Car servicing… (Kwikfit content…)

Since moving to Stirling I have tried two garages, both recommended to me…and both were less than great.
I had a puncture this morning, and only garage open on Sunday is Kwikfit. I am wary and avoid normally, but they have given me a voucher, so a service on the Touran would be £140 – a lot less than the old village garage.
Are they that bad, or should I try another garage…?

From my personal experiences, I wouldn’t trust them to sit the right way round on a toilet, let alone service my car properly.

YMMV, of course…

I find them to be very hit n miss. There are two within a couple of miles or me; one trys the usual nonsense you here about (e.g. “that nail in the middle is too near the side” and “legally we cant let you leave here with your brakes that worn”[the brakes had a good 20,000 miles left in them]). The other one, is a good little garage that I would happily trust for minor work.

Check what spec of oil they are planning on using, depending on the age and version of your touran, it could be the expensive stuff, and they are just planning on slopping in rubbish.

Wouldn’t touch with a barge pole personally, they tried the ‘you need new pads and discs for £450’ routine. Was a bit sceptical so checked with Alfa and pads were at about 50% and discs were perfectly fine…. charlatans if U ask me

I’ve never had a problem with Kwik Fit for tyre fitting, but I’m only one person out of many. But really there is nothing to a service, especially with a Diesel, even my gran can service a car, so as long as you satisfy they’ve actually carried out the work then I can’t see how, even they, can screw it up.

Its a bit of a run but Star Performance are in Kirkaldy and peerless… Jim and Brian are great.

So, lots of people saying NO who’ve never actually tried them. Seems typical STW….

I used to use the Chipping Sodbury branch a lot and they were very good indeed. My brother swears by the Huddersfield branch and never went anywhere else until he got a company car.
I’ve used the Farnborough branch many times over the years and never had a problem, mainly for tyres and oil changes
So, there’s a more informed opinion for you.

I have used them, they advised a car they were tracking for me, required a new power steering pump, best thing was there wasn’t one on the car, it was a manual rack. I’m sure they have some good guys working for them, but equally I’m sure there is some rubbish, but you can only speak as you find.

So, lots of people saying NO who’ve never actually tried them. Seems typical STW….

The one time I’ve used them in York, they managed to put all four directional tyres back on the car facing the wrong way.

Hardly a complicated task to know which end of an arrow is the pointy end.

I wouldn’t trust them to fit an air freshener now.

I agree with benji the oil in a modern diesel can be very specific and as such I would either get it myself and service it or trust it to the VW place.

They said it was the fully synthetic oil. But how to tell if it IS….

Matt, have you tried D and G autos, i use the Inverkeithing branch and have found them to be excellent and they have two branches in Stirling.
http://www.dandgautocare.co.uk/
I used to do all my own work but they do a good job for a very reasonable price so they now get the spannering jobs but for an oil change i’ll do it myself.

even my gran can service a car, so as long as you satisfy they’ve actually carried out the work then I can’t see how, even they, can screw it up.

Only needed an oil change on the missus’ car, she came back and oil was pissing out over the drive – they had cross threaded the oil filter!

Bet an interim service at VW is about the same money

See if there is a good garage scheme run by your local council and check the feedback. The only job I still won’t trust to any garage is an oil change because I can’t see what stuff they are putting in. Takes me about an hr to change the oil and filter on the Skoda. That’s jacking it up taking the undertray off etc. Independants tend to use generic oil in 50 gallon drums. Doubt they buy 50 gallons of fully synthetic 5w 30 just for the high performance cars they occasionally do. VAG cars tend to be very specific about the spec of oil they use. It’s imperative to use the right stuff.

OP no. Get on VW forums and ask for recommendations.

140 turns into 250?+

The place I work does buy the correct oil in bulk (way more than 50 gallons), and yes it is different from the ford spec.

I’ve never had a problem with Kwik Fit for tyre fitting,

They rounded off the key for the locking wheel nuts on mine, then helpfully said nowt and put it back in the glovebox. I discovered it to my cost when I subsequently had a puncture; coupled with the fact that they’d torqued them up to about 10,000Nm this left me quite vexed. And of course, months later I’d absolutely no redress as I couldn’t prove anything.

Only needed an oil change on the missus’ car, she came back and oil was pissing out over the drive – they had cross threaded the oil filter!

Bath branch for me and it was the sump plug. How I laughed (no wait, I bloody didn’t!)

Having said that , no worries with the Bridgewater one so far, but that’s just for tyres.

I’ve had things not be right after a service from both an independent garage and a main dealer. BUT I much rather be taking it back to one of them to be rectified over Kwikfit. Also I’ve heard some garages do good business putting right Kwikfit’s wrongs

From a quiche Google:

looking at the service book, that engine without a particulate filter will
take VW 505, 506 and 507 oil.

With a filter, it requires 507 oil.

When asking what oil theyre using, they’ll have to give more than just fully synthetic 5w30. You need to findout the vw code.

I remember when I had a Passat, the only place I could get in-spec oil was at a VW dealership. Given the price, I can only assume it’s made from inkjet ink, Chanel No5, and distilled unicorn tears.

