Fast fits

i worked for a national company 25 years ago same script then they called it the half time score they usally called you at lunch time and they thought your figures were not good you got a visit and your head was nipped about why your figures were so poor i still have friends who work for them 1 is the general manager he says it is still the same as i worked there but they have just got clever on how not to get found out on what they are up to on ripping off customers and marking up the costs off repairs and parts they still love women customer with credit cards he says they are easy meat

Anyone else lost a customer for a year had them return for the next test with previous majors ticket on passenger seat. I wonder why because their test is £25 mine is £45..

Late on this thread but as a new member just browsing around the site....
One of my customers, a young lady, dropped in, could I look at her rear suspension becuase she had been told it was dangerous. The rear shock absorber shrouds (steel) were quite corroded but the shockers were sound as a bell. No problems at all. She had been into a fast fit chain for two tyres which I had told her to get (I don't do tyres) and they had called her into the workshop, shown her these shrouds and told her that her rear suspension was potentially lethal. Fortunately she is a strong minded soul and came to me for a second opinion. Apparently the manager had told her that if she took the car away without being "repaired" she must accept that it was against his advice and he wouldn't be responsible for the consequences!

Totally disgraceful, but I do know that some independents might have done the same. Still to attempt to frighten someone into spending unecessary money like that...

Let me first say i am against very cheap MOT'S and in favour of a fixed price for all, but...........

You can't tar all VTS's doing cheap MOT's with the same brush. Being freelance i have, and do test at many VTS's and although i can only speak for the area i cover, approx 50 testing stations my observation is that a good percentage of places offering cheap MOT's do give a quality service and frequently as good or better service than a mid priced or full priced test. And the same goes for any repairs. Yes there are bad apples in the MOT scheme but my experiance is, that can be, and is with any price MOT. This is just my opinion based on my many years of testing in and around where i live.


edited to add top line

It's not just the failing of unnecessary items, its the advising people to have repairs done that just don't make sense. I've just retested a Vreg Ka that has had £1200 spent on it. That didn't include the advisories and it could do with a couple of tyres, front discs, and a set of rear axle bushes. The money just doesn't make sense. There's enough rot underneath to suggest that next year it's due for loads of welding.


However I am having a different problem with fast-fits at the moment....

58plate Vectra, failed on diesel emissions about 3.2, and put a dangerous advise on both rear tyres. They had been run soft, and were still soft, and the sidewalls were wearing on the road. The edge blocks were missing and there was a shiny smooth area about an inch wide up the sidewall that felt so thin you could push your finger in tike a kids baloon. Desperately wanted to fail them, but just couldn't.
Car went to a National chain, they did an oil change, with flush and diesel fuel additive (£110)and did a smoke test. Gave the owner a print out saying "PASSED" 2.5PPM. errrrr PASS ON A 58PLATE IS 1.5! And they told him his tyres were fine. He now thinks I'm ripping him off


54plate Transporter. Failed on headlamp aim, which I didn't adjust because one adjuster was not working(nor did it's electric adjuster)and one tyre having cords exposed. These were showing at the bottom of the tread grooves, but in the area they were visibly there appeared to be a very slight lump in the tread area. I advised that the cords and the lump together may be a sign that the tyre is starting to break up internally, but I was happy that the cords were a fail. The same competitor told the customer his tyre was OK and his headlights were "Bang on point five". I'm assuming that means half a degree down, which is the top setting for small vehicles, but the Transporter's light is 910mm above the deck.

58plate Avensis. Serviced yesterday at a different Faster-fit centre. Given a tyre report saying all tyres better then 4mm. So I failed the nearside front for having an area of tread below 1.6mmm. Groove had a wearbar, and was about 35mm from the edge of the tyre, under 1.6 mm for a length of about 100mm. A bit strange as the wheel wasn't buckled, and the tyre spun pretty true, no dip as if it had been skidded, but not 1.6mm. he went back and they told him I didn't know what I was doing, the tyres were all fine, I was always failing things like that, it's how we make our money. (both tyres had a smooth strip right on the edge, which I had advised, so maybe he thought that was what I failed it on? I don't know)
He asked me how I failed it when they said they would pass it and I could only say I didn't know how they could pass it, but when I do a test I check all four tyres, all the way across and all the way round.

Hardly a day goes by without an arguement.