Windows, you should have used Linux!"), I know I am talking to somebody who is incompetent at best.

In the same way, If I meet a mechanic who goes on about Italian/French/British cars being Cr@p and how Japanese are "bulletproof", I know I need to take my business somewhere else.

Tea 1000

dor843088 wrote: »

Worked in a garage for 7 years and have been 8 years in the breakdown industry so I come accross all sorts in my job. " I got my car seviced 6 months ago and now its broken down , rip off mechanic " thats a classic one.

To be fair, there are a massive amount of stupid customers out there too. Having to explain to some relatives and friends that the part their mechanic told them needs replacing really does need replacing and that your car will actually need some money spent on it from time to time can be challenging.
Many are led to believe that servicing a car is all encompassing, and should only be around €100, and that if you do it every year (which means every two and a half in reality by the time they get around to it) should prevent every single mechanical failure. They also think that servicing a car guarantees an NCT pass, and similarly, if it passes the NCT then it doesn't need to be serviced.

J Mysterio wrote: »

The biggest cowboys are the dealerships. I decided to go to the official dealership for a change as I love my car but the ***** were looking for 1500 for various repairs. Took it out and immediately brought it to my normal mechanic (who I should have went to in the first place). €650, done properly.

To be honest, I don't have a problem with dealer inflated prices so long as they do a good job. Some prices are stupidly inflated, and to be fair, Toyota are one of the few that keep the main dealer premium to a reasonable level. What I hate is for a main dealer mechanic to do a half assed job. If me or someone I know is paying top dollar for a job, it better f**king be a top quality job. Too often in main dealers it isn't.

Tea 1000

H3llR4iser wrote: »

The accusations from people not knowing anything about the trade/technicalities/job are something that happens in all fields.

As a software engineer, the amount of bullcr@p I hear being spat out by the "know it all" types who really only read a couple of tutorials would fill the Petronas towers. Take your pick: "kill switches" in laptops to force you to buy a new one, antivirus companies making viruses, bugs and issues being "planted" on purpose to force the user to go to the tech support, you choose. The biggest issue is the lack of understanding how time consuming and resource intensive are most jobs: resetting a system? sure 30 minutes and you're done. A totally ad-hoc e-commerce solution for 10.000 Euro? Complete rip off, my nephew will have you sorted for 100!

You get the drill. Same happens with mechanics and garages: most people are not technically minded in the least and can't understand the complexities of the job if their life depended on it.

The only remark that I must make is that, in my experience, a lot of mechanics/garages in Ireland (or maybe just the Cork area) could keep their opinions on certain brands and/or cars to themselves.

What I mean is this: If I talk to somebody and he/she goes on about dissing a specific solution just because it doesn't use their preferred platform (classic case: "ah it's Windows, you should have used Linux!"), I know I am talking to somebody who is incompetent at best.

In the same way, If I meet a mechanic who goes on about Italian/French/British cars being Cr@p and how Japanese are "bulletproof", I know I need to take my business somewhere else.

I felt "thank" wasn't enough so I'm quoting this post to get it shown twice!

_Brian

dor843088 wrote: »

As the title says im sick of people bashing the motor trade. A quick scan through this forum reveals an impressive amount of rip off this and rip off that. Iv worked in the trade for 15 years and have very very rarely come across anything personally that I would consider a " rip off" but on this forum you would think it was happening left and right . Huge variance in price is present in all industries whether it be mechanics , hotels or hospitals and if you dont like the price you go somewhere else simple as that. Iv noticed that the people saying "yep you were ripped off " generally arent mechanics (by there own admission) so thats funny. Truth is there are many many times more difficult customers than bogey mechanics and theyre the ones usually willing to spout off about it to anyone who will listen and the bogey mechanics dont last as you cant run a business without repeat customers. Why not take the responsibility for your own affairs and educate yourself on who is a good honest mechanic in your area and dont bother with anyone who hasnt come recommended? And another thing this "mechanics rip off women " thing is a complete myth ,a business that rips off 50% of its customers would be closed in no time. Anyway thats my rant over.

Surely its just a case that people who have had a bad experience are motivated enough to get online and find somewhere to vent about it.. Where happy customers are getting what they expect so move on with their lives..
You see it on many, many review sites..

bucketybuck

The biggest problem with the motor trade is the staggering ignorance of the general public, and you see that displayed very frequently in this forum.

The amount of utter tripe written by people with unrealistic expectations backed up by very little knowledge makes me roll my eyes on a daily basis.

