Advice Please.. I went to..Kwick Fit

Hello everyone,

I had a very scary moment and Kwick Fit made a killing - I think?

I was driving at 70mph in the fast lane at 8:30am on M1, my car lost power

I had to navigate across 3 lanes to the hard shoulder, it is a miracle I didn't cause a major accident !! The engine and battery light flashed the disappeared..when the recovery chap arrived my car stared up no problem.. nothing on diagnostic.. he followed me 20 min to my work, no problem.
Lunch time, car started after 3 turns of they key drove fine around the block
6pm, home time, car started no problem, then 5 mins down the road, same problem ( in a much safer back road ( I wasn't risking the M1)
Recover came, nothing on diagnostic..I asked him to tow me home.
This morning, car stared no problem but i drove straight to... dum dum dum..Kwick Fit

I paid for a Engine sensor plus advisories. shock absorber x1 ( I couldn't afford 2) plus exhaust.. alignment.. total £523.00.. i was frightened into paying it ( my fear no pressure from KF) but now i feel like i was played..( i did haggle £100 discount)

Did i pay over the odds..?

Thought please

BernadettesFiat500 said:

Hello everyone,

I was driving at 70mph in the fast lane at 8:30am on M1,

My car lost power, I had to navigate across 3 lanes to the hard shoulder, it is a miracle I didn't cause a major accident !! The engine and battery light flashed the disappeared..when the recovery chap arrived my car stared up no problem.. nothing on diagnostic.. he followed me 20 min to my work, no problem.
Lunch time, car started after 3 turns of they key drove fine around the block
6pm, home time, car started no problem, then 5 mins down the road, same problem ( in a much safer back road ( I wasn't risking the M1)
Recover came, nothing on diagnostic..I asked him to tow me home.
This morning, car stared no problem but i drove straight to... dum dum dum..Kwick Fit

I paid for a Engine sensor plus advisories. shock absorber x1 ( I couldn't afford 2) plus exhaust.. alignment.. total £523.00.. i was frightened into paying it ( my fear no pressure from KF) but now i feel like i was played..( i did haggle £100 discount)

Thought please

Click to expand...

Hi, and welcome

A scary experience - glad you "got away with it.."

is it Petrol or Diesel..??

I'd suspect a poor connection somewhere.. but it really will want a skilled auto electrician to go through it.

a lot of garages will just plug in a reader.. then start
swapping parts = BIG BILLS..!!

out of interest how old .. in years AND Miles is the 500..??

Charlie - Oxford

BernadettesFiat500 said:

Hello everyone,

I had a very scary moment and Kwick Fit made a killing - I think?

Did i pay over the odds..?

Thought please

Click to expand...

Possibly..but it may have been worthwhile.

For peace of mind..I would get the cars battery replaced..our panda...( almost identical) did it once. We replaced the elderly original battery and has done another 50,000 miles without a recurrence. Charlie

It's stories such as this that honestly want to make me cry.

So they appear to have fixed the car.....

In doing so, they've also taken the time to replace the exhaust system. Was it the whole exhaust or just the back box? Was the exhaust 'blowing' when it went in?

They've done the one thing that I would allow no garage to ever do, replace just one shock absorber Yes, I understand you couldn't afford to have the pair done and I have no idea how much they charged you for the 'faulty' shock absorber, but you can buy a brand new pair for £30 from the well known auction site and they take just half an hour to fit if the bolts come out ok. The thing is, what did they tell you about the 'faulty shock'? Was it leaking? When did the car last pass its MOT? Were there any advisories for shocks or indeed the exhaust system?

I can at the end of the day only sympathise with you on the fact you found yourself in a very precarious situation on the M1 (I live right next to it and use it daily) and I'm pleased you safely navigated off of it. I also feel extremely sad that you've effectively 'frightened' yourself on the 'advise' of supposed professionals into paying what I consider to be an exhorbitant amount of money and carrying out other remedial work you ought to have had a second opinion on. Please, next time, don't agree to any work without getting another opinion. Consider using a trusted local independent garage. It will probably, most likely be much cheaper:

https://www.goodgaragescheme.com/

Engine sensor, whichever one it was may well be the culprit. The other work was irrelevant to the breakdown.

