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23/08/2010
Garages Take Customers 'For A Ride'
There are still shocking levels of incompetence in UK car garages, says Which?, after carrying out an undercover investigation.
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. Eight of the 62 garages tested returned the cars fault-free and five failed to fix any of the introduced faults.
The consumer watchdog also filled up the screenwash as an honesty test to see how many garages charged for it anyway, 39% did.
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 of Which? said: "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."
(CD/BMcC)
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. Eight of the 62 garages tested returned the cars fault-free and five failed to fix any of the introduced faults.
The consumer watchdog also filled up the screenwash as an honesty test to see how many garages charged for it anyway, 39% did.
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 of Which? said: "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."
(CD/BMcC)
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Driver Killed By Own Coach
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Driver Killed By Own Coach
A coach driver has been killed after his own coach ran over him at a car park in Devon. It is understood that the driver, a 50-year-old man from Newton Abbot, stopped his coach in the car park at the Famous Lee Mill clothes store, near Plymouth, due to mechanical fault, and as he was getting out of the vehicle it rolled forward.
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