competent garages

[Steve Pen]

Further to my previous query on reluctor rings foes anyone know a reputable garage in East Sussex or West Kent area that could assist with an older RAV4 (2005) braking issues?

[TonyHSD]

To my best knowledge diy is the way to go.
I personally don’t know any competent garage in existence. , ah there is one guy in Chicago area USA . Sorry not much of a help but that’s my thoughts 

[AndyN01]

Your best bet, if you can find one, is a small, maybe family run, garage who have been around for a decade or two and can't fit you in for a while 'cus there're busy, busy, busy.

But they're like hen's teeth as most have been put out of business.

Good luck with getting it sorted out.

 

[Nick72]

2 hours ago, AndyN01 said:

Your best bet, if you can find one, is a small, maybe family run, garage who have been around for a decade or two and can't fit you in for a while 'cus there're busy, busy, busy.

But they're like hen's teeth as most have been put out of business.

Good luck with getting it sorted out.

 

Agreed, these are now extremely rare. I used to do all maintenance and repairs myself unless it was a major job like replacing a cam shift or skimming the head. Then I used to go to Tony's garage. Old guy, two lads working for him, they were fast, cheap, and A1 quality. Going back 25 years now I got a new cam fitted for about 120 to 150 quid. The cam alone cost most of that. Eventually he retired and left it to the lads. Still going but I don't know how good they are as last time I went was probably 10 years ago.

Such rare finds these days.

[eddiey1]

The garage I used for my old Toyota sold up and is being turned into flats...

[Bozz]

On 8/30/2024 at 4:21 PM, Steve Pen said:

Further to my previous query on reluctor rings foes anyone know a reputable garage in East Sussex or West Kent area that could assist with an older RAV4 (2005) braking issues?

MC Motors Ellingham Way Ashford Kent 

[GBgraham]

20 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Agreed, these are now extremely rare. I used to do all maintenance and repairs myself unless it was a major job like replacing a cam shift or skimming the head. Then I used to go to Tony's garage. Old guy, two lads working for him, they were fast, cheap, and A1 quality. Going back 25 years now I got a new cam fitted for about 120 to 150 quid. The cam alone cost most of that. Eventually he retired and left it to the lads. Still going but I don't know how good they are as last time I went was probably 10 years ago.

Such rare finds these days.

Having had my working life in the motor trade I can say such spots are becoming like rocking horse **** and need to be treasured.

Unfortunately the trade has been sliding away from true mechanical engineers to fitters for quite a long time. The main dealers only have apprentices and young lads and charge a fortune for this pleasure. By choice nobody really want's the difficult work these days only jobs with as many parts to fit as possible to boost the profit margin. 

[Nick72]

6 hours ago, GBgraham said:

Having had my working life in the motor trade I can say such spots are becoming like rocking horse **** and need to be treasured.

Unfortunately the trade has been sliding away from true mechanical engineers to fitters for quite a long time. The main dealers only have apprentices and young lads and charge a fortune for this pleasure. By choice nobody really want's the difficult work these days only jobs with as many parts to fit as possible to boost the profit margin. 

You're right Graham. It's converging on the Kwik Fit mentality. In some respects I understand the concept. Swap parts in and out as fast as possible with as little training as possible and aided by manufacturer proprietary tools. And charge a fortune to maximise profits margin as you say. Works a lot of the time but if you got a tight budget and or an intermittent or complex problem on the car then there's no hope. 

With the PHEV it went in for a software update, I think something to do with braking actuator timing, but they bodged it. Not only could they not complete it but they also wound back on another update causing my 12V Battery to go flat for the next 6 or 7 weeks after leaving the car for just 36hrs. Apparently Leroy is the only person in what is a huge local Toyota dealership that knows how to do it. And he wasn't in. Eventually they sorted it all out via Leroy. But I was seriously inconvenienced for nearly 2 months. 

It doesn't bode well and will get worse before it gets better. 

[GBgraham]

2 hours ago, Nick72 said:

You're right Graham. It's converging on the Kwik Fit mentality. In some respects I understand the concept. Swap parts in and out as fast as possible with as little training as possible and aided by manufacturer proprietary tools. And charge a fortune to maximise profits margin as you say. Works a lot of the time but if you got a tight budget and or an intermittent or complex problem on the car then there's no hope. 

With the PHEV it went in for a software update, I think something to do with braking actuator timing, but they bodged it. Not only could they not complete it but they also wound back on another update causing my 12V battery to go flat for the next 6 or 7 weeks after leaving the car for just 36hrs. Apparently Leroy is the only person in what is a huge local Toyota dealership that knows how to do it. And he wasn't in. Eventually they sorted it all out via Leroy. But I was seriously inconvenienced for nearly 2 months. 

It doesn't bode well and will get worse before it gets better. 

The only way is to find a good independent garage where there is someone that is Toyota trained ( or for the make you require) or bite the bullet and find a family run main dealer (these are like RHS) and pay the piper.

The biggest problem for the independents is getting the up to date data required to do the work. To find repair shop that has such, as Autodata along with much diagnostic equipment, hard and software can or rather does cost many many thousands of pounds along with the cost of the annual software updates, so don't blame the cost of repairs too harshly, everything comes at a price. I suggest one should do there homework in their area for a reputable workshop or even look further afield if necessary.

 

[PAISLEY1903]

Just had my car returned.  Toyota helensburgh picked it up, hoovered it washed it all then returned it to my door. 

The £15 charge to cover the 40 minute trip there and 40 minute trip back time... they waived it. 

Interesting they have just had a employee handover at garage. All the staff have been there for ages and the director has put it back to the staff. 

[Eddiefh]

On 8/30/2024 at 10:47 PM, TonyHSD said:

To my best knowledge diy is the way to go.
I personally don’t know any competent garage in existence. , ah there is one guy in Chicago area USA . Sorry not much of a help but that’s my thoughts 

We could do with car care nut in uk 

[Heidfirst]

6 hours ago, PAISLEY1903 said:

Just had my car returned.  Toyota helensburgh picked it up, hoovered it washed it all then returned it to my door. 

The £15 charge to cover the 40 minute trip there and 40 minute trip back time... they waived it. 

Interesting they have just had a employee handover at garage. All the staff have been there for ages and the director has put it back to the staff. 

Yeah, I have  feeling that will be where I will end up next. I really think that Macklin can't cope with being the only Toyota dealer in Glasgow, Arnold Clark had 3!