But hey, sure doesn't everybody know that mechanics are only out to rip you off, yeah? :rolleyes:

To Elland Back

bucketybuck wrote: »

The biggest problem with motor insurance is the staggering ignorance of the general public, and you see that displayed very frequently in this forum.

The amount of utter tripe written by people with unrealistic expectations backed up by very little knowledge makes me roll my eyes on a daily basis.

But hey, sure doesn't everybody know that insurers are only out to rip you off, yeah? :rolleyes:

I feel your pain. I've amended your post to reflect my situation

H3llR4iser

To Elland Back wrote: »

I feel your pain. I've amended your post to reflect my situation

Publish the data, and nobody would complain anymore, simple as that

CiniO

dor843088 wrote: »

As the title says im sick of people bashing the motor trade. A quick scan through this forum reveals an impressive amount of rip off this and rip off that. Iv worked in the trade for 15 years and have very very rarely come across anything personally that I would consider a " rip off" but on this forum you would think it was happening left and right . Huge variance in price is present in all industries whether it be mechanics , hotels or hospitals and if you dont like the price you go somewhere else simple as that. Iv noticed that the people saying "yep you were ripped off " generally arent mechanics (by there own admission) so thats funny. Truth is there are many many times more difficult customers than bogey mechanics and theyre the ones usually willing to spout off about it to anyone who will listen and the bogey mechanics dont last as you cant run a business without repeat customers. Why not take the responsibility for your own affairs and educate yourself on who is a good honest mechanic in your area and dont bother with anyone who hasnt come recommended? And another thing this "mechanics rip off women " thing is a complete myth ,a business that rips off 50% of its customers would be closed in no time. Anyway thats my rant over.

OP most places are trying to rip off a customer.
There's very few who don't, and they are the ones I'm visiting. But it's not easy to find them.

Short example:
You go to garage with a set of new tyres (purchased online) to fit them. Mechanic say - 100 euro which means 25 euro per corner.
Situation like that in most garages around my area.
That's literally 30 minutes job (45 in worst case). And they want to charge 100 euro???

You go to the same garage next day with a puncture, and how much they charge you??? A tenner!!!
To fix a puncture, they take wheel off, take tyre off the rim, patch the hole, fit the tyre back, balance it, and put it back on a car...
More work involved than fitting new tyre...
And somehow this time they can do it for €10 not €25 like day before.

dor843088

CiniO wrote: »

OP most places are trying to rip off a customer.
There's very few who don't, and they are the ones I'm visiting. But it's not easy to find them.

Short example:
You go to garage with a set of new tyres (purchased online) to fit them. Mechanic say - 100 euro which means 25 euro per corner.
Situation like that in most garages around my area.
That's literally 30 minutes job (45 in worst case). And they want to charge 100 euro???

You go to the same garage next day with a puncture, and how much they charge you??? A tenner!!!
To fix a puncture, they take wheel off, take tyre off the rim, patch the hole, fit the tyre back, balance it, and put it back on a car...
More work involved than fitting new tyre...
And somehow this time they can do it for €10 not €25 like day before.

Thanks for this post . Prime example of ridiculousness. Would you walk into your local with a bag of cans and ask for a pint glass ? :rolleyes:

gctest50

CiniO wrote: »

...........

Short example:
You go to garage with a set of new tyres (purchased online) to fit them. Mechanic say - 100 euro which means 25 euro per corner.
Situation like that in most garages around my area.
That's literally 30 minutes job (45 in worst case). And they want to charge 100 euro???
..............

you'd be the "exception" there though - you'd go off and buy "nice" tyres and get the garage to fit them

if they fitted tyres for very little money you'd have some people going around stealing tyres off farmers silage pits

To Elland Back

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Publish the data, and nobody would complain anymore, simple as that

What needs to be published??? Insurers are private businesses who can charge what they like, just like your local chipper.

If they are too dear, move on to the next one. If you get bad service move on to the next one. If you feel you are not getting what you are entitled to, a solicitor will sort them out

If they catch you out trying to pull a fast one, suffer the consequences

H3llR4iser

dor843088 wrote: »

Thanks for this post . Prime example of ridiculousness. Would you walk into your local with a bag of cans and ask for a pint glass ? :rolleyes:

See, the problem specific with tire fitters is that they mostly try to push the cheapest rubber on customers. I understand they would not stock a set of 225/50/17 Pirellis or Continental worth 600€ as they'd probably never sell it in Ireland, but some actually claimed their GreenMax or LingLong to be "just as good".

