This is a must watch topic!!!!

I voted no.

Nowhere in that piece does it mention that the cars were subjected to a MOT test. It talks about free checks and inspections.

Very different.

They do refer to the standard of safety checks and based on the simple pre-set that where missed, I'd worry if that same employee had a target issue that could result in a similar situation...or worse when testing vehicles.

It's a public information film that has been publicly responded to.

Once it's out there it's anyone's to use

To be honest if a car had of gone there for test it would jeopardise the entire scheme for sure. I'm glad they never.

The subject of the report was aimed at the public's trust in a large chain organisation that carry out safety checks deliberately targeted at ripping off customers. They also carry out MOT Test's.....would you trust a garage within this group Gaz?

The MOT is mentioned....

In the intro to the segment say's, and I quote, "Keeping a car in good condition is costly and in cash strapped times, more drivers are cutting back on regular servicing. That can be a false economy. Of the 26m cars that went in for MOT last year, nearly 40% failed leaving their owners with a hefty bill. As maintenance is so expensive we should be able to trust the garages that do the inspections......but can we?"

If that doesn't relate to the MOT trade I don't know what would

Further reading on the topic from the BBC Website: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01b85c4/features/kwik-fit

I've made bold again here the text relating to us and also further on in the 3rd paragraph. We have an "Inspection" mentioned and also a "Safety check" mentioned.

MOT Stations Inspect vehicles......

@daveg if you look at the post I added you'll see timings at which the subject is on e.g @ 30 mins, @ 58 mins etc

Inside Kwik-Fit

With nearly 40% of cars failing their MOT and maintenance costs so high, can we always trust the garages that inspect our vehicles?


We heard from a whistleblower from Kwik-Fit, one of Britain’s biggest garage chains, who told us that some customers can sometimes be tricked into paying for work they don’t need. They told us that if you “come on a quiet day, which we haven’t sold much, and we need to hit our target we do everything to convince you to buy a lot of things you don’t need to buy.”

Not only that, they told us that when customers take their cars in for an inspection or check staff can sometimes cut corners and not complete them properly.

Serious allegations that we wanted to put to the test, so we sent ten cars into ten different Kwik-Fit garages for free brake and tyre checks. Before they were sent in all ten cars were examined by a forensic mechanic and fellow of the Institute of the Motor industry, John Dabek. After thoroughly examining each car, he put silicone gel marks on each car so he would know whether the car had truly been fully inspected.

After the cars came back from the branches, John inspected the cars again and discovered that Kwik-Fit had recommended over £700 worth of work on four cars that we simply didn’t need, or at least not as urgently as they suggested.

Although we didn’t disagree with all of Kwik-Fit’s findings there was worse to come as John discovered that Kwik-Fit failed to complete the full brake and tyre inspection on seven of our ten cars. On a number of these cars he found that the silicone on the tyres was undisturbed, showing that the wheels had not been taken off to complete proper checks. In some cases they had even missed underinflated tyres and nails and screws lodged in the tyres.

We also sought a second opinion from Mark Brown, an automotive engineer and forensic car examiner. He also inspected the vehicles and agreed with John Dabek.

Kwik-Fit says that you’ll be amazed at what they do. Bet you are now.
Company response


Kwik-Fit told us: Our highest priority is keeping our four and a half million customers safe on the roads, and helping reduce their motoring costs.

While we, and an independent expert, seriously disagree with most of the BBC's findings, we fully accept that in a few instances our staff could have been clearer with their communication; for this we apologise. We are intent upon improving how we communicate our advice to customers after inspecting their vehicle.

Any recommendations we make on replacing parts take into account manufacturers' information and advice from organisations such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). We believe that this is a professional and responsible approach which focuses first and foremost on our customers' safety.

Our policy on recommending unnecessary work is very clear; we have zero tolerance and any proven cases result in disciplinary action. We have a whistleblower line on which staff can anonymously report any aspect of malpractice from their manager or colleagues and a senior management team will investigate and act on any reports.

Our centre staff are regularly audited and rewarded based on levels of customer service and compliance, measured through our own mystery shopping programmes. We expect high standards to be delivered across all areas of our business, and continue to make significant investment in training our staff We take customer feedback very seriously and guarantee to take any remedial action required, should our procedures be less than satisfactory, which was the case in a minority of the BBC's mystery shop exercise.

It is notable that our customer complaints have fallen by 28% over the last year and we are proud of a customer satisfaction level of 98%.

We are very confident that our advice regarding the rear shock absorbers was correct and we consider that our position is supported by the guidance from two leading independent manufacturers and the RAC. We have made clear to the BBC that we are willing to pay for an independent laboratory to assess the condition of the shock absorbers to put our diagnosis to the test. In fact, we have offered this on three separate occasions, but the BBC has not accepted this offer nor has it provided any reasons for not doing so. Our offer to the BBC remains open.

I think the intention was to encourage people to consider where they get an MOT Test and not to be fooled by "cheap" or "free" offers as on occasion they're far from free. If corners are cut on 1 form of safety check carried out at these centres for profit imagine the scale of the problem if corners where cut in all safety checks we have as MOT Examiners.....imagine the sales too

No. Read the statement properly.

It's simple maths.

Last year...

Customer satisfaction = 97%

Customer disatisfaction (complaints) = 3%

28% reduction of 3% is (roughly) 1%

New customer disatisfaction (complaints) = 2%

New customer safisfaction = 98%


Aren't statistics wonderful...

Having been in the trade all my working life none of what was found came as a surprise. I've worked alongside a few ex kwik fit mechanics in my time and not one has had a good thing to say about their ex employer.



That's a very familiar statement to me. The guys I've spoke to have told me the branch managers are under so much pressure to hit daily targets it does filter down to the guys on the ramps quite heavily. As I've already said its not just a problem you will find in kwik fit. As far as MOT's go, again, I would need to agree with baz. Kwik fit were applying service standards to those checks. There is proof that they were still selling stuff they didn't need to but, free brake and tyre checks are to service standards, not the bare minimum MOT standards. You would never even think about writing an advisory for things like shock absorbers due for replacement would you? Yet it is common practice in servicing at some garages. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending kwik fit, It's because of places like them others are getting a bad name.

The garage I'm working at isn't a fast fit place but it is a growing chain of small garages that mainly deal with fast fit work and MOT failures. Having just opened a new branch we were handing out vouchers for £10 MOT's. My wife was handing them out to people she knew in our local area. The response? "That's just a con to get us in the door". They think we're going to rip them off by failing their cars unnecessarily, AND THESE WERE PEOPLE WE KNEW! They were branding us under the same umbrella as kwik fit. Even after my wife explained to them it was myself that would be doing the MOT's, they said "the garage would just add stuff on". Just goes to show how little faith people have in our trade because of stories like this.

Do what we do and show the customer what parts came off and were replaced before we chuck them in the bin. Every job we do we keep a box for the old parts for exactly this reason.




I take a different view - it's a great time to be a small independent. The dealers are getting bashed, the multi-chains are getting it in the neck, and we, as independents, have to make sure that we keep our standards up because we could possibly be the next target.

I take a different view - it's a great time to be a small independent. The dealers are getting bashed, the multi-chains are getting it in the neck, and we, as independents, have to make sure that we keep our standards up because we could possibly be the next target.[/quote]


I agree and fear it won't be too long till the MOT itself is investigated