Kwik Fit Quote

[Mobius1]

I recently got my MOT done at Kwik Fit since it was £35 when booked online. My car passed, but with some advisory notes. They stated that the front brakes discs were worn and the pads were wearing thin, and that there is play in a rubber bush on the off-side front suspension top mount.

In honesty, I had expected these things, because the brakes squeak when being used sometimes, and sometimes I can hear a high pitched whining where I assume the front brakes are sticking slightly, and I'd heard the suspension knocking for a good few months (it's now also squeaking).

Basically, I have had a quote to replace both suspensions bushes, the front pads and discs, the resulting tracking done and a full service (which it is overdue for) for just under £400 all in. My car is an 02' Reg Nissan Micra 1.0

It sounds as though they have been honest with me. I was worried about the tyres before the MOT but they told me they were perfectly fine. I also have some bad experience with two local independent garages, so in light of the cheap and seemingly honest MOT I'm thinking of giving them a go. Am I being conned or just being charged a going rate? Any thoughts?

[dothawkes31]

I need new front brake pads and discs and got a quote from the local garage (it's a national chain but can't remeber it's name) and it was £170.00 mine is a V reg peugeot, a service is £89

[S_C]

Garages will advice waring parts when an MOT is done however the prices for the repair work will be different from garage to garage as some will inflate the time it takes so charge more for labour others will charge extra for parts so they make their profitr on the parts not so much on labour.
However if you already believed there were issue's that needed fixing on your car the question is not if your being conned , moreover is the price you can get the work done for.
Using manufactor's parts will usualy cost more , but on the whole the parts are of a higher quality than obscure parts which are cheeper , labour costs variey from garage to garage and sadly so does the time to do the job " depending on how experianced the mechanic's will be on that particular job " . all said and done if your not sure i would advice checking with some other garages regarding cost original or obscure parts and time / availability to do the job. then make your choice from there .
The job sounds a little steep on price to me , however i repair my own car and usualy only have parts to pay for which would make a big differance in the price.

not sure if this will help but i do advice always getting a second / third price so you have a ball part figure to work with.

[gsr600]

sounds a bit steep,
try to get somebody you trust to do the pads if poss - double check that it needs discs first (you dont mention the mileage)
then maybe get a few more quotes on the bushes - unless you want to relieve yourself of some money.
try your local nissan garage first maybe

[buildersmate]

Read the question Eddie - it says the garage has Advised about the condition of the brake pads AND the discs.
The way to establish whether it is reasonable price or not is to ask another garage for comparison.
Having a price comparison of some random Peugeot doesn't help much because the price of parts varies so much between models.

[suzie1]

i would get some quotes from some other local garages(not the ones you had bad experience with) before i commit to getting it repaired with them, also if your nissan micra is an old box shape one ( cute), the repairs are worth half of your car and i wouldnt spend near 400 on repairs, they are ripping u off. u r being conned!!

[derekpara]

The cost of a full Kwik-Fit service on you vehicle, not an intermediate one, will be around £159-£169 depending on oil type.

Your pads and discs could be deemed to be 'worn' even if there is 50% left on the pads and minimal wear on the discs ! But as the notes were 'advisory' you should be OK for a while. Usually, Kwik-Fit will be more specific and say, ' front pads 75% worn 'etc or ' in need of replacement'.

Tracking ( Wheel alignment) is around £30 at Kwik-Fit, and then there's your suspension bushes ( best to have both sides done together). So add cost of pads, discs to all the above and sub £400 isn't bad.

I have used my local Kwik-Fit for years and never had a complaint. In fact I've spent five hours today watching them work on a variety of vehicles whilst waiting for them to replace coil springs etc on my Mondeo and I admire their professionalism. I am always invited to see any fault before work is done, and the parts used are properly sourced and of very good quality.

They under-quoted the work on my car by about £50 ( quoted for one drop link instead of two fitted) and stood by their quote !

I have two more personal examples of Kwik-Fit service worth mentioning; they passed the Mondeo for MOT but mentioned that one of the number plate bulbs hadn't been working and they had replaced it free of charge rather than fail the vehicle !

My wife's Polo had a broke exhaust support weld on its MOT and they fixed it with an exhaust clamp free of charge again - and passed the MOT.

So, get other like-for-like quotes by all means but I don't think there'll be much in it.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

[Seafarer1966]

Kwik Fit did have a bad reputation in the 80's for ripping people off...basically because the guys there earned a very low basic wage and got commission on work they got in. So they recommended unnecessary work quite often.

These days things have changed dramatically and I have used Kwik Fit a lot. They use good quality parts i.e. Mintex brake pads and discs, Monroe shock absorbers etc. I have been happy with the service provided and work done.

S_C I have to ask the question. I note your great spelling and grammar. Would you be TWR under a different name?

[Mobius1]

Thanks for all the responses, some really good insights here. I will be phoning around a few other places that I know of shortly to see if I can get some ballpark figures and then go from there.

I do think that £400 is a lot of money to spend on a boxy '02 Micra, but having learnt the lesson from a previous vehicle that neglecting to spend when required can often come back to bite me in the butt, I am admittedly less concerned over frugality when it comes to keeping it in good repair, as it's in otherwise excellent condition as far as the drive and it's reliability is concerned. Thanks again!

[rov1200]

I never have an MOT at a garage where a failure usually means extra and sometimes unnecesaary work carried out of course by their own fitters. The loss leader MOT can usually entrap motorists to have work done at enormous expense.

The moral is have your MOT at a place that does not specialise in repair work. Sensible I would have thought?

[S_C]

no im just S_C

as for spelling and gramar as long as you can understand it then the point is made : )

[TWR]

Nice to be remebered Seafarer!! did you get your problem sorted? I think you missunderstood my answer, Oh & by the way "ALL" the critics, we all make mistakes! Dont we? Happy new year all.

[Mobius1]

Rov1200 - I had them do the MOT and it passed. The notes were only advisory, and they didn't pressure me into getting anything done. As I say, I thought the tyres were worn myself, and they told me they were fine. I had the MOT done in early October, it's only now that I'm considering having the advisory things done, so all I paid them was £35 for an MOT pass, which is cheaper than most other places as far as I'm aware.

[Nav900]

Depends on the "Kwik -Fit" center. Some dodgy one's still around (orchestrated by the Manager). The Squeeks from the brakes could be a sticking pot in one of the calipers. As previously said have a look yourself, rotate your wheels after the winter and clean out the salt anyway, have a look at the calipers & discs looking for Glazing and different surfaces on the disc. The pads can be seen with a little torch & the wheel turned out.Look for uneven wear or pads close to the metal. If it looks easy take the caliper off, pads out (pin) and clean with brake cleaner (Lidls, Tesco or other, about £1) & tooth brush or cut 1cm strips of emery paper for hard to shift gunk, Don't pump the brake when the calipers are off. Get some skin tight protective gloves.

[4HuddsGiants]

I spent 4 years working for Kwik Fit and as well as being a fully qualified vehicle techy, I also did all of the in-house courses that they provided. The brake replacement service that they now have and brought in since I left is 2nd to none. The pads or shoes that you have fitted are replaced 'FREE OF CHARGE' when worn out for as long as you own the vehicle. However it doesn't cover discs or drums.
Furthermore, if this was done on an MoT, they are working within the Ministry of Transports guidelines and not they're own.

[mariner2]

I tried kwik-Fit's MOT at a reduced online rate at their Maldon garage and they found a few things wrong - I didn't believe them and got it re-tested somewhere else (Champion motors, West Station yard, Maldon) and it passed with no mention of anything wrong at all.