Tag Archives: garage near me

Independents better than Main Dealers?

Independent garages like ‘Aarons Autos’ come out on top in latest customer satisfaction survey.

What Car findings reveal that:

‘Consumers are more satisfied with independent garages over main dealers and fast fit centres’!

The findings follow a What Car survey which asked more than 8,300 motorists how impressed they were with their most recent service.

Respondents were asked to consider politeness of staff, quality of work and value for money.

While owners of newer cars are most likely to go to a franchised workshop, awarding them a customer satisfaction score of 80.9 per cent for value, they have awarded 84.1 per cent and 91.4 for brand specialist and non-brand specialist independents respectively.

“Better customer experience at our independent garage”

Independents were also recognised for providing a better customer experience, scoring 94.2

per cent on average for attitude and politeness of staff compared to 91.1 per cent for franchises.

All vehicle owners associated main dealers with higher pricing and scored less for quality of work, with 88.5 per cent satisfied compared to 92.7 per cent of those that used independents.

Reporting for What Car, Claire Evans said:

“Almost 90 per cent of motorists get their cars serviced at franchised dealerships in the first year, but a growing number switch to independents as the cars age“.

“In fact, according to our research, by the time cars reach seven years old, nearly half are serviced outside the franchised network“.

“Value for money”

“The main reason is cost because independents are rated more highly for value for money”.

“But other factors are also at play. For example, the distance needed to reach a franchised dealer is one deterrent for owners who don’t live close to cities”.

“Those opting for independent agents are more likely to choose a non-specialist, and only a small percentage pick fast-fit or car spares chains”.

Ford Transit Leaking Rotten Sump.

Naughty Oil Drip

A Ford Transit came into us this week and its owner asked us to have a look at it as it was leaking oil BADLY!

New V’s Old

After putting it on our ramp we could see that the engine sump had rotted that badly it was leaking like a sieve, luckily we had caught it before it had leaked to much oil and starved the engine.

We ordered a new sump from our suppliers and got on with fitting it, once fitted we gave the engine a quick wash off and road tested it to make sure there were no issues.

Seat Ibiza 1.2 Timing Chain Failure.

This little Seat Ibiza came into the garage with a very noisy and poor running engine, the customer told us that the engine had been noisy for a while but the poor running just happened all of a sudden!

After an inspection of the engine and a full Diagnostic Code Read we came to the conclusion that the timing chain had slipped and we would need to partially strip the engine and check for damage.

Timing Tools Don’t Align

On stripping the engine we found that the timing chain had slipped one tooth on the crank gear, the reason for this was the chain tensioner was unable to keep its tension due to the amount the timing chain had stretched.

Timing Chain Replaced

We replaced the timing chain, guides and gear set, and using manufacturer specific timing tools to correctly align the crank and cam shafts we were then able to check compressions to see if any other internal damage had been caused.

Once we were happy there was no internal damage it was time for the rebuild which included an oil and filter change and anti freeze flush.

The little Ibiza was fired up and ran like a dream, after a good road test and some diagnostic tests it was time to hand it back to its owner.

Peugeot RCZ Timing Chain Stretched.

We are starting to see more and more vehicles coming into the garage with engine timing faults caused by stretched timing chains.

The first thing customers complain of is that their Engine Management Light (EML) comes on and the vehicle goes into limp mode, sometimes they may complain of the chain being noisy or rattling.

Once the car comes into the garage we plug it into a suitable diagnostic computer and carry out an ‘engine code read’ looking for codes relating to timing faults for example – Incoherence between crank and cam sensors, then check the cars ‘live data’ to check the sensors are working correctly.

Next we have to partially strip the engine to be able to physically check the timing using manufacturer specific timing tools.

In this instance when we came to fit the timing tools it became very obvious that the timing was indeed out, when we checked the old chain against the replacement chain we could see it had stretched by about 10mm.

Once we had fitted the new timing chain kit and timed the engine correctly it was just a matter of rebuilding the engine, changing the oil and filter and then testing.

After clearing all the stored codes from the cars ECU it was time to road test the car and carry out a few final checks, once we were completely happy it was time to hand the car back to the customer.

Cambelt Replacement on Mileage or Age?

