The Scrap Merchant

It was convenient but not enough so since I'll never use them again. Luckily I only need one service a year.

Domestos wrote on Fri, 30 Sep 2005 23:11:40 GMT:

Correct.

Incorrect.

If they managed to get it to a state where someone was willing to pay 425 quid for it, overnight, good for them.

If you were capable of that, I'm sure you'd have sold it for 425 quid rather than 30. You're just jealous that you didn't get the money.

Unfortnately this is very common news for BMW dealers.

One thing I would point out though. It is not always dealers per se' that are the problem. Quite a lot can stem from the philosophy of the manufacturer too. I have worked for at least half a dozen different franchises now, and have always treated the customers the same. I'm still just a human at the end of the phone/over the counter, but we still have our limits of resources and support to work with.

There are many factors that might govern the quality of workmanship. If you buy a s*it car, for example, it is pretty likely that the workforce of the dealership are pretty used to complaints, and therefore don't take them that seriously. The support from the manufacturer makes a big difference here too.

OTOH, a good brand, that has good support from the manufacturer tends to leave the workforce more satisfied with their job, and they usually put more into it.

Look at the people here complaining, and what cars they own - Ford, BMW, Vauxhall etc.

How many own Toyotas, Hondas or Mitsubishis?

FWIW I believe most of the problems that occur with cars are more to do with a customers own bad choice, and their very often unrealistic expectations. Quite often not enough research is done before buying, and then dissapointment follows. From then on the dealer is on a loser anyway.

I deal with customers that are essentially happy with their car, and are more than reasonable when a problem occurs (providing it is resolved of course). There are those that are so obviously unhappy with their car, and they make a fuss as soon as any problem occurs, even before we've had a chance to rectify it. There is often a refusal to understand why things happen the way they do - usually not having one of the 300,000 parts available in stock is enough.

I've never had any complaints about my assorted Wop s**te ;-)

My neighbour more or less makes a living this way. He buys cars from idiots who are too stupid to fix a simple problem, sorts them out and sells them on. Sometimes he drives them for a bit first (like his current Rover 220 coupe, which wouldn't run because some plonker had cut into the immobiliser wiring to try and add go-faster neons etc. Swapped it for an H-reg Cavalier with three weeks MOT!)

You are the top anti-Timo though :-)

Not only that, you know exactly what you're in for when you buy one of your wop motors ;-)....

... most punters don't!

then you are losing work to your competeters as you hav'nt the equipment to do the job, vehicle diagnostics is forever changing and to stay ahead of the game you need to invest in new equipment & time & someone has to pay for all that, it dosnt come free, contary to belief garages arnt registered charitys !

as im not sure what relavance this has.

and what do kerbside motors do with their waste, they take it to the local tip or bin it at home, we do not have that luxury of that we have to pay for our waste to be taken away, again someone has to pay for that.

to avoid the Inland Revenue & Vat people no doubt !

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net, Conor scribed for want of a better word: SNIP End SNIP

No I am pissed off because I dropped it off with serious failures from MOT Station xyz at 1700 on the Monday they closed at 1730 and the place was chained up At 1030 on Tuesday two hours after opening it was for sale with a full MOT, Issued by MOT Station xyz Note not MOT Station abc but xyz the same MOT Station that failed it with serious faults not worth repairing only four hours before Yeah I am a divvy who takes government registered MOT Stations serious advice, I am a scientist not a mechanic

LOL.

That's just s*it planning though. All companies should be able to allow for routine maintenance in their vehicle fleet. It has to be as reliable as possible, so keeping them maintained is essential, and in the long run more cost-effective.

Most of the service engineers I have booked in usually manage to change their diary for a day so that they can visit some local jobs, and use a small set of tools.

And why not? The name of it gives it away 'courtesy' car, they cost money to put on the road, and cost while they are an unsold asset. They usually cost to prepare for resale as well, as customers rarely take care of them (filling them with tools and such).

You all moan about labour rates, but where do you think that free courtesy car comes from? Someone has to pay for it! and the funds to pay for them don't magically appear in a special account.

