Jobs that garages wont take on

[twosmoke300]

I blame the poor quality of the colleges for that problem . My apprentice is a bright lad that is quick and keen to learn but learns fuck all at college . They haven't been taught basic principles so how they can be expected to diagnose faults is beyond me . The basic operation of the ic engine hasn't changed i the last 100 years so you need to go back to basics occasionally. If you don't know how something works you have no hope when it doesn't

[Ben_O]

I hate some older customers that have an attitude right from the get go coming out with things like ' I used to be an engineer and I know how long this job should take. 

 

We often get customers that can't grasp that some parts are only available from main dealers and cost a lot more money than you think they would and don't want to pay it.

They usually come out with things like ' I have seen that part on eBay for £40 and you want me to pay £200 for the same thing.

Except it's not the same thing.

 

We will not fit micky mouse parts from eBay and only parts supplied by reputable suppliers like main dealers and motor factors so at least if the part goes wrong, we have some comeback.

 

A Rav 4 springs to mind from a few years ago where the customer didn't want to pay out for the Lamda sensors he needed for the MOT so supplied his own from eBay which were handed to us in Bosch boxes but were not infact made by Bosch and once fitted still didn't reduce the emissions enough to even pass the MOT.

He ended up allowing us to supply them from our motor factor and they were spot on and the car sailed straight through

[sierraman]

Cardboard clutches fitted badly - don't want to compete with that thanks

I’m talking about the price, not the kwality ‘reconditioned’ clutch faces.

 

Laughed at that about the elderly customers ‘I’ve took at least ten Morris Ital engines out and it only took me a morning!’

[Captain Furious]

I learned the lesson the hard way that if you're paying a garage to do a job then always allow them to supply the parts too. If there is an issue and you supplied them then don't expect any comeback. "Customers own parts fitted - excluded from warranty" Quite justifiably too, I can totally see why a garage isn't going to guarantee shitty chinesium junk supplied by penny pinching customers. (Incidentally when it happened to me I had supplied a genuine Ford part sourced from a main dealer, but the same principle applied)

 

I've never had a job refused, but I've heard my local garage on the phone to customers warning them that they don't really want to touch certain jobs and if they do proceed then labour charges could potentially be very high. Which I thought was fair enough

[overrun]

My dad's mk4 mondeo needs new front struts - unusually the garage he normally uses don't want to touch it.

Not sure why - I know he had an 03 passat before and that needed dampers which he partly did himself due to the complex set up - he removed the struts and took them to a workshop for them to fit the inserts.

Our vectra also seems to generate reactions from teeth sucking to "no" - where the engine/fuel system is concerned.

Fair enough - if the technician has grief dismantling/refitting it means jobs booked in behind get delayed.

However, as cars get more complex I would imagine these garages would be falling behind and suffer as a result.

Thoughts? Any garages said no lately? Is it a reflection of moderns becoming an utter PITA to work on?

I've changed one before and it was an absolute arse to separate the strut from the upright. Easy job, that aside.

[MorrisItalSLX]

Three garages turned me away when I needed some welding done to the Hyundai's engine bay.

 

"Just scrap the fucker" they all told me. Not a word of a lie.

[drum]

If you can undo the top nut ( Astra h I'm looking at you )

That rusted Allen bolt. I had to replace the whole strut because of that shitty design.

[The_Equalizer]

That rusted Allen bolt. I had to replace the whole strut because of that shitty design.

 

A sticky brake pedal when the ambient temperature got past 20 degrees celcius (quite rare in Northern Ireland) meant swapping over the brake servo which included having to remove the master cylinder. The resultant brake bleeding session resulted in me changing both rear calipers (they were in a bit of a mess plus the bleed screws where total done). While I was there I thought I ought to do the handbrake shoes,pads, discs and flexis. Oh and the rear brake pipes where rusted which ended up with me getting the car flat bedded to my local indy garage as the pipes disappeared over the back axle/petrol tank and there's a limit to what can be done on the drive. Final cost about £800.

 

Conversely, the BAS/ESP warning meltdown it had two weeks' later was a £12 brake light switch from Mercedes which took me 30 minutes to swap.

[lisbon_road]

Had a garage refuse to change the points on a 2CV.

 

Apparently they are behind the fan, and it is on a taper.  Big fan too as an air cooled engine.  Said that they'd done some suspension pipes on a Citroen, (this is a while back) and when the labour got to £1000, they really didn't feel they could charge the customer any more as it would be unfair.  So they felt they'd made a loss.

