Advance Pitstop vs Main Dealer

ImThatGuy

I need to get my front disks and pads replaced, I've had a look for an independent garage that does replacements/repairs for Suzukis and there aren't many in Dublin.

I've got quotes from two places, Advance Pitstop and a Suzuki main dealer, the dealer is €60 more, but I'm not sure what peoples thoughts are on Advance Pitstop? Reviews are contradictory so I'm not sure if they're a good choice?

Thanks!

ba_barabus

Advanced Sh!t Stop will find plenty more wrong to cover the €60 difference.

Toyotafanboi

Tough one. Depends on the car a bit, if it's a 99 Baleno or something, Advance, if it's a 3-4 year old Swift or something still worth a bit, I'd go main dealer with such a small difference.

biko

Ask both what brand discs and pads they put on. Possibly the dealer use OEM while AP use some generic brand.

Any garage can do the job, you don't have to go a specialist.
Some indies will even fit parts you buy yourself (the savings isn't huge though).

Manager Advanced Pitstop: "Let me just check to make sure the lad used fully synthetic oil when he topped it up"

That was 3 years ago and I've never gone back since.

I know it's not brakes and pads but I just didn't get the reassurance I needed

goochy

Main dealer . They are important parts and 60 quid is nothing. The best mechanics around don't end up in advance that's for sure .

Kevin!

main dealer

Neilw

Bring it to a known independent, ask here for someone trusted local to you.
Then insist they don't use APEC brake parts.

goochy

Is it only 60 quid why not avoid hassle and use main dealer/ genuine parts . Instead of taking a strangers recommendation

JohnBoy26

You don't need a specialist to change brake pads and discs on a suzuki. A good independent garage will be able to do it no problem or as has been said if its a new-ish car a main dealer.

masculinist

ba_barabus wrote: »

Advanced Sh!t Stop will find plenty more wrong to cover the €60 difference.

Agreed

I brought my Citroen C3 over there to enquire about a new backbox for the NCT and a free inspection of the car underneath a platform .
Small holes in the exhaust over time affects emissions and cooling .
The team there refused to accept a backbox was the only problem but said I should prepare to write a blank cheque for rebuilding the engine .

I was handed a list of utter utter garbage which I still.have as evidence of their shenanigans

1) it was claimed the coolant was low despite the fact I topped it up the day before and it remains still at the same level since last year .

2) it was claimed my oil was low despite me changing the oil and filter 3 to 4 times a year (as second owner of this car from new I didn't spare it any oil )

3) I needed new brakes apparently (Bull) and a lady behind me at the queue said they had told her she had so many problems but she hadn't done anything about them for the last few NCTs. The smarmy salesman tried to change the subject by saying she must he a good driver .

Find a decent honest independent mechanic and don't let him go once you find him .

colm_mcm

I wouldn't go with main dealer or advance. Just get any mechanic to do it.

jackofalltrades

I wouldn't get wipers fitted at Advance Pitstop.
Also as others have said they'll probably find loads of other expensive "problems" to fix.
Get a quote from a good independent mechanic instead.
If they're not much cheaper then just take it to Suzuki.

bucketybuck

goochy wrote: »

The best mechanics around don't end up in advance that's for sure .

I'm not sure any mechanics end up in places like Advance, not as I define the term anyway. I work in the industry, and I wouldn't go into Advance for directions never mind for a repair.

Clareman

How long will the pads last? About 100,000 km, €60 is less than a tank of fuel, the main deals will give you warranty and maybe a good will gesture if anything goes wrong in the future, Advance will find something stupid wrong with your car and charge you, oh yeah and they'll probably charge you €4 for topping up your screen wash.

ImThatGuy

Thanks all for the help! I ended up going with Frascati Motors, they offered the best price and were recommended on a few other threads. Friendly, helpful and quick turn around too. They'll take my business from Advance Pitstop.

khaldrogo

ba_barabus wrote:

Advanced Sh!t Stop will find plenty more wrong to cover the €60 difference.

Even if they find something doesn't mean you have to buy it..........

khaldrogo

goochy wrote:

Main dealer . They are important parts and 60 quid is nothing. The best mechanics around don't end up in advance that's for sure .

