Any Kwik fit views/ mechanism on avfft

Redlips

Redlips

Well-known member
Scenario is as follows car making squeaking noise on car, wife is worried and wants it sorting.

In summary she gets nhs discount so we take the car to Kwik fit. Car needs a special coil spring she is quoted £220 and tells them to do the job.

land line calls and says we need brake odd and drums an extra £250(Renault Clio). I said that is way too expensive. Alarm bells start to ring so I say leave it and I will get a second opinion, price drops to £50. I said no leave it.

I call a few other Kwik fit branches and I am quoted £100 cheaper for the coil spring. I bring this up when I pay for the job and excuses were made, it needed a check and adjust. The price is matched with the other store

issue I have is that 5 months ago a top mount was replaced is this the same as a coil spring?

Also the second garage advises I do not need brakes at all. 4-5 months before I do.
 
Personally I wouldn’t go near a franchise outfit like Kwik fit for repairs. They always ‘find’ other things while they have the car. I’ve always had my cars serviced at Blackpool Service Centre on Poulton Industrial Estate, very honest bunch of guys who will tell you exactly what the car does and doesn’t need. I’ve sent many friends and colleagues there over the years when they’ve been quoted extortionate prices from other garages.
 
St Ives is right avoid places like Kwikfit and others well alone, they always find other problems (so they say) when the car is on the ramps.
 
I always take my cars to Motortune on Mitcham Rd . Always a fair price , and no bulshitting
 
Not just Quick fit, many franchise dealers will find dubious 'faults'.

I can recommend Stanmore Service centre in south shore from personal use.
 
These places are only ok for things like tyres/exhausts etc, their not mechanics/engine technicians.
A ‘free check’ often results in the credit card coming out.
I can tell you some horror stories about quick fit as my mate used to work at one of the local branches.
 
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Even with your so called discount, they are massively overpriced.
Avoid.
The key is finding a reliable garage you can trust, that won’t rip you off / find other work and will do a decent job.
Even the tyres are expensive. Then charge you for fitting & balancing other places do for free.
 
Always take our cars to Damian at Palmer avenue garage. Doesn’t rip you off and does a decent job
Last week he did the full service on my one year old micra changed the oil Mobil 1 and Nissan oil filter and air filter and greased it all underneath as well as all the other checks needed on the first service £150 all in. Nissan quoted over £300 for same job
 
Yep shock absorbers was a favourite 30 years ago . I took my mini in it needed 4. Day after mother took her car on to a different branch and it needed 4 shock absorbers as well.
 
A few years ago me and a mate went to Murrayfield for the weekend, for the six nations.

The weather was COLD and on the way back on the Sunday we had a double blow out when we hit a bad pot hole.

The AA took us to Kwik Fit in Dumfries (I think) and although I expected to be robbed, they were ok.
 
Used to take my car to a garage in St.Annes for a service etc.
Year after year, we always thought the owner was 'honest' and didn't overcharge us.
On one service, the owner (a franchised brand) said I needed New Brake Pads and 2 New Offside Tires.....and that would be an extra £200
No problem.....paid for the service and had the work done......

About 2 weeks later the engine started to make a funny knocking noise.......so I took the car back in and left it there as the owner was out.
Got a call from the guy who told me it was the timing mechanism and it would need replacing (?)
But he also said he had checked the car out....and it would also need........"New Brake Pads and 2 New Offside Tires"...🤔.....and that would be £300

I said....."I only had them changed 2 weeks ago"
He said..."Sorry mate but you've been turned over, they are not new parts......where did you have the work done"........🤡

Oh, how I laughed.........👹
 
As others have said, never go near a franchised 'Kwikfit' or otherwise. Stick to a local one man band mechanic...
 
B_Side_The_C_Side said:
Used to take my car to a garage in St.Annes for a service etc.
Year after year, we always thought the owner was 'honest' and didn't overcharge us.
On one service, the owner (a franchised brand) said I needed New Brake Pads and 2 New Offside Tires.....and that would be an extra £200
No problem.....paid for the service and had the work done......

About 2 weeks later the engine started to make a funny knocking noise.......so I took the car back in and left it there as the owner was out.
Got a call from the guy who told me it was the timing mechanism and it would need replacing (?)
But he also said he had checked the car out....and it would also need........"New Brake Pads and 2 New Offside Tires"...🤔.....and that would be £300

I said....."I only had them changed 2 weeks ago"
He said..."Sorry mate but you've been turned over, they are not new parts......where did you have the work done"........🤡

Oh, how I laughed.........👹
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On the same theme, many many moons ago I bought a car from a dealer; really nice British Racing Green Ford Granada because it was 'a very popular colour these days' according to the salesman. A couple of months later due to a change in circumstances I had to sell the car and decided to take it back to them and see if they wanted to buy it. Their response?
"No mate we wouldn't want to buy that. The colour is awful and very unpopular. I don't know why you bought that"

Because you told me it was popular you nob!
 