[GoGently]

french automatic gearbox fixed by my Garage & he has now gone to China to teach them how to fix frenchies. 

[nigel bickle]

I use three garages, all expect me to supply the parts.

 

About a third of the time they're wrong, but they are parts that I can find, worldwide, that they don't have time to search. That's good by me.

 

If/ when I get it wrong, it's my chin, and a back corner of their yard for a few days.

[New POD]

So I contacted the garage closest to my daughter and he agreed to swap the switch over for £15. But said he couldn't do any more in depth diagnostics.

In the event, that didn't fix it, but he refused to charge her, and recommended somewhere that 'does electrics'.  Told her it should cost no more than £40 to swap the diode. (about an hour).

So she took it in there and rather than replace the diode for £40 plus £2 for the diode, and get recommendations and future work from all her and all her friends, they charged £45 for diagnostics £45 for replacing the diode and £15 for the diode. (including Vat)

Now it would seem to me that is a) a bargain when compared to what BMW dealer would charge, is a piss take of massaging the bill, when you actually only have 2 possible causes, and one of them has already been ruled out.

So the result is that stereotypically a back street garage takes the short term gain, verses building long term relationships with customers.

Saved me a trip to Cardiff which would cost £60 in fuel for the return trip, and a full 8 hours in the car, but I've had to pay the Bill as I'm apparently still honouring a warranty on a car we've given her.

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/29866-jobs-that-garages-wont-take-on/page-3

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/29809-an-bini-electrical-experts-especially-in-south-wales/

 

So, I've read with interest all the threads on here, and I'd like to PUBLICALLY thank GED, of http://www.motruncorn.co.uk/ who in 2004 was presented with a mk2 cavalier 1.8 CDI auto and a new starter motor, and agreed that one of his mechanics could swap it over for £15, which seemed a bargain, given that I'd spent 5 hours trying. (I did tell him this, but I assume he thought I was a muppet.

When I went to pick it up, he told me he'd let the apprentice loose on it, and gone out for a long lunch, and when he came back after 2 hours he still hadn't done it, so he and his senior mechanic had a go, and spent another 30 mins failing, before they attacked the old one and broke it's mounting lugs, so unfortunately I might not be able to get my exchange deposit back from wherever I got the new starter from. And he charged me £15 for 4 hours labour. Strange, though, I kept going back all the time I worked in Runcorn, and always recommended him to everyone who worked there.

They still seem to be in business.

[cort1977]

I've posted on here before about trying to get a rusty pipe in the self levelling suspension on a W210 wagon fixed in sunny Texas.   Three different places declined to attempt it, final straw was a 'European Specialist' who turned it down and them started mumbling about it being a safety risk when I asked why.   I asked if they worked on brakes but that was not the same apparently.

 

Had to do it myself in the end which was OK once I had got the right pipe, right fittings, bent them to shape and spent two hours lying under the car in July.   I looked like Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast at the end of it and I was swearing like him too.

[red5]

I blame the poor quality of the colleges for that problem . My apprentice is a bright lad that is quick and keen to learn but learns fuck all at college . They haven't been taught basic principles so how they can be expected to diagnose faults is beyond me . The basic operation of the ic engine hasn't changed i the last 100 years so you need to go back to basics occasionally. If you don't know how something works you have no hope when it doesn't

Some of them know what they are doing. Just not enough.

Obvious reasons are the standards of students in general coupled with schools and academys that receive more funding to train more desk drones in 6th forms. FE has had cuts over last 5 years despite huge shortfalls in engineering skills across the board. There is some movement to address this...

 

Standards of teaching aside, it's very hard to attract anyone to teaching from the trade who is capable of delivery to any decent level. It's an uphill battle in every respect.

 

Sam.

[Hendry]

I’ve honestly never had any garage refuse to do any work on any car I’ve ever had from seemingly simple things but which were actually a total ballache in the end like rear lower arms on my Jetta because the bolts were seized into the bushes and had to be cut off, to electrical faults like indicators and brake lights not working on an Astra, intermittent suspension noises on a Corsa, intermittent electrical faults, or the Jetta being in limp mode, with engine fault garage and Diesel particle filter fault messages along with DPF light, MIL lamps on and coil light flashing.