There was a recession in 08 that decimated the motor trade. I know amazing mechanics that ended up in places they never thought they would be. Don't talk crap. Its only in the last year that the main dealers are looking to recruit again. Having worked in multiple main dealers covering the most popular makes in the country, six of the best mechanics I know worked or are still working in places like these. Some still on the floor, others in the office.
You go to a main dealer, and having worked in them, the apprentice will most likely be doing the pads.
We had an apprentice put 1 rear pad in backwards on a Range Rover once...........main dealer.......

bucketybuck

khaldrogo wrote: »

There was a recession in 08 that decimated the motor trade. I know amazing mechanics that ended up in places they never thought they would be. Don't talk crap. Its only in the last year that the main dealers are looking to recruit again. Having worked in multiple main dealers covering the most popular makes in the country, six of the best mechanics I know worked or are still working in places like these. Some still on the floor, others in the office.
You go to a main dealer, and having worked in them, the apprentice will most likely be doing the pads.
We had an apprentice put 1 rear pad in backwards on a Range Rover once...........main dealer.......

Nope. Load of rubbish. We've been trying to hire good mechanics constantly for years now, we have spent thousands advertising and like many big garages even had to hire substandard lads simply because we needed to get bodies in. The idea that good mechanics have to work in the fastfit places because they can't get work anywhere else is a load of tosh.

If the guys you know were any good I would take all 6 of them on tomorrow.

khaldrogo

bucketybuck wrote:

Nope. Load of rubbish. We've been trying to hire good mechanics constantly for years now, we have spent thousands advertising and like many big garages even had to hire substandard lads simply because we needed to get bodies in. The idea that good mechanics have to work in the fastfit places because they can't get work anywhere else is a load of tosh.

So you've just admitted you have hired substandard people in the past, yet you're warning people off fastfits because of substandard people!?!?

I'm confused.

Like you say, its the mechanics market nowadays but certainly was 10 yrs ago. Someone who has been in a place like fastfit for 10 yrs may well be settled now and not want to go back to a main dealer pulling wiring looms out of cars or trying to find why a sensor isn't working for 7 hrs. A lot of the good lads I know, and some of the bad, work for themselves now so they'll never go back.
Before I had to work in these places to pay more mortgage, back when I was in main dealers I laughed at the idea of it and thought the lads in fastfits etc knew nothing. I learned very quickly that some of the most experienced people in suspension work(across all makes) work in these places. I learnt many things I didn't know through these lads.

Don't judge this whole section of the motor trade by a few bad experiences. There's bad apples everywhere........

bucketybuck

khaldrogo wrote: »

So you've just admitted you have hired substandard people in the past, yet you're warning people off fastfits because of substandard people!?!?

I'm confused.

Clearly you are. Mixing fitters with master techs in a properly run dealer is a very different situation to the endemic lack of quality in the upselling and basic servicing fastfit model. I'm sure with your extensive experience you know that very well.

You tried to claim that the mechanics in a fastfit store could actually be good and only there because of the recession and they had no other choice. Its utter rubbish and has been for years. Any good mechanic has plenty of options if they actually wanted to do more than replace perfectly serviceable brake pads. I'm sure there is indeed some perfectly capable lad doing oil changes in a chain store, fair play to him if thats what he wants to do, but don't tell me he had no other choice.

khaldrogo

bucketybuck wrote:

You tried to claim that the mechanics in a fastfit store could actually be good and only there because of the recession and they had no other choice. Its utter rubbish and has been for years. Any good mechanic has plenty of options if they actually wanted to do more than replace perfectly serviceable brake pads. I'm sure there is indeed some perfectly capable lad doing oil changes in a chain store, fair play to him if thats what he wants to do, but don't tell me he had no other choice.

You're clearly not a mechanic(if at all) that was affected by main dealers shutting down or halving their staff.
In the space of 9 months, 2 main dealers I was in let nearly 20 people go between them.....I couldnt get anything more than casual work despite 12 yrs experience including having been an acting service manager/foreman/mechanic.
I had no choice but accept what turned out to be a very good, well paying job in this 'terrible' industry filled with constant learning and training by qualified trainers.