My first thoughts as I read the problem was main earth cable from battery to engine. These have been known to corrode inside, breaking the connection. This may also be relevant to poor starting, as 3 turns to start seems poor to me. But crankshaft sensors have been known to fail, and can do so intermittently, so could well be the issue. I'd guess this is what they've changed.

You might like to ask Kwik Fit up how the shock absorber and exhaust are relevant to the breakdown.

It does read very much to me reading Bernadettes post, that once the guys at KF had got their claws in, it became just opportunistic money making.

KF tried this on me years ago with a Mini Metro with hydrolastic suspension claiming the front shocks were knackered unaware that I knew exactly what type of suspension was fitted to the car. They didn't even apologise, just shrugged, smirked and sent me on my way after fitting a new exhaust, which did need changing by the way! That was 30 years ago. The only other times I've used KF since, is for the occasional wheel balance or puncture repair. I certainly wouldn't use them for any mechanical work whatsoever! Exhaust and tyres only, but then only if the price is right and for me, most of the time, I can get those jobs done elsewhere, cheaper. Oh, I almost forgot, I did actually have a front pair of shocks changed on an old Primera, but only because they were offering such a good deal at the time and the front of my car was sagging so much, it actually looked 'poorly'! I did see the struts that came out, they were totally knackered and to be fair to the guys at the branch I used, they did a good job, though swapping out shocks is hardly rocket science!

I suspect that if one approached KF and questioned them about the shock absorber, they'd come out with the safety line and that it definitely needed changing. I bet they no longer have the offending shock, so you'd just have to take their word for it. As for the exhaust, they might have looked at the rusty skin on the back box (if that is what was changed) and then convinced the OP that it needed changing. We don't know as none of us were there, but if the car didn't have a blowing exhaust in the first instance, then changing it was obviously needless.

frupi said:

As for the exhaust, they might have looked at the rusty skin on the back box (if that is what was changed) and then convinced the OP that it needed changing. We don't know as none of us were there, but if the car didn't have a blowing exhaust in the first instance, then changing it was obviously needless.

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500's are notorious for rusting through the outer skin of the backbox. They will often be perfectly fine (and pass MOT's without any issues) for many years after the outer skin corrodes through. There's absolutely no good reason to change them until they actually start to blow.

As for the rest, there's no way of knowing how worn the parts they replaced were, but one thing is certain - with the possible exception of the engine sensor, none of the work they did will have the slightest effect on whether the car does the same thing again.

I would say , don't ever go to places like KF , for MOTs ,because they are in the business of finding faults because they make their money from repairing things. Always go to an independent tester who doesn't do repairs. The place I go to sends the cars to a tester, they usually come back with no advisories or anything. They had one customer who took his car to KF , came back with an estimate of £800 odd , They sent it to an indepndent tester , came back with a fault that cost him £200. Can't really advise on the fault without seeing the car ,but it sounds like something in the 12V supply circuit , battery or main wiring

As far as MOT's are concerned, the only place I would ever take my own car to for a completely impartial test, is my local Council Depot. All local Councils with depots where they carry out their own vehicle testing/repairs, must offer an MOT service to the public. Crucially, they can only offer to test the vehicle, they cannot repair it should they fail it during MOT, nor are they allowed to 'recommend' a garage to have repairs carried out. I've used my local Council depot before, but it is only 3 miles from my home and you have to book several weeks in advance.

Well the cars fixed regardless, now you may consider where you go in the future.
That said my local KF seems generally OK, yes sometimes they will suggest things to replace, these tend to be things that may fail/wear out in the not too distant future, however their MOT's may leave something to desire, I'm sure they don't check everything they're supposed to, like it was clear they didn't check the seat belts! so what else did they not check, years ago they passed my Accord with a snapped coil spring that you could see just looking under the wing bending down!