 

If the work takes longer than book time due to seized bolts or fastenings or rusted fixings I’ve no issue with paying for all the labour the garage has used, wouldn’t expect anyone to work for free.

 

I’ve also never had garages refuse to fit parts I’ve supplied, although in fairness they have pretty much always been brand new genuine parts I’ve acquired on a trade account from the main dealer or occaisionally from a main dealers eBay shop, or websites specialising in the clearance of main dealer old stock, I’ve even had a garage fit a 2nd had exhaust from an Astra SRi to my Astra Design although it was a genuine part and removed from the car it was fitted to originally when it was only a year or so old. I also tend to only use garages who fit genuine parts or the OEM/OE equivalent ie the same part as the factory fit but in a Bosch or Delphi or whatever box and with no manufacturer logo on the part but otherwise made in the same factory as the genuine example and identical otherwise, or quality aftermarket parts, not motor factor pattern crap. Particularly for servicing and stuff, most Indy garages now use genuine service kits sourced from main dealer for same price as a service used to cost using factor parts, so why pay the same and get inferior parts.

 

I would be majorly pissed off of a garage turned round and knocked a job back, don’t bite the hand that feeds you, a garage knocking back a repair on a car which is what they are in business doing would be like a pub refusing to sell you a pint, a funeral directors knocking back a funeral, an estate agent refusing to sell your house, etc etc.

 

It’s not quite the same but I crashed a mk4 Astra once and only had TPFT insurance so wanted to make it usable again without a huge body shop bill, anyway damage wasn’t too bad, a bent rear axle, a cracked back bumper, a chunk out of an alloy and a dent in the 1/4 panel, I worked for Arnold Clark at the time so sent it to one of their Vauxhall dealerships because Staff price parts (cost + 10% handling charge + vat) and half price labour plus i wanted a brand new axle so I knew I wasn’t buying one 2nd hand which was scrap also and I wanted it fitted properly so it drove right again, they phoned me up and said they couldn’t do an axle it was a body shop job to fit the new axle, as far as I was aware that was a mechanical/garage job. Was very baffled at that one. I ended up putting it into their offsite body shop who did it no problems but I could help wondering if there was no actual body damage and just a bent axle if they would’ve just replaced the axle themselves at the dealership rather than say it was a body shop job.

 

Another thing I dont quite get is when dealers farm work out to Indy’s or when they can’t do something and send it elsewhere, even under manufacturer warranty.

 

I once bought a 4.5year old Astra H from a Renault/Fiat franchise branch of a big group, who didn’t have any Vauxhall branches, but this particular branch had been a Vauxhall franchise until about 6 years prior to this, every time the cooling fan came on it brought on the engine management light, they replaced sensors, switches even the fan itself, they once had it for a week and couldn’t see what the root cause of the fault was, even their Vauxhall genuine tech 2 couldn’t tell them, the local Vauxhall dealer was booked right up in advance for weeks so they sent it to a local independent Vauxhall specialist which was stated up by one of their old mechanics who was a Vauxhall master tech who had started up on his own after they lost the franchise for Vauxhall, the owner of said Indy was telling me he regularly got work from another local Evans Halshaw Vauxhall dealership who were either too busy so subbed him the work or couldn’t solve the faults so he got the work they couldn’t fix, somehow I don’t think Vauxhall would have been very happy about that, or in my old work a 61 plate L200 which wouldn’t change gear from 3rd to 2nd, warranty job, went to the local Mitsi main dealer who then sent it to a local gearbox specialist to be rebuilt, all authorised and paid for by Mitsi themselves, just remember thinking why couldn’t the main dealer rebuild the box themselves?

 

I hate when mechanics who are used to working on particular brands of cars claim they’ve no experience with a particular car and might struggle with the job even though it’s a common job on a common car, eg garages more than willing to do a clutch and DMF replacement on my dads mk4 Mondeo 1.6 TDCi but also saying they weren’t experienced at it as they’d never done one before or whatever, I mean come on! It’s a common model of car nothing fancy and anyway a clutch is a clutch is a clutch surely if you’re a mechanic you know how to do these jobs and they’re all by and large the same overall. Wasn’t like we were asking them why the self levelling on the halogen projector headlights wasn’t working or why there was a fault with they keyless ford power start system, straightforward mechanical job.