I saw my fair share of lads I wouldn't let near a tricycle. I either trained them up if they were capable or moved them on if they weren't. No one who works for me is anything like what you are suggesting.
My head mechanic would run rings around 70% of the mechanics in main dealers(BTW, there is at least 10 main dealers in Dublin right now with mechanics trained and qualified by these 'terrible' places!!!!lol!!!)

BTW, I don't doubt that its easier for mechanics these days, my point was, I'm settled and happy where I am, as are a lot of the lads who had no option back in the day. I wouldn't want to go back to a main dealer. Not as a mechanic anyway.

Youre welcome to come by and have look at my place if you like. I can show you some parts we keep in our 'dealer corner' that a main dealer said was perfectly serviceable!!!!!

Just last week we had a car in that had been with the main dealer for a brake issue. They said the pad was sticking and just needed to be cleaned and refit.....for 75e.....

The disc was ORANGE from the massive heat built up by the pads seizing on the disc. Also the pads had no more than 2 mm on them......

There's good and bad everywhere

bucketybuck

khaldrogo wrote: »

You're clearly not a mechanic(if at all)

:rolleyes:

Toyotafanboi

Youre welcome to come by and have look at my place if you like. I can show you some parts we keep in our 'dealer corner' that a main dealer said was perfectly serviceable!!!!!

If we kept a corner of stuff that independents said was ok in our workshop, or even better, a pile of parts that they replaced unnecessarily trying to fault find blindly, we'd have to build an extension.

But the easiest thing to do in this industry is to slate other garages when they've slipped up. Hindsight is 20:20 and nowhere moreso than the motor industry. Knocking other garages for potential misdiagnosis just makes you look petty, not everyone gets it right, first time, 100% of the time. It's simply not possible.

khaldrogo

Toyotafanboi wrote:

But the easiest thing to do in this industry is to slate other garages when they've slipped up. Hindsight is 20:20 and nowhere moreso than the motor industry. Knocking other garages for potential misdiagnosis just makes you look petty, not everyone gets it right, first time, 100% of the time. It's simply not possible.

110% correct but when misdiagnosis happens in an advance/atlas then 'they're all monkeys in them places. Every one of them'

When it happens in a main dealer, 'ah sure these things happen'

magentis

khaldrogo wrote: »

110% correct but when misdiagnosis happens in an advance/atlas then 'they're all monkeys in them places. Every one of them'

When it happens in a main dealer, 'ah sure these things happen'

Appears to happen in ap type places far more often though.They have a penchant for using cheap parts whilst charging premium prices and billing for premium lubricants and actually using what ever is out the back in a barrell.

khaldrogo

magentis wrote:

Appears to happen in ap type places far more often though.They have a penchant for using cheap parts whilst charging premium prices and billing for premium lubricants and actually using what ever is out the back in a barrell.

You, as well, are more than welcome to come and have a look at my barrel of 'cheap' oil if you like........

flatty

Could I digress slightly, and ask the mechanics here an ethical question? I have a lovely low mileage 1994 sl500. I garage it for the winter, but turn it over and move it every couple of weeks. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, it broke down in spring, and I had it towed to a garage of a nice man who's a friend of a friend. He reckoned it was the rotor arms, and replaced the to no effect, then something else, then something else. After three months, I had it towed to a merc specialist who said "it's the distributor caps", changed them both, and it was back running perfectly.
Should I pay the original mechanic for the work done (I plan to, but what do people think)?

masculinist

khaldrogo wrote: »

Even if they find something doesn't mean you have to buy it..........