Not been near Kwik con since about 1988, yes shockers! my car went back numerous times & never sat right ever again, I can still remember the so called managers name pah!
 
I once took a car to KwikFit in Preston for an MOT and they were right officious bstards about the spacing of the letters/numbers on one of my registration plates. They failed the car and made me get new plates before giving me the pass certificate. I only realised later that I had left a Blackpool FC sticker in the car. I've never heard of a failed MOT for the reason given and I still think that the sticker was the cause.
 
My question that I need answering is the special coil spring and the top mount the same part and is it absolutely necessary for the tracking to be done on both jobs?
 
Redlips said:
My question that I need answering is the special coil spring and the top mount the same part and is it absolutely necessary for the tracking to be done on both jobs?
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I would say no but Kwik fit offer a free tracking check.
Be prepared to be told though it’s out and needs doing.
 
If your wife took the car in, the mechanics probably charged her the woman tax, unbelievable that they get away with it in 2021.
 
Redlips said:
Scenario is as follows car making squeaking noise on car, wife is worried and wants it sorting.

In summary she gets nhs discount so we take the car to Kwik fit. Car needs a special coil spring she is quoted £220 and tells them to do the job.

land line calls and says we need brake odd and drums an extra £250(Renault Clio). I said that is way too expensive. Alarm bells start to ring so I say leave it and I will get a second opinion, price drops to £50. I said no leave it.

I call a few other Kwik fit branches and I am quoted £100 cheaper for the coil spring. I bring this up when I pay for the job and excuses were made, it needed a check and adjust. The price is matched with the other store

issue I have is that 5 months ago a top mount was replaced is this the same as a coil spring?

Also the second garage advises I do not need brakes at all. 4-5 months before I do.
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Never tell them you're entitled to a discount until payment.

And the second garage is wrong. You do need brakes and a steering wheel too is very handy.
 
Redlips said:
My question that I need answering is the special coil spring and the top mount the same part and is it absolutely necessary for the tracking to be done on both jobs?
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There's no such thing as a 'special coil spring', they're just springs and sit in a strut on most suspensions, the top mount is what holds the strut on the car at the top and is on either side of the engine bay when you lift the bonnet. A broken spring would be more noticeable than a squeek, they usually knock, most springs are about £20 trade but can be a bitch to do, probably about £100 all in for both sides fitted, it's good practice to replace both but depends why it's broken and how old the other spring is.

You do need to replace a broken spring for tracking, but mostly because the car is fairly unsafe under braking and cornering with just one spring, it's also obviously an MOT failure..

£220 quid is a rip off, but it's Kwik Fit so to be expected.
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Two AVFTT "firsts" here, agreement with St Ives and a short(ish) semi coherent post from me.

The Blackpool Service Centre lads are brilliant, recommend them to anyone. And I've had enough of the type of experiences detailed above to avoid KF and dealers for evermore. Last time was when we inherited my mothers little Jazz, she'd always had it serviced at Honda so we took it there first time, they wanted £300+ to change four brake pads. Blackpool SC looked at it, two didn't need changing and charged £50 for the other two.

Also steer clear of KF, but it would be unfair not to mention when they got me out of a hole the last time I went. We were due to go away in it, and I realised two days before that my MOT was expiring. Couldn't get it in anywhere in time, and couldn't face listening to being reminded about how I'd forgot for the whole week, we ended up at KF on Preston New Road. Explained the situation and they did it the same day and only found £30 of work needing doing. I was very surprised, seeing as they basically had a free hit on me.
 
Redlips said:
My question that I need answering is the special coil spring and the top mount the same part and is it absolutely necessary for the tracking to be done on both jobs?
Click to expand...
The top mount is part of the strut assembly which consists of the top mount bearing, spring and the shock absorber. It's good practice to replace the top mount when replacing the spring as they're usually cheap and won't incur any more labour costs as it has to be removed to replace the spring anyway.

Carrying out wheel alignment after any suspension work is best practice but you can get away without doing it on many cars.

Hope this helps.
 
Avoid the main stealers and avoid places like Kwik Fit! Been using the same garage for our vans and cars for years. Independent place on Poulton ind est. had a ball joint fitted in one of the vans in November, started making the same noise and he’s just been round to tell me it’s failed and they’ll replace under guarantee.... that’s the sort of place you want to deal with!
 
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