One of the biggest problems we have with customers when talking about cambelts is that they always say “My cambelt isn’t due till 60,000 miles!” even though the car is ten years old and the dealer recommends 60,000 OR five years!!

The main component of a cambelt is rubber which deteriorates over time, this is one of the main reasons that dealers specify a time interval as well as a mileage interval.

Renault Megane Sport R26 handling problems.

We had a call from a Megane R26 owner saying that his handling was poor and he suspected that the lower swivel bearings were at fault.

As he was from Hertfordshire it was hard to diagnose it over the phone so we recommended that he come up and we would do a full suspension check.

After he arrived we checked the car over to find the O/S/F road spring had broken and this was the cause of the handling problems he had been having.

Renault’s spring prices are ridiculous so it was quickly decided that the customer would source a new set of lowering springs from Eibach and would return to have them fitted.

A week later the customer returned and the springs were fitted and all the handling problems
were eradicated leaving a happy customer.

Toyota Hilux Surf overheating and pink liquid coming from the gearbox.

On his way to work this customers Toyota Hilux Surf started to overheat so he pulled over to check his coolant to find it had all gone.

He topped up the coolant but as soon as he started the car it disappeared and when he looked underneath there was a puddle of pink creamy liquid coming from half way down the vehicle.

He had it recovered to the garage and it was our challenge to find out what had gone wrong.

First we removed all the under trays and found the pink creamy liquid was coming from the top automatic gearbox breather!

We drained the gearbox to find it was full of gearbox/coolant mix indicating a major failure in the gearbox cooling system.

The next port of call was to check the gearbox oil cooler which is situated in the bottom of the radiator and straight away we found that this was the cause of the problems.

As the vehicle was a import the customer was able to source a radiator cheaper than the main
dealer, the next day it arrived and we fitted it as required, next was the clean out operation of the cooling system and gearbox which we did with a coolant flush and gearbox flush.

The customer was informed that as we couldn’t get all the oil and coolant out of the cooling system and gearbox he would have to return the car for future flushes.

Once all of the work was completed we needed to test drive the car to make sure it selected all of its gears as it should and that there was no more mixing of the gear oil and coolant.

Bmw X5 M-sport suspension fault.

BMW X5 Air Suspension fault

A very worried customer rang saying his car was hissing and the suspension had dropped on the N/S/R, We of course told him to bring it in straight away to find the fault and a solution.

On inspection it was apparent that the N/S/R suspension air bag wasn’t lifting the vehicle as it should.

We connected the BMW to our diagnostic computer and tried to re-inflate the air bag but the hissing returned and a hole was found in the suspension airbag.

We sourced a new air bag at half the price of the dealer part, fitted it to the car and programmed it through the diagnostic computer. Once the vehicle started the suspension system re-inflated the car was ready for the customer to take away the same day leaving a happy customer.

Alfa Romeo Mito Gearbox Troubles.

This Alfa Romeo Mito came into us with a complaint of a strange smell, also the gearbox was noisy and sometime’s locking up.

The gearbox had to be removed to try and find the problem.

As we started to remove the gearbox it became obvious that the strange smell the customer had complained of was in fact gear oil.

After removing the gearbox we found a hole in the casing and several ball bearings
etc that had punched their way into the bell housing.

After talking to our gearbox specialist we found that this was a common problem with the Alfa
Mito and the gearbox unfortunately was un-repairable.

The customer decided to let us source a reconditioned gearbox and replace the
clutch (whilst the gearbox was out).

Two days later the gearbox arrived, so we fitted the reconditioned unit into the vehicle along with a new clutch kit.

Once the work was completed and tested the customer collected their Alfa Mito and was very
happy as we had saved him £££’S on a new gearbox from the main dealer.

Citreon Picasso clutch pedal sticking.

This Picasso was brought in to us with its clutch pedal sticking down causing the car to not
drive as it should.

As soon as we checked the clutch pedal it was very apparent there was a major fault on the clutch itself.

We removed the gearbox and clutch to find the clutch pressure plate had Aarons Autos Derby Clutch Replacement split into 3 pieces!

Something we had never seen before!

The customer was informed of the problem, the clutch kit was replaced and gearbox refitted as required. The vehicle was then tested and the customer was informed their car was ready for collection.