If they have something midrange, they price it exageratedly - 180 Euro/tire for Semperit or Firestone, I was asked.

In the end I found a very small place with a nice guy who, quite simply, went "Tell me what tires you want, I can order them for you!". Often the key is in the range, rather than price - I would, and did, gladly pay extra to buy and fit local avoiding all the possible hassle from an internet order (wrong delivery, defects, finding a fitter).

If they don't want to offer such an opportunity to the customer, why not just fit and earn 50/60 Euro for the operation? The guy coming in with tires bought from the Internet won't magically buy them from you if you refuse to fit them / ask for absurd prices.

H3llR4iser

To Elland Back wrote: »

What needs to be published??? Insurers are private businesses who can charge what they like, just like your local chipper.

If they are too dear, move on to the next one. If you get bad service move on to the next one. If you feel you are not getting what you are entitled to, a solicitor will sort them out

If they catch you out trying to pull a fast one, suffer the consequences

It's very simple: if you base your business entirely on some data that is constantly mentioned but nobody can see, you have to expect people to be suspicious of it, even if everything is completely legit.

If you send renewal quotes that are three times last years premium, but your website quotes the same exact profile (same driver, car and reg) at last years' price, there might be a million compelling reasons behind (e.g. a push to acquire new customers over renewals), but you can't really be surprised if the practice is seen in a very bad light.

When you have scandals happening in other EU countries where the system is roughly the same, in which the "data" was found out to be either made up or non existent at all, you can't be surprised people are wary of your business.

If insurance companies were more transparent in their dealings (you will pay X because your profile matches one that, last year, caused Y accidents/incidents), nobody could say anything.

I understand that, if the data about risk profiles was public (even partially), "magically" everybody would start somehow fitting into the lowest risk categories, and this could be quite a problem.

However since the dawn of times, insurers constantly accused customers of being a bunch of fraudsters and customers accused insurers to be chancers. In these cases, the truth is always somewhere in the middle.

CiniO

dor843088 wrote: »

Thanks for this post . Prime example of ridiculousness. Would you walk into your local with a bag of cans and ask for a pint glass ? :rolleyes:

I think you don't get the different.
Local pub serves beer, so I can't walk in with my own.
Garages provides service of labour including fitting tyres.
If I decide to just use their service to fit them, without actually buying tyres off them, then should be no problem with that.
That's how it works most places around the world.

pete4130

When you buy tyres from a garage, they are making a margin on that. So fitting the tyres for €10 a piece still gives them a good margin.

Bringing in your own tyres, getting them to fit it, isn't worth it for €10 a tyre. so they charge a bit more to make their margin. Normal business sense. You are paying for the service.

I don't see the problem.

Youngblood.III

dor843088 wrote: »

As the title says im sick of people bashing the motor trade. A quick scan through this forum reveals an impressive amount of rip off this and rip off that. Iv worked in the trade for 15 years and have very very rarely come across anything personally that I would consider a " rip off" but on this forum you would think it was happening left and right . Huge variance in price is present in all industries whether it be mechanics , hotels or hospitals and if you dont like the price you go somewhere else simple as that. Iv noticed that the people saying "yep you were ripped off " generally arent mechanics (by there own admission) so thats funny. Truth is there are many many times more difficult customers than bogey mechanics and theyre the ones usually willing to spout off about it to anyone who will listen and the bogey mechanics dont last as you cant run a business without repeat customers. Why not take the responsibility for your own affairs and educate yourself on who is a good honest mechanic in your area and dont bother with anyone who hasnt come recommended? And another thing this "mechanics rip off women " thing is a complete myth ,a business that rips off 50% of its customers would be closed in no time. Anyway thats my rant over.

I bought a vw from a main dealer, it failed on emissions, turns out the CAT had been removed, dealer was a pri#K to deal with....
Another time a van i bought in a differnt dealer had to go back to him 5 times for fixing, eventually I had to give up and requested my money back.... a myth you say...sure!

CiniO

pete4130 wrote: »

When you buy tyres from a garage, they are making a margin on that. So fitting the tyres for €10 a piece still gives them a good margin.

Bringing in your own tyres, getting them to fit it, isn't worth it for €10 a tyre. so they charge a bit more to make their margin. Normal business sense. You are paying for the service.

I don't see the problem.

Read my post above first.
They charge €10 for fixing a puncture. Labour to fix a puncture involves more than labour to fit new tyre.
Why do they charge more to fit new tyre then?