 

Problem I think with the garage trade is most mechanics start out as apprentices at main dealers as those are by and large the biggest employers, they get fed up being treated like shit, paid shit wages and constantly pressured over “productivity” and upselling etc that they leave to go and work at Indy’s and backstreet places or even Marque specific specialists and they get jobs because they are franchise trained with all the manufacturer certificates etc but actually having worked in a dealer they are limited experience wise because newer cars stay in the franchise network so only ever get routine servicing, discs and pads, tyres, bulbs, simple warranty work and mot’s. Older cars which need more involved work are old enough they are outside the dealer network or people with anything more than simple repairs avoid the dealer because ££££. Leading to an industry of guys who are qualified to do all mechanical repairs but underexperienced.

[twosmoke300]

"I would be majorly pissed off of a garage turned round and knocked a job back, don’t bite the hand that feeds you, a garage knocking back a repair on a car which is what they are in business doing would be like a pub refusing to sell you a pint, a funeral directors knocking back a funeral, an estate agent refusing to sell your house, etc etc."

 

 

Plenty of pubs refuse to serve , estate agents turn down sales etc . Its their business and they can do as they wish . If the hassle/risk outweighs the profit / goodwill then im afraid its a no from me.

 

Some of the jobs ive turned away are after the potential customer has spent 20 mins running other garages down about how dear they were or how it went wrong 3 years later so they must have fucked it up etc .

Some people , when they get a big bill expect a lifetime warranty .

[Dick Longbridge]

Interesting topic. A few years back my fiancée had a ropey, but previously ultra-reliable mk3 Golf TDI which developed starting issues, to the point where we realised it wasn’t going to self-heal, and we became weary of bump starting it each morning. Fortunately*, there was an ‘car diagnostics r us’ type establishment a stone’s throw from the house, plus it was downhill from the house.

After leaving it there for a few days, I’d heard nothing. After phoning a few times, I eventually got hold of the owner who informed me, ‘ it’s fucked mate’. After begrudgingly crossing his palm with almost £100, I did a bit of research, and found an old boy who specialised in diesel and injection issues, and who foremost was a seasoned mechanic. After a brief chat in person, and he laughed when I told of the ‘diagnostic specialists’ and decreed them ‘bloody clueless’.

To cut a long story short, we picked the car up again around a week later, in perfect running order. He billed us around £100 as well, but this time it was worth every single penny. His slant on the issue was that when he plugged it in, it threw up a shopping list of codes. However, he appreciated the fact it was a relatively tired, high mile car, so ignored the lot, and used some mechanical sleuthing. He ended up narrowing the fault down to failed springs in the injector pump, and managed to stick some second-hand replacements in, clean out the swarf, and get her on the button again. He did keep on covering his backside with lines like, ‘I hope I cleaned out all the swarf, but there’s a small chance there’s some left in there, which will eventually bugger up your pump/ injectors’. Thing is, I appreciated the fact it was an older car, and that he’d resuscitated it when others wouldn’t have/ wouldn’t have known how to bother.

We got another couple of years out of the car before moving it on. Even then it was running sweetly - typical mk3 Golf, it was the tinworm which was more of an issue by that point.

The chap who fixed the Golf was called Keith. We need more Keiths!

[Exiled_Tat_Gatherer]

I always feel that if you're handing over your car (or anything) that you can't or don't want to repair yourself - then you've already admitted that you're out of your depth or are willing to accept their opinion and whatever they find/have to do to carry out repair as instructed.

I'm afraid it's obvious that no matter the trade or profession, the expectations of anything/everything for free and customer always right has simply gone too far..... How can the person who's standing asking someone for help as they're flumoxed(sp) know more than the person(s) about to do the job? I know you may be a great mechanic yourself and out of time/tools - but you've admitted defeat - so accept the resulting wallet impacting damage.

 

Over here I can honestly say there's a massive choice of mechanics who've come from other countries where they'll (have to) repair anything and everything so will take on whatever you can throw at them. The ingenuity they use to repair some things though can be questionable!

 

I feel for the garages that do a good/fair job and are honest enough to admit a job can be a nightmare in advance....... why people can't appreciate decent warning is a mystery to me.

 

As I'm a rarity over here with daily used classics, they're usually actually keen to have something a bit different from the disiesel old golfs, Seats and other chod......

[MikeR]

electrical issues they dont want to know , once had a mot failing Micra given to me to chase the faults , all the lights came on when  the sidelights came on or brake lights operated , some other leccy issues as well , turned out a one pin bulb in a 2 pin socket caused most of the light problems . soon fixed , and a bit of tin worm chasing on some grounding points and all was well !!!!  ,

 

most garages most want to run a scan which to be honest wont pick up all faults and the codes given need translating into verbal grunts ..

