I have a company car that 2000miles ago went to Vauxhall to have the window motor replaced. After the work was completed the 'manager' came over and said all done but on the inspection your front tyres have 1.5mm of tread and the front pads are at 15% so we need to book you in for this. - Other then that the car is perfect.

As the car was at 53,000 miles I said I would wait until 59,000 when the service light comes on to get it all done at the same time which they were happy with.

The last time it went in for a some work I felt like I had abused the car as it had only done 20k and it needed discs and pads all round and fluid.. Oups!

Anyways. This morning I got a puncture in one of the fronts with 1.5mm so I go to Kwik fit and say Can you do the front tyres and might aswell do the pads at the same time.
They said it would take 1.5hrs so I went for a coffe and return to the car still in the air with all wheels off.
after 2.5hrs They say they were waiting to release the car as Lex autolease needed to agree the work that they had already done.

Looking at the paperwork they have replaced all 4 tyres and discs & pads on the front. I questioned why they had changed the rear tyres with 3mm of tread and they said that they were cracked ?? Mitchelin that are 10months old with 55,000 mile cracked from age or heat and power sliding?

I asked why they did the front discs too and they said they were scored - Can this happen with pads that are not warn down to the metal ? - Maybe if slamming them on to get crazy hot could do this but after the first set at 20k I have changed my driving massivly.

As the customer shouldn't they have called me to say you wanted tyres n pads but it needs the rears & discs also?

I was going to argue him to the ground but being 2.5hrs out of work I needed to catch up.

I phoned my boss and he said the same thing happend to him. They swap part warn with new and then sell the part warn on privatly!
I phoned Lex to say I felt Kwik fit had replaced parts not required and the women on the phone didn't care. She basicly said if your not paying for it then don't worry.....

The reason I called bull **** is becuase Vauxhall wouldn't have let me drive out with 'cracked tyres'.
My main concern is that I don't want lex or my boss thinking Im ragging the car all over the place. And how many other companys do they rip off.


I've been thinking all day if I should have asked for the old ones back. Can I with a company car?

 

Sounds like you're a mug. I would have had them reverse all the work and took it somewhere else. Kwik Fit are *****, anyone who uses these type of outfits other than women and gay blokes (stereotyping a little sorry) but in general anyone who knows nothing about cars are just plain stupid IMO. The mechanics who do the work are clowns, I know most of the ones in my local branch and my knowledge is better than theirs just from reading a Haynes manual on one specific car 10 years ago.

 

It's just the way of things with these contracts. Stop worrying and enjoy your new tyres.

 

Ah sorry, is this a contract with your company car and Kwik Fit? Must have read the original post way too quick, apologies. Even so, this must be a huge company to not care about the cost of how they get away with carrying out work without authorisation

 

Are you from Yorkshire?

 

You looking for a fight? I'm from the Red Rose County Can be just as tight over the Pennines though

 

No fight, you probably read a boxing mag a decade ago
Tight? My gas bill for May was £8.49

 

That's some going Mine would probably be the same but I rent 2 rooms out in my house and the lodgers prefer to be warm by heating than 10 layers of clothes cause they don't pay the bill.... Grrrr

 

It's a lex auto lease. I get and probably if in the game charge a little extra as its a company paying but not exploit them.
I'm more annoyed that one company would do this to another.

Off to do some burn outs

 

I surely must be missing something here, you went to Vauxhall, they said you have 1.5mm tread left, and you said "I'll get them replaced in 6,000 miles"

Vauxhaull let you drive away in a lease car with illegal tyres?

 

**** Fit clear the work with Lex Autolease before they do anything.

 

We use LEX Autolease at work for our managers cars, and the last time I was in slow fit to get some tyres I was there nearly 4 hours, I only went in for two rears. But the way it works is, kwik fit do a full check on all tyres and report it to the company, in this case LEX Autolease, and they make the decision on what happens. If your vehicle does lots of miles per month, they then change them if they are near to legal limit.

Same happens with our vans, one went in for a puncture and came back with all 6 tyres replaced. Manager had a fit haha.

 

Should use lodge tyre instead..

 

Anyone with an ounce of sense knows kok fit and other exhaust and tyre places make their money by charging over the odds for parts and work that doesnt need doing.

 

I had a brake problem with an old 205. I broke down on the way to see a friend and phoned the RAC who towed me to KwikFit.

The car was left with them and they phoned me about four hours later. The first thing they asked was was I sat down! Apparently I needed front discs, front pads, one front caliper, master cylinder, servo, rear shoes, rear drums and three new tyres!

I asked them just to fix it to make it work as the car was only worth £500 and their quote of nearly £800 was a bit OTT. They advises it was all or nothing. They were told to sod off. Anyway all that was required was a 20p O seal in the master cylinder, this was done later on and back on the road for many more miles of happy motoring.