I don't have to but the little old lady behind me in the queue will have money for overpriced unnecessary work scared out of her faster than you can say would you like any carpets with that tarmac and a new roof boss. And people want to believe that a big brand is somehow more trustworthy and has higher quality standards than an individual so anything with the appearance of being a successful well established non fly by night brand will naturally attract the little old ladies and those who know nothing about cars.
I dont think you even read the thread. Lets be clear about this . I was told my coolant was low. My coolant was at the maximum line. They told me my oil was low. I had changed it and the oil filter the week previously. I changed the oil on my car 3 or 4 times a year because I'm a weirdo like that. They lied about those two things and a heap of other things. I have a piece of paper with all that bull written on it that they gave me. Its about time RTE sent an undercover journalist into those places.

bridster007

masculinist wrote: »

I don't have to but the little old lady behind me in the queue will have money for overpriced unnecessary work scared out of her faster than you can say would you like any carpets with that tarmac and a new roof boss. And people want to believe that a big brand is somehow more trustworthy and has higher quality standards than an individual so anything with the appearance of being a successful well established non fly by night brand will naturally attract the little old ladies and those who know nothing about cars.
I dont think you even read the thread. Lets be clear about this . I was told my coolant was low. My coolant was at the maximum line. They told me my oil was low. I had changed it and the oil filter the week previously. I changed the oil on my car 3 or 4 times a year because I'm a weirdo like that. They lied about those two things and a heap of other things. I have a piece of paper with all that bull written on it that they gave me. Its about time RTE sent an undercover journalist into those places.

About 3 years past, my wife got new wiper blades fitted in a Honda main dealer.
I got the car serviced in a different Honda main dealer 2 weeks later, they had a special deal on. Service manager came out and said car needs new set of wiper blades. I asked why . He said there were streaks on the window. I had used the wipers on the way up that morning and had actually commented to myself that its great to have new blades on as they were perfect. He just walked away mumbling something. The wipers were obviously paying for the special deal.
I wrote to Honda HQ about it but got no reply.


Got tyres fitted in Atlas last year and the fitter put his head through the door and said my oil was very low and did I want a top up. No, I said , as I had topped it up full that morning.


So it happens in both types of operations as it does in all walks of life including the guy selling you the TV who says you absolutely need €80 HDMI cables

Stone Deaf 4evr

bridster007 wrote: »

Got tyres fitted in Atlas last year and the fitter put his head through the door and said my oil was very low and did I want a top up. No, I said , as I had topped it up full that morning.

Christ! did he pay for the repairs to the door?

Dionysius2

khaldrogo wrote: »

Even if they find something doesn't mean you have to buy it..........

Last year, I had one of those car health check thingys done ("everything will be checked"...huh) out near Sandyford in a main dealership and they missed the facts that the handbrake was seriously malfunctioning plus a faulty windscreen squirter.
At collection time, I refused to drive off (it was closing time) so they snatched back my invoice and squeezed in a line about a specialist part being required to complete the job and could I come back tomorrow or next day to complete the work ??
I've availed of every opportunity to spread the word quite a bit about the practices and quality of that shower ever since.

khaldrogo

I read alright. I can only believe what you say happened and happened as you said.
I have seen it happen in every type of garage in my 20 years.
You had a bad experience in one depot. You are bad mouthing companies with branches country wide.

There are a ton of YouTube mechanics out there. Some on this thread. They change a set of pads or take 3 days to do a clutch and suddenly their Aaron Kaufman.
I have had them come in to me for tracking and the bushes or gone or they only changed the outer track rod and not the inner and when you tell them they say "its grand" or "sure I done them meself!" ........Yes you did them yourself, that's why I need to fix it!!!
Nobody likes being told something they weren't expecting and will cost them money.

I always use the analogy; "if you go to a doctor for a general check up but you feel fine and they say youre fine and you go for a second opinion and they say you're fecked youre more than likely going to believe the first fella cos that's what you want to believe"

Listen, the only way you'll believe me is if you end up working in a place like these.......

masculinist wrote:

I don't have to but the little old lady behind me in the queue will have money for overpriced unnecessary work scared out of her faster than you can say would you like any carpets with that tarmac and a new roof boss. And people want to believe that a big brand is somehow more trustworthy and has higher quality standards than an individual so anything with the appearance of being a successful well established non fly by night brand will naturally attract the little old ladies and those who know nothing about cars. I dont think you even read the thread. Lets be clear about this . I was told my coolant was low. My coolant was at the maximum line. They told me my oil was low. I had changed it and the oil filter the week previously. I changed the oil on my car 3 or 4 times a year because I'm a weirdo like that. They lied about those two things and a heap of other things. I have a piece of paper with all that bull written on it that they gave me. Its about time RTE sent an undercover journalist into those places.

masculinist

khaldrogo wrote: »

I read alright. I can only believe what you say happened and happened as you said.
I have seen it happen in every type of garage in my 20 years.
You had a bad experience in one depot. You are bad mouthing companies with branches country wide.