 

who ever put electrics on a car was doing it for a joke in this spanner entrusted world , and the manufacturers long term support given to owners who find themselves with an electronic lemon is criminal ,

 

I will now stick to cars that are plentiful , have a owners club , and the local garage knows all about them !

[strangeangel]

Our local garage have been great with the BX. One of the mechanics is old enough to remember them the first time round, so he's happy to work on it. This in an age where some garages will set the dogs on you for asking them to repair a hydropneumatic Citröen, even if that's not the bit you want them to fix!

 

The only thing they ask is that I supply any unobtanium parts before they start, as they - perfectly reasonably - can't have it sitting in bits on their ramp for a week waiting for a selector fork to arrive from Germany or whatever.

[95 quid Peugeot]

And stop ringing me after 6pm and dinner time ffs .

to explain to fellow Northerners, that's Tea time

[SRi05]

My local guy has turned down a clutch and a timing belt job from me recently, although did recommend someone else locally. Thought it was weird for him to turn down cash. Was an old astra as well nothing particularly complicated to work on! I feel more inclined to give the other guy any future work now

[Burnside]

Always struggled getting my MK3 Cavalier Tracking sorted when needed in the past, as they are known to be a pita due to usually being seized. 

Had to go two or three places to find one who would tackle it. 

 

Had our Fiorino Van being turned away by a Fiat Specialist after it's radiator blew due to corrosion but tbf was the original that had lasted 15 years and 150,000+.

They said as it was a older model that they had no previous experience, they didn't know if they could tackle the job!

 

I only asked them as it happend one evening nearby and thought it be safer to leave it with them than try and limp it home. So left it outside and brought some water nearby. Thankfully got it home ok and once I sourced and new Radiator. Fitted it myself with no problems. Was glad I sorted myself as it turns out a 1.7TD Radiator is a rare and dear item so saved me some labour costs too. 

[twosmoke300]

to explain to fellow Northerners, that's Tea time

 

Dinner is 1-1.30 and tea is 6 ish !

[New POD]

Dinner is 1-1.30 and tea is 6 ish !

 

Dinner is 12:15 pm - DO NOT be LATE

 

Tea is 5:45 pm on the dot

[twosmoke300]

I'm still at work dealing with customers calls etc at 5.45 !

[bezzabsa]

so glad I have a friendly mechanic as a go-to ..

he's worked on Fords since he was able to hold a spanner, and works at Toyota so gets the latest lectrickery knowledge too...

Know him to be outside working on his own cars at 5am from 5pm the previous night - then go and do a Days 'work' then finish his car the following night

[New POD]

I'm still at work dealing with customers calls etc at 5.45 !

 

In which case you'll be having a Late tea. It's on a plate in the fridge, put it in the microwave.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Two mates of mine have left garages, both family run businesses. One now works for SnapOn, there other a project engineer for someone or other.

 

Working on cars now is shit. Utter, hateful shit.

 

When I started in the eighties there was job satisfaction. My and my Dad changing an Escort Mark II clutch in 45 minutes. Doing a decoke and valve grinding job on a Fiesta 950 that had been run on unleaded. Fitting a factory exchange engine on a Baur 320i E30, steam cleaning and Waxoyling a D plate Orion, countless CVH cam belts, Pinto camshafts. All nice jobs that you could make a proper thorough job of and actually make money from. You got a pair of Metro wings painted and fitted, plenty of underseal and Waxoyl and the owner would be chuffed and give you an extra tenner because their car didn't look like a teabag.

 

Someone mentioned an Alfasud handbrake cable - a bastard then but by todays standards, easy enough. There was no Canbus, no battery coding to the car, no direct injection, no EML, DPF, DMF, very little ABS and fuck all EGR.

 

Cars are now absolute bastards to work on. Nothing is easy. Bolts that fell out of a Cortina at the mere sight of a windy gun now snap off (fucking VAG shit), fucking push clip fit hoses that just will not come off, cheap Chinese shit components and owners who don't give a shit about their car and want everything at the lowest possible price.

 

I don't work on cars anymore. Can you tell?

[I_am_Diesel]

In which case you'll be having a Late tea. It's on a plate in the fridge, put it in the microwave.

Or covered in foil and left in a low temperature oven.