chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

So I was skimming through Facebook as you do and come across a mates post asking about any garages open on a Sunday. "Fat chance unless there's maybe a Polish one/generic franchise open" I'd replied.

So I ask what's up and it's like a ticking noise. I don't know loads about engines but suggested the tappets or injectors as opposed to the dull knocking noise from bearings been fubared. I asked when it was last serviced and by who etc.

"Oh, not had it serviced in years now..." was the answer.



And he wonders why it's developing problems. I declined politely to pop round his house and have a look at it, becuase if something goes amiss whilst I'm there, it suddenly becomes my fault and hangs around my neck!

Oh, this chap works at Tata with me, luckily as a button pusher on production though

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Oh, and his supposed reasoning for not servicing...? Apparently all garages rip you off so he waits for something to go wrong before doing ANYTHING to his cars.

Guy has 2 young kids too, in the car most days.

Dingdongler

I thought only wimmins did things like that

Maz

iTrader: (34)

That reminds me of my old manager
He was totally oblivious to car maintenance too. I once asked him how he would know if his car was low on water. His answer 'temperature gauge will go up'.

the shreksta

iTrader: (20)

my old boss was the same also,he once tried to fill up the oil by pouring it down the dipstick tube and when he had bird **** on his bonnet he left it for months then washed it off with a scourer pad and bleach

jameswrx

iTrader: (4)

Haha. A bloke I worked with scoured his car. He asked for my advice on removing scratches from his car, he told me some builders had got brick dust on it and when he washed it off it scratched his paint. I went and looked at it with him and it had dozens if heavily scoured patches all over it. I just turned to him and said "you've scoured bird **** off it haven't you" he replied "ah ****s sake, how did you know that"

As for people not servicing their cars, annoys the hell out of me. I'm the opposite, always have been.

hodgy0_2

I never service my cars, total mugs game imo

paying a 17yr old YTS kid (Young Thick and Supid) to poor screen wash in my water bottle @ £60 an hour, sorry no thanks

modern cars just don't need it

I get my brakes checked -- that's all, I do all my own oil changes (twice a year) and associated minor stuff like temp sensors etc (and even replace a turbo if required)

total mugs game, and only necessary if you want to keep the service book stamped for resale, if your car has passed that rubicon – don’t bother – in my experience cars drive worse after a service

LegacySTi

iTrader: (13)

Is that a genuine statement??

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

this guy literally does NOTHING. No oil, no checking of other fluids etc. he literally puts fuel in and drives.

nick172sport

iTrader: (6)

have to agree i dont

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

what an odd sentence ..

nick172sport

iTrader: (6)

pimmo i service my cars myself dont bother with garages

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

me too

hodgy0_2

yes 100% (apart from the disparaging remarks about 17 yr olds)

servicing a car is a waste of time – full stop, i don’t need someone to spray a bit of WD40 around my cars and smile while the relieving me off £400 a pop

i am quite capable of changing the odd bulb, belt, oil, battery, water, brake/suspension/gearbox fluid – I can even fill the washer fluid (at a push)

why pay a greasy oily monkey a fortune to do it – and the great thing is i KNOW it has been done and i KNOW what materials have been used

the only reason is to keep franchised stamps – but then you have to be idiot enough to pay the “new car” tax that requires it

that is also why i think the MOT is great value – qualified mechanic telling me what is wrong (if anything) with a car for 50 odd quid – brilliant value

billyrogers

i have to agree with hodgy also. i do my own servicings as i know its been done properly with the oil i choose ect. also i got a halfords trade card so its alot cheaper

my car would only got to a subaru garage for big jobs i cant do by myself.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

What? No, read back what you wrote ..

hodgy0_2

it is as if these mugs think that someone looks at their car and says

"right, I am really going to make sure this is a better car than when it arrived"

fvck that, servicing is just a tick box exercise

if a car goes in with a ****ed gearbox, they will simply change the gearbox oil (to the manufacturers spec) wipe it all clean, and inform you,
"you have a fvcked gearbox, but i have still put £70 worth of fluid into it beacuse that's what the service book says"

great I knew that already and thanks a fvcking million for wasting £70 of my money - you utter ****

Steve vRS

Nothing to do with the blast furnace or COG I hope!!

Steve

legb4rsk

That's ok.If their car falls to bits or goes bang then it's only their problem.

The issue is if they don't give a toss about maintenance do they ever check their tyre pressure/wear?
Do they do anything if the brakes are a bit 'iffy' or the steering feels a bit 'funny'?

How many of them drive their families around in these cars?


Next time you walk across a supermarket car park just count the number of completely knackered tyres you can spot and that's not just on old junkers plenty of expensive new vehicles as well.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Agree totally, picking an arbitrary date for someone else to do your maintenance, that is a "Service", usually it is an oil change and someone giving it a clean, then charging you £300 for the pleasure, punters with no idea get a warm and fuzzy feeling from a service history, ok it prooves some maintenance has been attended to but I would rather speak to a knowlegeable owner has kept on top of things.