Just because bad independent mechanics exist doesnt' excuse the behaviour of this company and the specific branch I mentioned. In fact a large company should be held to a higher standard due to the uniformity of its company wide standards processes and training methods.
What really set my alarm bells ringing was the lady ahead of me in the queue. She told them they had told her all these things were wrong with the car 4 years ago but it had passed every nct since then and was driving perfectly. The slick salesman at the register said ''Oh you must be a very good driver'' trying to compliment her and swiftly change the subject at which point I rolled my eyes and decided never to give them a cent but to listen for the craic to his long spiel about how my car was doomed. :pac:

nogoodnamesleft

First story is regarding advance pit stop a few years ago when I was a teenager and my father called to get a nail removed from his tyre and plugged.

Car was taken away and swiftly returned within 5-10mins by an employee in his early 20s My father asked "did you plug it"? "No, it's hard a a rock sure" was the reply. After my father explained an he could have removed the nail himself the guy countered by saying "I have a FAS course boi". Father replied "well you can FAS off and get the manager" Car was back on the ramp and the hole where the nail was plugged the second time round.

Second was with when I purchased a used approved car at a main BMW dealer. Car was the right spec, model etc. Gave it a check over on the forecourt prior to getting the attention of the salesman. 2 front tyres were brand spanking new contisports, rear tyres were barely road legal.

Asked the sale guy about the car. Usual sales talk about their checks. Then I disclosed the condition of the rear tyres and what check did they recieve. He showed me the parts that the workshop changed on the car and included were the 2 new tyres. When I said that it appears that they were changed on the front as these were brand new but not the rears (on a rear wheel drive car). The penny began to drop after the workshop manger inspected the car that the workshop had in fact changed the tyres on the wrong axel. I did well out of it as I got 4 new tyres (all contisports).

Just have your wits about you I think is the moral. Good and bad irrespective of main dealer or independent.

khaldrogo

nogoodnamesleft wrote:

Asked the sale guy about the car. Usual sales talk about their checks. Then I disclosed the condition of the rear tyres and what check did they recieve. He showed me the parts that the workshop changed on the car and included were the 2 new tyres. When I said that it appears that they were changed on the front as these were brand new but not the rears (on a rear wheel drive car). The penny began to drop after the workshop manger inspected the car that the workshop had in fact changed the tyres on the wrong axel. I did well out of it as I got 4 new tyres (all contisports).

If that happened in my place(and it can happen...as with all mistakes) you certainly would not be getting 200-300e worth of tyres for free. You would be getting an apology and the tyres swapped around. Probably free wheel alignment too.

nogoodnamesleft

khaldrogo wrote: »

nogoodnamesleft wrote:

Asked the sale guy about the car. Usual sales talk about their checks. Then I disclosed the condition of the rear tyres and what check did they recieve. He showed me the parts that the workshop changed on the car and included were the 2 new tyres. When I said that it appears that they were changed on the front as these were brand new but not the rears (on a rear wheel drive car). The penny began to drop after the workshop manger inspected the car that the workshop had in fact changed the tyres on the wrong axel. I did well out of it as I got 4 new tyres (all contisports).

If that happened in my place(and it can happen...as with all mistakes) you certainly would not be getting 200-300e worth of tyres for free. You would be getting an apology and the tyres swapped around. Probably free wheel alignment too.

To be honest the main dealer was highly embarrassed considering it was their marque, in an affuelent area whilst being an approved car with x many checks. Although it does make me wonder what would have occurred had I not being aware of it or what else could have been missed.

Conditions of sale was to replace rears and leave the new front tyres in situ. I also requested a few extra items by the dealer like dealer mats. All of which were met and I bought the car in the end.