Local Garages or Big branded ones?

So the other day, i was driving on a road, doing 40 mph, and hit a curb. :colonhash:

As you can imagine, hitting one at that speed would cause great damage to the car, more so with it being a car than has thin tyres.

Anyway, after it happened, the steering wheel felt lighter, and loose...and then i realised, it was no longer aligned with the wheels. So i drove it back home ( 40 miles) and ofcourse that resulted in one of my tyres becoming worn out.

Anyway, took it to a local garages, they had a quick look, and said that it definitely needed the tyres re-aligning...However, they also said that the un-alignment may be caused by something else being damaged as well...and basically made a list of what it could be...and said, i'd be looking at repair cost for £400 - £800 or possibly even more...if the damage is so great.

So i was a bit sceptical...and planned to take it too halfords on monday...but then a friend said, to use local garages as opposed to places like halford, since they apparently 'rip you off'.

So does any1 has any advice, as to whether i should remain with local garages?

Reply 1

QuackMan

There's no damage in taking it to Halfords if they agree to quote you for free.

I would be inclined to agree with your friend though, take it to 1 or 2 more independent garages and ask for their opinion.

Reply 2

mphysical

If you have wrecked a tyre within the space of 40 miles you have done a lot more than knocked the wheels out of alignment. Bent the track rod probably or worse.
How on earth did you manage to hit a kerb, assuming you were not in America where it is a curb?

Reply 3

Crystalyne

My advice:

Use local garages for small things or if you can't trust a main dealer.

If you need big work (like this), go see a main dealer.

Reply 4

domonict

Disagree

Get a recommendation about a small garage .
They are half the price or less of a plate glass dealer.
My main dealer charges £130 an hour, the guy who does my car is nearer £50

Halfords- wouldn't trust them to do anything

A small garage where the owner is "on the tools" depends on word of mouth and happy customers

The place that you took it to might be either spinning a line or being truthful as they could honestl be saying the worst case scenario. No harm in several opinions

If you can look underneath , you don't need to know much, but look at the good side v bad and see if anything is bent

Reply 5

Dann.It

Original post by mphysical

Well pavement. :colonhash:

Anyway, i've taken it to two different small garages. The first one had quoted £1279 for repairs ( including a new tyre) and the guy was listing things that he was 'sure' was damaged. Where-as garage two, quoted the price of £350 for repairs, including two new tyres?!? the mechanic from garage two, went into detail, and stated what he assumed what the problem was. and said most things were fine...just a certain area was bent - which he believes is causing the car.

Reply 6

username1799249

Original post by Dann.It

So i was a bit sceptical...and planned to take it too halfords on monday...but then a friend said, to use local garages as opposed to places like halford, since they apparently 'rip you off'.

So does any1 has any advice, as to whether i should remain with local garages?

It is a minefield. There are garages and garages. If you go to places like Halfords or Kwikfit, you pretty much know what you are going to pay up front. Jobs have set prices and that is that. BUT... they are incentivised to extract cash from you. So you may go in to have your steering checked, but they will check your brakes and surprise surprise, they need doing too! Beware.

As for your local garage. Get a recommendation. Our local garage is awesome. My clutch pedal was clicking. The official replacement part as done by a dealer would have taken 5 hours of labour plus a £100 part. However, from his own experience, my local chap knew he could use any old spring to fix it and an hours labour. Result!

I find that the best way to deal with garages of any sort is to know what you are talking about. So if I were you, I would jack up your car. Take off the front wheel and have a look for yourself. There should not be any bent rods of parts and if there are, they will need replacing. The point being, that if you sound like you know what you are talking about, they are less likely to try and do one on you. And that goes for the Brands and the Locals.
Good luck!

Reply 7

IWMTom

Always go for a local independant garage, or a decent chain like Bosch garages as they have very high standards!

Reply 8

XMaramena

Really depends on the particular garage, be it branded or not. Someone at halfords can still give you a run around quote for things that don't really need doing just as much as a local garage can.

We use a local garage who are brilliant.

Original post by ByEeek

So if I were you, I would jack up your car. Take off the front wheel and have a look for yourself. There should not be any bent rods of parts and if there are, they will need replacing. The point being, that if you sound like you know what you are talking about, they are less likely to try and do one on you. And that goes for the Brands and the Locals. Good luck!

*

Our local garage always takes you through that - they inspect it for free, find what's wrong with it, jack it up to show you, explain the parts cost and labour time involved and such like, then either let you take the car away to shop around, or leave it there for them to do it. Always been reasonable, and on the labour quotes they're not the cheapest, but also they've fixed problems far quicker than other garages have before in terms of labour time.*

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 9

Dann.It

Original post by XMaramena

The second local garage that i've taken it too has done this. They first said they'd have a look, and then give me a call saying what they've found. No once at all had they mentioned the price. The next day, he'd called...and asked me to come in...and basically walked me through what they'd assumed was the problem....today whilst fixing it, they'd found something else...and again called me in..jacked it up, and showed me the problem...and provided a -lot of options which i could go with.

:h:

Reply 10

ShivP_98

Halfrauds, Kwik **** etc are all CRAP. Do not touch with a bargepole. They are monkeys with spanners.

For any major work like this, go to a reputable independent and go to main dealer. See what the price differential is. Most likely it will be quite large. Building up a relationship with a local garage you can trust is always good as you will be able to trust them for years to do routine work as well as major work such as this.

Sounds like a wheel alignment + possibly bent track rod end/control arm. Nothing huge.