Wanted: A competent garage in Birmingham
Discussion
TL:DR - I'm looking for a recomendation for a garage in Birminhgam that can actually fix an issue that requires a little bit of investigation. One that also doesn't do a unrequested "health check" to find loads of other "work" that may or, more likely may not, need doing would be a bonus.
The long version.
Long time lurker... in need a bit of help here.
I've been bouncing around garages in Birmingham with two cars over the years because none of them seem to be able to fix any issues that require a bit of investigation. Both have had issues that you could live with, or work around, but were extremely irritating to use. Many garages later I'm yet to find one that can actually diagnose and fix an issue if it isn't "disks and pads sir" or "CV joint".
My old Mazda, many moons ago, took ages for the engine start and if it sat in traffic too long, like 20-30m of stop-start traffic, it's oil pressure would drop. Could any garage I tried in Brum find and fix that fault... nope. Went up north to my home town for a few days, put the car into my old garage while I was up there and it it was found and fixed.
Eventually sacked that Mazda off, bought a lovely 6mth old 275 Cup Megane, and enjoyed some time driving under warranty. I now get why people PCP cars all the time for the peace of mind of a newer car and warranty. Dealer servicing from Renault on that was decent while I had it but I wouldn't expect issues with a new car. Sold it on when my work moved and I wasn't driving as much and went to a 208 GTI as a cheaper, but still ok fun, option.
The 208 has now developed a rattling noise. Nothing too bad but very irritating. Something sounds loose under the rear and it sounds like it's pivoting and striking the underside when the car jiggles on uneven roads, which is all of them these days. Can any garage find it? Nope. However it's like they are not even f
king trying. One drive in the car and you hear it very quickly. You will notice the sound comes from the rear, I've even told the garages that when removing everything from the boot interior like the spare wheel, jack/tools, boot floor, parcel shelf, etc, the noise get's louder which I attribute to lack of sound deadening when everything is removed.
It's always something else. You can tell they are not listening to me, not driving the car to listen to the rattle and are, to be cynical, looking for easy work they can charge on rather than the job it was put in for. Every time it's "we 'think' it's fixed" I get in and it's bloody not but they always hand it back at close of the day so it's too late. It's also a bloody rattle... think it's fixed? It's fking obvious if it's fixed because it won't rattle any more which means they are not testing their work.
The latest pack of... well.. chancers really, who I would dearly love to name and shame but can't "because rules", did yet another "health check" that I didn't ask for, alongside seemingly not actually looking for the rattle, which brought up some other "issues" that needed seriously doing. Guess what... still did not fix the rattle.
What they did do though is let me drive away with virtually no coolant. They off handedly mentioned that my coolant was "low" when on the phone jacking me for the other work. What they didn't mention is that "low" meant barely enough to cool the engine and virtually none in the expansion tank. It's a miracle that I've not had issues previous. As soon as I set off home this time and the car got up to temp it started overheating and I had to nurse it back making sure to not stress it at all. That... I would have wanted looking at as it seems like there is a genuine leak. Nope, muggins here, gets to drive away with no coolant, rattle issue not fixed, and a big bill. wkers.
Now I need to find a garage yet again, as there is no way I can trust the last lot, to fix the rattle and get the coolant system checked as that is a closed system so it's probably a pressure leak somewhere.
So, for the love of god, does someone know of a garage, that is not staffed by absolute conmen/chancers/morons, in central Birmingham that can actually find and fix things they are put in for?
The long version.
Long time lurker... in need a bit of help here.
I've been bouncing around garages in Birmingham with two cars over the years because none of them seem to be able to fix any issues that require a bit of investigation. Both have had issues that you could live with, or work around, but were extremely irritating to use. Many garages later I'm yet to find one that can actually diagnose and fix an issue if it isn't "disks and pads sir" or "CV joint".
My old Mazda, many moons ago, took ages for the engine start and if it sat in traffic too long, like 20-30m of stop-start traffic, it's oil pressure would drop. Could any garage I tried in Brum find and fix that fault... nope. Went up north to my home town for a few days, put the car into my old garage while I was up there and it it was found and fixed.
Eventually sacked that Mazda off, bought a lovely 6mth old 275 Cup Megane, and enjoyed some time driving under warranty. I now get why people PCP cars all the time for the peace of mind of a newer car and warranty. Dealer servicing from Renault on that was decent while I had it but I wouldn't expect issues with a new car. Sold it on when my work moved and I wasn't driving as much and went to a 208 GTI as a cheaper, but still ok fun, option.
The 208 has now developed a rattling noise. Nothing too bad but very irritating. Something sounds loose under the rear and it sounds like it's pivoting and striking the underside when the car jiggles on uneven roads, which is all of them these days. Can any garage find it? Nope. However it's like they are not even f
king trying. One drive in the car and you hear it very quickly. You will notice the sound comes from the rear, I've even told the garages that when removing everything from the boot interior like the spare wheel, jack/tools, boot floor, parcel shelf, etc, the noise get's louder which I attribute to lack of sound deadening when everything is removed.It's always something else. You can tell they are not listening to me, not driving the car to listen to the rattle and are, to be cynical, looking for easy work they can charge on rather than the job it was put in for. Every time it's "we 'think' it's fixed" I get in and it's bloody not but they always hand it back at close of the day so it's too late. It's also a bloody rattle... think it's fixed? It's f
king obvious if it's fixed because it won't rattle any more which means they are not testing their work.The latest pack of... well.. chancers really, who I would dearly love to name and shame but can't "because rules", did yet another "health check" that I didn't ask for, alongside seemingly not actually looking for the rattle, which brought up some other "issues" that needed seriously doing. Guess what... still did not fix the rattle.
What they did do though is let me drive away with virtually no coolant. They off handedly mentioned that my coolant was "low" when on the phone jacking me for the other work. What they didn't mention is that "low" meant barely enough to cool the engine and virtually none in the expansion tank. It's a miracle that I've not had issues previous. As soon as I set off home this time and the car got up to temp it started overheating and I had to nurse it back making sure to not stress it at all. That... I would have wanted looking at as it seems like there is a genuine leak. Nope, muggins here, gets to drive away with no coolant, rattle issue not fixed, and a big bill. w
kers.Now I need to find a garage yet again, as there is no way I can trust the last lot, to fix the rattle and get the coolant system checked as that is a closed system so it's probably a pressure leak somewhere.
So, for the love of god, does someone know of a garage, that is not staffed by absolute conmen/chancers/morons, in central Birmingham that can actually find and fix things they are put in for?
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