Car mechanics and used car dealerships

Sorry to hear some of these posts.....I,m a mechanic and all I can suggest is ask for proof of his or her trade papers or apprenticeship deeds before committing.
You are quite right as there are cowboys about but there are some good ones too.
With dealerships your treated as a number rather than a customer and most younger mechanics when dealing with problems look straight for the lap top and diagnostics,when sometimes its something straight forward involving common sense.

Motor mechanics and auto sparkies. Yes I expect to be over charged and poor work carried out. The last auto sparkie gave me 3 option levels of cost just to fix high beam. The last mechanic who stuffed up both cars stung me again to fix his poor fix and the 2nd car he touched he totolly stuffed. On returning that problem he told me to unleash the wallet. Before he stuffed it somehow ,it ran great before he touched it. He told me it may be a engine head or blown head gaskets. Pigs can fly . Now off to a new mechanic to get to the truth. After the car was in the workshop for 2 days and slugged for cost I was told all fixed. Wrong its worse. Return to the workshop then told maybe the auto gear box needs replacement. Pigs can fly. He said he cannot go any further and maybe go to another mechanic. The 3rd mechcanic now slugs my wallet for the bad news and to go back to the 2nd mechanic to replace a gasket that is wrong fitted by him. On phoning im told to wait a while we are busy. The next day at this mechanic they agree to swap over to the correct part just to show the 3rd mechanic he got it wrong. The 3rd mechanic was right and the 2nd mechanic ate humble pie. He did not bill me .I am now selling that car because its too much hassle to keep.

Bought a 6 week old passat sport with 2k on the clock, as you would expect the car was as new condition. Dropped in unannounced to delaer the following week to arrange collection and the car had been damaged, dented and scraped on the rear door. I demanded a refund of my deposit from the dealer Beadles in Maidstone and backed out of the sale. The salesman was quite happy to tell me that they would give it a wipe over with something and sell the car on without the next customer noticing it until the wax washes off!.

Stick to older cars they are easy to fix because they don’t have ecu's

Also older cars are

1. Better looking
2. Can be faster
3. Cheaper
4. Engine sounds better
5. Don’t have electrical stuff that’s not needed
6. can fix your self

I can’t find any advantage of a new car except there new.

MOST ALL MECHANICS WILL RIP YOU OFF, JUST LIKE CAR SALESMEN, CREDIT CARD COMPANIES, AND SO ON. Get really good warranty coverage and take it back to the dealer when problems arise. Sell your car before the warranty coverage will be up. That's the only advise I have for you. You can't trust anyone, just be surprised when someone is actually proven to be a real human being.

Listen up! whatever you do, and where ever you go do not go to a small back yard garage. A person that calls themselves a mechanic then goes and buys a book to fix your car. That's where I took my car. It has been in the shop now for 8 months and counting and every week he says next week but next week comes and nothing."I'll call you", and never does. we call him and he rarely answers. He lives in Newalla, Oklahoma off of Harrah-Newalla Rd. Don't go there! It's like he's stolen our car. He's probably out driving it or selling it for parts to fix other cars. what can we do?

ard that they were good and that even Mr. Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada had used their services of this open roof car, but I guess this must have been in the past, as the incompetence of its mechanics had left me dumbfounded and eventually insulted verbally by its owner. Immediately when I left their garage after a tune up costing me $300.00, the engine fault light appeared on my dash board. I told the owner who goes by the name of Damir Marjanovic about the incident. He told be to bring the car back. His mechanics fiddled around with the engine and said that everything had been straightened out. At this moment I was beginning have doubts about the competence of its staff. The second day, I received a message on my dash board that the engine was loaded up with too much oil. He immediately informed Mr. Damir. He asked me to bring the car back. His incompetent staff opened up the covers of the engine and drained some oil, but unfortunately the engine light re appeared again. I again informed Mr. Damir Marjanovic about the fault light. By this time I had lost all faith in his staff and decided to take the car to a more recognized dealer. The dealer charged me $95 and told me that some non trained person had loosened the air /vac hose when replacing the oil. Of course all fingers pointed to the incompetent staff of the Motor Medics. I took the invoice from the more recognized dealer back to Mr. Marjanovic with the fault clearly described on the invoice. I asked him make good on my out of pocket loss by doing some other simpler structural work on my car where he could charge me for the part and not demand labor for the equivalent of $95. At this he lost his temper starting using the ‘F” word and throwing obscenities at me and told me to get the “F” out of his premises. My advice to clients to avoid this dealer at all costs.

The problem is that when a garage orders a $1,000 electrical device and plugs it in to your car they have lost the right to return it. This has always been an issue causing much stress for mechanics because if his diagnosis is wrong then the garage just lost the money. There is no way to test the device itself, a test of all other circuits and wiring has ro be undertaken. This is a huge task and even when performed twice or more always leaves the mechanic in doubt hence the three week delay. The manufacturers are to blame by hiding the real costs and complexity of repairing these vehicles. The over complex nature is brought about partly by fuel injection and lots of electrical nonsense that your car does not need.

I'm looking for a used car dealership, and as it happens a car mechanic to fix my wifes ford. I live in Chesterfield, any recommendations or reviews would be appreciated.

Mark,

I am making a TV programme about customer service. If you would be interested in talking to me about you experience, please do contact me. service@diversebristol.tv

all the best

LukeL