Taking the piss works both ways you know.

If you have a fleet of vehicles, having a solid set of dealer stamps is a good asset to have, probably greater in value than the extra cost of the servicing.

That's just being lazy, or the the management have stifled the budget of the parts dept. so much that they can't hold sufficient fast moving stock.

Knowing french cars though, a variation in parts used is extremely common.

Bollocks. All manufacturers do specify seperate labour times to fit those parts, most garages don't charge as a matter of goodwill.

Halfords - £12.50

Buy them there then. They're most likely Chinese crap, and won't last as long (*if* they work at all)

And how much is *your* time worth then? You've already stressed the cost of a couple of hours, not you've lost another half.

And what about your service charges then? Somebody has to pay for your

Yes they are. The profits are pooled, and they have to even out the peaks and troughs from *all departments.

Yeah, that sounds normal :-)

Oil £5???? That's almost what it cost *us* per litre.

Yes, but as I said, this is a maintenance group, which is where I'd expect to offer advice to people wanting to maintain *their own car*. Your ranting in totally off topic.

Have you tried writing to Watchdog? That would be a better forum for your drivel.

Yeah your reminder put me in the right place, wrong group for maintenance rip off This is maintenance good advice

I am off, will troll again when my tyres need changing :-)

That it isn't.

Ah, now I see.

Why not tell us what car it was (incl. model, engine size, age and mileage), and what exactly it failed the MOT on?

Peter

I can't be arsed with killfiles, but I'll remember to ignore your next posts when they come along.

ROFL....

Yeah but "not worth repairing" is based on parts and LABOUR. If they charge £60 per hour, the car is worth £200 and it's a 6 hour job to replace £30 worth of parts, it'll cost more than the car is worth. OTOH to someone who can do the repair themselves for nothing more than the cost of the parts, it's worth it.

I reckon welding..something someone with a welder could do in a few hours for not alot.

HOWEVER it is YOUR responsibility to make sure the car complies with the Road Traffic Act in respect to roadworthiness. For example if there's a blown brake bulb, it is up to YOU to make sure it gets replaced and it will be YOU that gets prosecuted.

In news:GPE%e.3609$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe6-win.ntli.net, AstraVanMan scribed for want of a better word:

Well I will thought as you are not going to read any of my posts anymore it appears quite worthless

Now to let you laugh your socks off My car was a Renault 19 1.4e RN 1993 126k miles serviced by the Renault mechanic owner all its life I had Redgie the Renault for his last five years with never a problem, and drove him everyday sixty miles without fail until the last MOT,(next door to the scrappy) I was given an MOT FAIL on emmisions, ball joints, tracking, and brakes, None of these appeared a problem to me,(I had no way of knowing the emmisons) Now Redgie the Renault was now ten years old, I had an MOT failure cert BUT one months MOT and Three weeks tax,

Without any transport I can not work so had to make a decission

To sell would have been impossible, who would buy a ten year old car with three weeks RFL and four weeks MOT.The costs of putting it all right would have negated any profit on selling him So with a laden heart he went to the scrappy

Over night the locked up abandoned scrappy put everythig to rights and within two hours of opening Redgie had a brand new years MOT To make matters worse Redgie was bought by someone who lives nearby and I see even to this day Redgie running quite well every day, just as when I had him starts first turn of the key and instant acceleration often overtaking me on the DC on the same route I take

I am not a mechanic I am scientific and have to accept what I am told by a professional, I took the advice just as seriously as I would expect someone to take my advice and not ignore it. IF I had had the car condemed by Joe the Kerbside Motor operator along the road I would have taken other advice To be told by a recognised Government Licenced MOT Inspector then I took it as gospel and did what I did

I feel ripped off, I could not take a gamble on something I know little about, so have gone to great uneccessary expence to keep myself mobile and in employment (No transport to work on time No employment)

I am not a troll, just posted that to educate the last bloke

That is my story ignorance is bliss though can cost lives

Yes indeed, and waiting four weeks to rectify those faults means you're driving an illegal vehicle for that time too - and possibly uninsured as well.