Tea 1000

To Elland Back wrote: »

What needs to be published??? Insurers are private businesses who can charge what they like, just like your local chipper.

If they are too dear, move on to the next one. If you get bad service move on to the next one. If you feel you are not getting what you are entitled to, a solicitor will sort them out

If they catch you out trying to pull a fast one, suffer the consequences

Ah feckin insurance companies! Suffer the consequences you say? Yes. They try to pull a fast one over you, and as you say contact a solicitor, who'll only manage to get them to give you some money that they actually owe you.
You pull a fast one over them and you're looking at large fines and possibly jail! It should work both ways, then people wouldn't complain!
Garages aren't the same. A main dealer has more to lose by pulling fast ones if the law does catch up with him than an insurance company. They always win. I was charged extra for my insurance once because of "September 11th". That's the equivalent of going to a local garage for them to tell me "Oh, the price of a service is gone up because the new Airbus A380 is just out and it's really dear to service!"

CiniO wrote: »

Read my post above first.
They charge €10 for fixing a puncture. Labour to fix a puncture involves more than labour to fit new tyre.
Why do they charge more to fit new tyre then?

Maybe to dispose the old tyres. But you have a bit of a point. If they were friendly about it to you and asked how much you paid and went to try and match or closely match that price for you and ask that you consider them the next time, then you most likely will be back and have a positive experience.

CiniO

Tea 1000 wrote: »

Maybe to dispose the old tyres. But you have a bit of a point. If they were friendly about it to you and asked how much you paid and went to try and match or closely match that price for you and ask that you consider them the next time, then you most likely will be back and have a positive experience.

That's what I mean.
Most garages around ask between €80 and €100 for fitting set of new tyres, which IMO is ridiculous price.
I found one garage which did it for €35, but I wasn't happy with the quality of their job.
Found another guy, which is bit further, charges €50 for a set, but does really proper job.
And those are the reasonable prices - €35 for poor quality job and €50 for great quality job. I go to this guy regularly now for the last couple of year, and spend €50 with him every time. He is happy and I'm happy.
And those garages, who put those mad prices of €100 for a set of tyres, to convince me to buy tyres off them next time, don't get a penny from me and never will.

To Elland Back

Tea 1000 wrote: »

. I was charged extra for my insurance once because of "September 11th"..

It was a legitimate reason. Insurers lay off risk, at a cost, to worldwide reinsurance companies in the same way as a bookie lays off a bet. When these reinsurance companies were called on to pay for 9/11, they were badly stung. As a result, they upped their charges for reinsurance to insurers, including Irish companies, to try and stay solvent. This charge was added to your premium

dor843088

CiniO wrote: »

I think you don't get the different.
Local pub serves beer, so I can't walk in with my own.
Garages provides service of labour including fitting tyres.
If I decide to just use their service to fit them, without actually buying tyres off them, then should be no problem with that.
That's how it works most places around the world.

You were given a price , you didnt like it and you went somewhere else what are ypu complaining about? The fact you didnt get the service you want for the price you want ? Wouldnt that be a grand world to live in. If you think a business could stay open removing , balancing and fitting tyres again all day for a tenner a pop you're optimistic to say the least.

dmc17

What I've noticed with a lot of them is that if a job seems remotely complicated, they don't want to know about it.
I had the MAF sensor go bad in my car a while back and it was misfiring intermittently. Brought it to one mechanic and the response was "Sure I don't know what's wrong with it, it could be anything(basically I couldn't be arsed trying to figure it out). Brought it to another and left it with him and when I picked it up asked him did he find what was causing the problem and his response was "I threw a shot of injector cleaner into the petrol tank there. That might sort it". Mighty!
So I got onto my good friend Google and did a bit of searching, picked up a reconditioned MAF on eBay, replaced it and sure enough she was as good as new.

colm_mcm

Re: garages fitting tyres, if they quote you a price for fitting, you don't have to accept it.
Obviously they'd prefer to fit ones they supply themselves and want to do more than break even.
It would be a "rip off" if they quoted you €50 then charged you €100.

The majority of punctures are fixed without removing the tyre anyway, so the ones for €10 where they have to remove the tyre aren't moneymakers.

CiniO

dor843088 wrote: »

You were given a price , you didnt like it and you went somewhere else what are ypu complaining about?

I'm not really complaining.
I'm just saying that those garages who charge €100 for fitting a set of tyres are total rip-off, which is a thing you were sick of from your OP.

The fact you didnt get the service you want for the price you want ?

