1 is the bill worth more than the car, if yes push the fucker off the nearest crevice, or in front of a train which ever comes first

I don't know how to tell if the oil looks new.

No, the bill's not higher than the car's value. I just think I'm always ripped off at garages because of my ignorance on such such things. I'm always surly with them when paying, just in case they are.

I was spoiled by having a great garage to go to when I was up in the north east, where the owner used to do work for me for nothing sometimes.

Were you shagging him at the time?

Gilly wrote:














No seriously........















WTF? An MOT is circa £50 yeah...which is an all over (excluding engine/gearbox) "inspection".

And these 'folk' want £300 to do a less intensive inspection than that, service the engine and bleed the brakes???

I would have done that for you for a cake...well, a cake and a half considering the brake bleeding...

Thank fuck I aint a breadhead. Sorry Gilly but you need to find a more honest mechanic. Or learn to do stuff like that yourself. That's very very basic mechanics there. The only 'specialist' tool you need there is a bleeding kit (£30 buys you a good one) anorl.

EDIT: scratch that, you could bleed the brakes the old skool way with nowt that you don't find in your average house...a bit of tube and an empty bottle.

jhado wrote:
No, and don't be insolent!

knobmeup wrote:
Yeah, but it's about getting the service record from them to keep the resale / trade-in value high - isn't it?

God, I'm glad I don't have to drive a car. It's non-stop burglary from the moment you drive it off the forecourt.

Gilly wrote:
My experience tells me that a well presented wallet full of invoices can be worth way more than a fully stamped dealership service book when buying a car. I wouldn't be put off at all by the lack of a complete set of stamps. A complete set of stamps just says the car was owned by someone who didn't know a lot about cars and deferred even the simple stuff to thieverships.

A car with a big thick folder of chronological receipts and invoices says this car was owned by someone who actually cared for the car itself. If you get my drift.
Put it this way...There is not one hope in hell that you would get your money back solely by virtue of the full log book, even on a 6/7 year old car. The extra thousand or three you would have spent would never be recouped when compared to the price you'd get for the same car with a full folder of receipts and invoices from local garages and autoparts places. Especially if the important stuff is OEM.

My tip for anyone buying a car costing enough to warrant the question would be to get to know a spanner and get to know a good backstreet mechanic for the harder stuff. If you have money to throw away, may I suggest a holiday?

EDIT: This post assumes ofc that no-one reading it is going out and buying new M3's, RS8s or 911s

wake_up_bomb wrote:
Or...from the moment you see the brochure...walk in....get chattin....

Seriously though, it doesn't have to be like that. I've known and do know folk that drive some very nice cars, for cheap. Excluding the extortion of fuel/insewerants/tax. Hell, I've even had a few meself

EDIT: I seen the other thread about reasons for being institutionalized. If I were to write a list, it would have 'buying a new car' pretty near the top

knobmeup wrote: I was very much including this in my 'burglary' assessment.

I rather thought you might have.

The fuel one has ways to stop the thieves nicking yer fiat and tbf for most folk, fuel is the biggest robbery.
I've flirted with it so far not committed to it, largely due to other stuff that needed doing but I may well get back on the case in spring.

Thank you Dubs. I don't have money to throw away, btw. And I wouldn't be without a car, Wub, even though you do get charged over the odds. There are a lot of advantages to having one.

No, I don't expect you do Gilly. Which is why I'm pointing out that's what anyone who has an 'average' car for a few years and has it dealer serviced is doing.
It's kind of like the whole buy a new diesel thing to save money on fuel. It's about 257 years before you actually save a penny.

Gilly wrote: I'm sure there are, I've been almost constantly badgered to get a driving licence my entire life! It's really not necessary for me at the moment, and I would resent the money spent on it. It's probably totally different for you with kids and all that.

I suppose I have been a bit lucky living in Edinburgh as it has a pretty good public transport set-up, (Excluding the recent trams fucking shambles, but they are not even in commission yet) but I've never had the need to drive and tbh, I never wanted to anyway.

I rode motorbikes for a while when younger but everyone should be compelled to experience that.
But when the planet is lying on it's deathbed, choking its last, I'll be able to say "Sorry lovely Gaia, it wos them fuckers wot dun it".

Seriously though I could not ever justify the cost against advantages.

Ladies and gentlemen...I proudly present the answer to all of your automotive angst:



Tis mine own invention. I call it the 'Ab-Ominator' and it can be purchased for quite a reasonable price. Certainly no more than an MOT on your stuffy, old petrol-guzzlers.

Roll up! Roll up!

You live in London, Abs, you'll need a bike that can deal with all those bastard pedestrians that get in the way.

Make way, plebs

It depends on the circumstances _ it would cost me more to travel to & from work via public transport than the weekly equivalent in petrol. But there are other advantages. Like not having to juggle a fort nightly load of groceries on the bus, which wouldn't even be feasible.

Did women have more balls before feminism?