The usual over the years..
Fixed price brake pad change for the car I had, what a surprise it was fitted with different and more expensive brakes (50/50 fault with the glorious shit hold that is Rover for fitting random components to cars of the same model) also discs need replaced as “LEGALLY WE CANNOT…..” Piss off keys back bye. Every car that goes to them needs new discs.
Wheel nuts not done up right
Parts replaced without consent and the originals already on the way to the landfill…

I used them only when I really needed to due to something failing and needing the car that day. It was the ultimate idiot tax.

With the van Ford and their fixed price jobs was a pleasant experience.

Is “legally we cannot” actually correct, incidentally?

Cougar – Moderator
Is “legally we cannot” actually correct, incidentally?

No idea, nothing against the lads working there but generally they are not the sharpest and the company mantra must be strong.

My local one is great, and I would trust them to do work.

I have used one in Harrogate and wouldn’t ever go back again because they were a lying set of thieves and said work needed doing on the car when the Parts were not even on the car. Will never use Harrogate Kwikfit again.

Servicing though is a rip off where ever you go. Main dealers charge a fortune for just changing the oil. I used to have a Mondeo, main dealer would be £160, Kwikfit £99. Same job. Both a con when all they do is change the oils, but you need a service stamp… Independents tend to do more but you pay more…logical. As your local Indy to itemise what they actually do and if they do more (as opposed to just checks) then might not be any more expensive.

From a quiche Google:

Sounds like a good flan.

I’ve only ever had great service from KF. I’ve had a few services there on a car and there were no problems and it was cheaper.

I’ve had the “sorry can’t repair that” on tyres and have been shown why and have no complaints.

Considering the mass nature of the business, the number of complete tools out there that will happily drive on slicks or drive an older car and refuse/don’t plan for or don’t expect big bills, it’s not suprising there are horror stories.

A local main dealership, on a 3 year old car, messed up a service and forgot to put oil / enough oil in. The mgmt light came on after a few miles, pulled over, checked the dip stick and it was bone dry.

Considering the mass nature of the business, the number of complete tools out there that will happily drive on slicks or drive an older car and refuse/don’t plan for or don’t expect big bills, it’s not suprising there are horror stories.

Although I kind of agree with that, you can’t blame the customer for putting wheels back on the wrong way round when the car arrived for new brake pads with the wheels/tyres all fitted correctly.

Newport road branch in Cardiff seem decent, but never been there for a service as both Toyota World and Sinclair VW are quite reasonably priced and the customer service is good.

nealglover – Member
Considering the mass nature of the business, the number of complete tools out there that will happily drive on slicks or drive an older car and refuse/don’t plan for or don’t expect big bills, it’s not suprising there are horror stories.
Although I kind of agree with that, you can’t blame the customer for putting wheels back on the wrong way round when the car arrived for new brake pads with the wheels/tyres all fitted correctly.

You’re right but the bold bit comes in to play.

It happens – I provided a similar experience of a supposedly more expert main dealer.

Find a good garage and stick with it. Doesn’t matter what logo is on the front.

Although cars are becoming more locked in to the main dealerships via the eng mgmt software for fault codes. It’s a good thing for the “expertise” but does limit your choice by removing competition.

my one experiance with them for an emergency tire resulted in my car being “too dangerous to drive”

needing new brakes all round as pads are badly worn and the disks lipped. – really – you saw this with your eyes ? – rummage about in glovebox and produce reciept for new disks and pads 3 weeks previous….

If you want specific feedback about the Stirling Kwikfit based on experience: Don’t do it, it’s staffed by vandals who care nothing for you and your car. Go to another garage.

Needed to get the wheels balanced as there was a wobble on the motorway. Took it to KwikFit (nearest place to the office) who did the usual ‘tracking is out’ nonsense.

Car came back with the steering wheel about 15 degrees of centre, and required a constant steering correction to go in a straight line.

Two different branches were unable to fix it, bearing in mind the car was fine when it went in.

And on that experience, I am out.

My nan used them and her Vauxhall Viva was great after she had the puncture fixed, and 4 new tyres, all new shocks and a full stainless exhaust system fitted by them at a price that was twice the value of the car. I always used to wince, even with it being a company car whenever I ‘had’ to visit them. Total comics. So, yes, PP, some of us have used them and the ‘majority’ have negative feedback from their dealings. Oh and nans car lost a wheel on the way home as they hadnt done the wheelnuts up. 🙄

Aberystwyth branch ,mot fail on rear shocks ?
We can get new ones £110.00 each for Disco 11,ended up with £450.00 bill.

NEVER AGAIN .

the ‘majority’ have negative feedback from their dealings

I’ve not counted, but I suspect it’s still a minority even on this thread, and that’s not including people who don’t post as they’ve nothing negative to say. If it was a majority then whilst getting an “MOT while you wait” you’d expect at least some of the 5-10 people who wander in and out to look a bit disgruntled.

I’ve never had a problem with them.

BIL used to work for them and I got the impression they served two markets:
1) Never service a thing and wait for the light to come on, go the cheepest garage and get a big bill.
2) The ‘Engineer’/boyfriend/son who refuses to pay dealer prices and has tried to gain man points by DIY’ing stuff and/or ‘knows it all’.

I’ve said this before- I had two MOT’s for my old Forester at Kwik fit. Both times it failed on a blown main rear light. £11 each. The second MOT I purposely checked ALL lights before handing over the keys. Failed. Funny that.

could have sworn that last time you told that story it was a numberplate light.