TVR specialists in the Herts area
Discussion
GV said:
Learn to fix it yourself - save money and enjoy the satisfication that you haven't been ripped off in the process. Does that sound a bit too cynical??
Not at all. I intend to do as much on the car as possible, but two things are in the back of my mind:- Realistically things probably will crop up which I can't do
- I wasn't sure how the resale value would be affected by home servicing? I did everything on the Caterham myself (with a bit of help from the odd passing PHer), but that was a battered ex-racer and likely to be bought by someone fairly hands on who wasn't so fussed by the lack of service history. What I thought I'd do with the Chimaera is get a basic service done to stamp the book and do as much as possible myself in between, but leave any big jobs to the experts. Basically I'm happy doing anything 'Mecano' - bolt-on-bolt-off like damper changes, discs and pads etc.
Zippee said:
coetzeeh said:
Why not give Techniques in Stotfold (J10 A1) a try? They are Morgan specialists but they service many TVR's.
I've heard a lot of good things about them as well. Very knowledgeable with the RV8 based cars especially.
I used Castle when I first got my TIV for a service and a new rad. Joe on the service desk is a good chap and knows his TVR's all seemed good with the work they did too so no complaints on that front. However, took it there for MOT when it was up in the January, which they offered to get done when it was due. DID NOT tell me they would charge me £15 'admin fee' for the privilege of taking my car down the road for the MOT, I would have done this myself had I known, for this reason I won't use them again.
By my reckoning this has cost them the best part of £4000 of business from me over the last 2 years. In a market that is getting smaller & more competitive its the little details that make the difference when you have several options of who to give your business to.
Anyway, I use St8six now in Lewknor, very professional, high quality work and will always take the time to discuss the work required on your car with a realistic time frame of what needs to be done & when.
Shep
-Pete- said:
Do you think 15-20 minutes of labour to take your car for an MOT is too much?
Yes. I could have taken it for MOT myself and paid nothing other than the MOT test. Had I been told they would charge I would have declined. How many other garages do you know that charge an admin fee for sorting MOT's?. Had both my Jaguar and Honda MOT'd through main dealers in the last 12 months (not by the dealer themeslves) and there was no charge. When I had the TIV done last year Via the garage that was doing the engine mount there was no charge, they too took it to an MOT station.
If you make an offer to provide a service great, if you are going to charge for it make that clear up front.
Edited by shep1001 on Saturday 27th November 23:23
shep1001 said:
-Pete- said:
Do you think 15-20 minutes of labour to take your car for an MOT is too much?
Yes. I could have taken it for MOT myself and paid nothing other than the MOT test. Had I been told they would charge I would have declined. How many other garages do you know that charge an admin fee for sorting MOT's?. Had both my Jaguar and Honda MOT'd through main dealers in the last 12 months (not by the dealer themeslves) and there was no charge. When I had the TIV done last year Via the garage that was doing the engine mount there was no charge, they too took it to an MOT station.
If you make an offer to provide a service great, if you are going to charge for it make that clear up front.
Edited by shep1001 on Saturday 27th November 23:23
Gazzab said:
shep1001 said:
-Pete- said:
Do you think 15-20 minutes of labour to take your car for an MOT is too much?
Yes. I could have taken it for MOT myself and paid nothing other than the MOT test. Had I been told they would charge I would have declined. How many other garages do you know that charge an admin fee for sorting MOT's?. Had both my Jaguar and Honda MOT'd through main dealers in the last 12 months (not by the dealer themeslves) and there was no charge. When I had the TIV done last year Via the garage that was doing the engine mount there was no charge, they too took it to an MOT station.
If you make an offer to provide a service great, if you are going to charge for it make that clear up front.
Edited by shep1001 on Saturday 27th November 23:23
I will never understand what makes people think a mechanic should take the car for an MoT for free?
Actually I would rather pay the £15 for this service than take it to a mechanic who is claiming to do it for free.
I agree that charges should be clear and up front, but to be honest I wouldn't be shocked to see this charge on my bill if I had asked for the car to be taken for an MoT.
In fact I would be more surprised if it wasn't there.
In my experience when taking your car for an MoT is offered for free the mechanic may be tempted to look very hard for jobs to cover his time.
This will likely come to a lot more that £15.
If you add up the time to take the car to the station yourself its got to be at least an hour out of your day.
So surely its only a genuine saving if you are earning less than £15 an hour!!!!!!!!!!!
There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world, everyone needs to make a living and we shouldn't be criticising Castle for doing so.
At least you know they have covered their time taking it to the MoT Station & they are therefore much less likely to try and create unessential work & profiteer from you.
Edited by Chimpafrolic on Sunday 28th November 09:35
Castle's are now called Hilton and Moss, they serviced and mot'd mine in the summer.
Very pleased with it and they have a superb workshop facillity in the m11 buisness park.
I can't remember if they charged me extra for the mot, but i think Joe was saying they had plans to do all mot's in house soon.
Very pleased with it and they have a superb workshop facillity in the m11 buisness park.
I can't remember if they charged me extra for the mot, but i think Joe was saying they had plans to do all mot's in house soon.
Went over the to TVR Centre's new place yesterday. Just basically went for a nose, but ended up coming away with a cup of tea, lots of advice and quick check over of my new purchase.
It's quite a big unit and having all those Tivs (and the odd Noble) under one roof is like being the proverbial kid in a sweet shop.
It's quite a big unit and having all those Tivs (and the odd Noble) under one roof is like being the proverbial kid in a sweet shop.
Chris71 said:
Went over the to TVR Centre's new place yesterday. Just basically went for a nose, but ended up coming away with a cup of tea, lots of advice and quick check over of my new purchase.
It's quite a big unit and having all those Tivs (and the odd Noble) under one roof is like being the proverbial kid in a sweet shop.
Good to hear they are fully back on their feet It's quite a big unit and having all those Tivs (and the odd Noble) under one roof is like being the proverbial kid in a sweet shop.
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