I explained you why I though that price of €100 was way too much for that service, f.e. based on similar jobs being priced much lower, or prices of such jobs abroad compared to other jobs abroad.
F.e. in Poland on average you pay about €13 per hour labour in garage. However for fitting and balancing a set of tyres you pay about €12 - so very similar.
In Ireland on average you pay about €50 for one hour labour, but garages ask for €100 for fitting a set of tyres - so double the price. Where does the difference come from?

Wouldnt that be a grand world to live in. If you think a business could stay open removing , balancing and fitting tyres again all day for a tenner a pop you're optimistic to say the least.

I'm certain such business if located in right place would be very profitable.
And maybe I'll open one some day.

Stheno

I actually had a nice experience today with a car salesman, he completely ignored the oh all the time I dealt with him

It was a pleasant surprise

spiggotpaddy

Yeah the OP has a point. Mum had her headlight fluid topped off for half price at the local dealers,
The mechanic said he would check the raydon purge valves for free and the voltage for no charge.

HandsomeDan

Market's king lads.

If there's a market for fitting internet sourced parts, then first to fulfill cashes in. Simple as.

Tails142

It's a real pain the way women get treated at garages. My sisters and mother really get the run around, they go to a Peugeot dealer who in fairness does come and pick the cars up from the house for them and drop them back but boy do they pay for it looking at the invoices they get.

Beyond the basic servicing though they are no use, sister has an oil leak, the oil is practically pouring out of the car and dealer says they can't find the leak lol, more like couldn't be arsed trying.

Anyway can't say I've ever been ripped off myself but I'm careful where I go. I think it's true though that you tend to hear the problem stories and people are less likely to post about the times they haven't had a problem.

You also hear more stories about the motor trade than say builders or other trades because everyone regularly interacts with the motor trade whereas people rarely deal with other tradespeople from one end of the year to the next.

bucketybuck

Tails142 wrote: »

Beyond the basic servicing though they are no use, sister has an oil leak, the oil is practically pouring out of the car and dealer says they can't find the leak lol, more like couldn't be arsed trying.

Yeah, I really hate businesses that turn away work too. I'm sure its a very common problem.

George Dalton

Tails142 wrote: »

...............they go to a Peugeot dealer.............

.................., sister has an oil leak, the oil is practically pouring out of the car and dealer says they can't find the leak lol, more like couldn't be arsed trying.

Petrol Peugeot? Oil leak = head gasket usually

Stheno

Tails142 wrote: »

It's a real pain the way women get treated at garages. My sisters and mother really get the run around, they go to a Peugeot dealer who in fairness does come and pick the cars up from the house for them and drop them back but boy do they pay for it looking at the invoices they get.

Beyond the basic servicing though they are no use, sister has an oil leak, the oil is practically pouring out of the car and dealer says they can't find the leak lol, more like couldn't be arsed trying.

Anyway can't say I've ever been ripped off myself but I'm careful where I go. I think it's true though that you tend to hear the problem stories and people are less likely to post about the times they haven't had a problem.

You also hear more stories about the motor trade than say builders or other trades because everyone regularly interacts with the motor trade whereas people rarely deal with other tradespeople from one end of the year to the next.

I may get slated for this but a lot of women do the helpless blonde act when it comes to cars and don't help themselves

The amount of women I know who don't even know anything other the model of their car is shocking
on the other hand I'd my mechanic give out to me once that I hadn't said there was a problem with a wiper on the ohs car, he's so used to me giving him a written ist of things to check on both our cars he was disgusted with me

Ohs car is due for a full service so in and going in with a list including a faulty fuel sender and sagging on the nearside front suspension which I suspect is wishbone related

Oh has noticed neither lol

I on the other hand when I get tyres fitted ask for them to be hand tightened but how many people know this stuff?

martinr5232

George Dalton wrote:

Petrol Peugeot? Oil leak = head gasket usually

Yeah but sure if ya told them that you would be the biggest rip off merchant going.

nct tester

I had to do a head gasket recently (customer had an oil leak)and I explained to the customer that I would need to do the timing belt also but that I would only be charging her parts for the belt kit. Belt was done 5k ago but it was contaminated.
Customer couldn't get their head around the fact I was doing more work than what was needed to fix the actual problem and I wouldn't agree to just do the head gasket and not the belt.
Went elsewhere to get the job done in the end or maybe it hasn't been done at all. A lot of negativity and bad press is down to ignorance by customers who just don't understand what's involved.