Brake fluid is worth changing as is coolant occasionally but I do it as it is required, not on one day a year, fuel filter, air filter, cabin filter I take a look at and decide if it looks like it needs changing, not just based on a date, think delaers do the same but charge you anyway, I reckon loads of cars get nothing done but a superficial valet and a stamp in the book a lot of the time.

The key is to change the oil, at least to check it and top it up, my brother in law ruined a 4 year old BMW by not checking the oil, the tit, will take Hodgys approach over his (it had fsh) every time.

hodgy0_2

plenty of great ways to spunk money up the wall -- car servicing is not one of them

hookers and coke <thumbs up smiley>

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

I do most my servicing too, I just can't get how he is happy not to do a thing to his car until something fails. And this ticking noise now seems to be a tapping/knocking sound with an external rattle too. This chap is my age and has a young family. Claims he's skint but not surprising how he goes through cars!

Even if you don't go to a garage, everybody knows a mate who'll drop some oil in for you or change a belt. Not just run it till it stops. And people buy these cars day in day out abd they break down

He offered it to me cheap earlier, I declined.

hodgy0_2

i am flying to the Cape Verde islands on tuesday for a week of well earned r&r with 6 or so mates (surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing)

no matter how much I google "how to fly to the cape verde islands" it ain't going to happen - I will not be able to fly myself there -- so money well spent imo

but -- "how to change the gearbox fluid on an Audi A4 quattro" now you are talking, I can fvcking do that!!!!! -- cool

above all -- it is (as everything is) about personal responsibility, like Jacko says

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

I get my car serviced every year by a main dealer but that's mainly for the stamp in the service history. I'm not that good with vehicles, but if I tried and looked at a "how-to" guide, I'm sure I could change the gearbox oil or change an engine filter if I really wanted to. I do look after my cars and it gives me peace of mind knowing that it's been done, and I ALWAYS ask to watch when my car is being serviced.

LeeMac

iTrader: (1)

I think the problem is that these garages have been saying there is a problem with the car that they now believe there is something wrong with the car.

I now take mine to the council when I can. They are on a wage and their motors take priority (do here anyway).
6 straight MOTs so far - 4 of on a Renault!

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

one of the big places is targeted for £95 per mot . so they have to find things wrong , its the opposite to slow and the opposite to ugly , was told that by a mate who worked for them

Markus

Someone I know had a brand new car about two years ago. They recently took it to the dealership for a service that they thought would be 350, turned out to be 1100 odd. When asked why the big charge, the comment was that apparently the engine is crappy, as it needs full oil change every three months or it will get upset. I then asked when it last had an oil change... 2 years was the reply, along with, other cars I've had haven't been so picky and went years between changes.

Umm, ok, so maybe it doesn't need a change every three months, you might get away four to six (depending on how it's being driven), but two years.

I do get moaned at for getting our car's oil changed according to the schedule, or maybe a few weeks off, but my point has been that if something did go bang, I'd like to think the warranty on it would hopefully cover something as I'd been good and followed their recommendations.

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Not checking anything until it breaks in a seriously stupid way of going about running a car.
As many members on here do, I also do all my own servicing on my own motor, the wifes and my mums car. I change the oil and filter once a year and give the suspension, brakes and exhaust a once over at the same time. There isn't much more you can do. Coolant and brake fluid change every 3 years or so. Some may say it is not necessary, but with a family to think of, it is would be irresponsible of not to.

If anything is picked up at the mot, I will either monitor it carefully or just change it.
I changed the brake discs and pads on the wifes car in July and the alternator on my focus when it failed last month.
I did take my car in to a garage when my exhaust failed. One hanger snapped on the rear silencer which then put pressure on and cracked the manifold. It was either £150 for the exhaust and I fit it or £230 fitted. No brainer really.

Yes, I could have done it myself (changed enough exhausts on Imprezas in my time!) but I didn't want to get half way through and snap a stud and be left in the ****e. At least at a garage, they are equipped with the right tools if anything untoward crops up.

Luckily for me, my Dad was an engineer and had his own workshop and double garage with its own pit. He ran his own Fork Lift Truck hire/sale/service/repair business for 25 years or so. So from as young as I can remember, I would watch and then help my Dad with whatever he was doing. I was going out with him to customers on a Saturday when I was 14! Not because he forced me to, but because I wanted to.
He would repair as much as he could before replacing. If a motor failed, he would remove the armature and using a hacksaw blade he would scrape out all the carbon build up in the grooves, check the wiring, fully clean it, replace the brushes and boom, it would last another 1000 hours or so.

So if something as simple as car service needs doing, I feel very lazy if I don't do it myself!