Garages still taking customers for a ride
23 August 2010
There are still shocking levels of incompetence in UK car garages, says Which?, after a rigorous undercover investigation – despite the introduction of several new codes of conduct.
Nearly 90% of the garages investigated* by the consumer watchdog missed (or ignored) at least one potentially dangerous fault, while 39% charged for a product that wasn’t supplied.
Which? introduced four deliberate, easily fixed faults that any competent mechanic should spot – deflated spare and nearside rear tyres, brake fluid at the minimum level and a blown bulb on the reversing light. Just eight of the 62 garages tested returned the cars fault-free; five garages failed to fix any of the introduced faults.
48% of garages didn’t spot that the brake fluid was at the minimum level.
68% didn’t inflate the nearly flat spare tyre.
57% missed the blown reversing light bulb.
21% didn’t notice the low pressure in the nearside rear tyre.
The consumer watchdog also filled up the screenwash as an honesty test to see how many garages charged for it anyway - 39% did so. The amounts charged were small, ranging from 68p to £2.41, but Which? thinks the practice of billing for a product that wasn’t supplied shows inexcusable dishonesty.
Poor servicing standards in this industry are nothing new,** but there are now several codes of practice*** that aim to raise standards and boost consumer confidence.**** While Which? applauds such codes in theory, so far they’re failing to deliver in practice.
Garages affiliated to the Bosch Car Service scheme scored highest, fixing 64% of introduced faults. Motor Codes garages came a close second with 60% of faults fixed. But it’s bad news for the ironically named Good Garage Scheme; its score of 39% is actually worse than the 43% achieved by independent (non-code) garages.
Which? is calling for all codes of conduct to include robust mystery shopping, and would like to see a recognised, industry-wide qualification introduced for all mechanics.
Peter Vicary-Smith, chief executive, Which?, says:
“This is a worrying snapshot of an industry that desperately needs to clean up its act. Almost all the garages in our investigation failed to fix basic faults. This could have endangered the lives of drivers and other road users and is simply not acceptable.
“The fact that the Bosch and Motor Codes schemes have out-performed independent garages is encouraging, but there’s still a long way to go for the industry to win the confidence of car owners.”
Notes to Editor
*Which? asked 62 of its members with cars between three and six years old to book their cars in for a service with a selection of garages around Britain. These appointments took place between March and June 2010. Before each ‘mystery shop’, Which? experts inspected the cars for pre-existing problems that should be noted or fixed as part of a routine service, and introduced four deliberate, easily fixed faults.
After the service, Which? re-examined each car to see how many faults the garage had missed, then rectified them where appropriate. It also asked owners for their impressions of the garage and its staff, and checked the bill to see how accurate it was.
**When Which? last tested garages in 2007, a mere two out of 50 cars came back with a completely clean bill of health.
***Bosch introduced the first code of practice for garages which was granted full approval by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Several others launched similar schemes, most notably the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) with its Motor Codes initiative, and the Good Garage Scheme, which is operated by oil company Forté Lubricants. Motor Codes is awaiting full OFT approval.
Fifteen garages tested weren’t affiliated to any servicing code, while Bosch and the Good Garage Scheme had 15 garages each. 80% of garages in the Motor Code scheme are franchised dealers, so in order to fairly compare franchises and independents, Which? looked at 17 garages in total – 15 franchises, plus two independent garages that are also part of the scheme. Which? ensured that all franchised dealers worked on their own particular brand, for example Audis at Audi dealers.
****Which? also asked 722 drivers about their expectations of a good garage in an online survey in July 2010. More than half (54%) of drivers who get their car serviced at a garage deem accreditation
to a code of conduct as important. 61% of drivers expect all mechanics to have formal qualifications and 50% expect codes of conduct to include regular mystery shopping.
