Tyred out

A few months ago, I was having a problem with one of my car tyres. (Hopefully, this blog does get better.) I went to a well known tyre fitting company who charged a sizeable sum for not fixing it. I then went to the vehicle dealership where they not only charged an arm and a leg for fixing it, they also came forward with a long list of things that they said needed to be repaired immediately along with the usual ‘advisories’. I forget the actual estimate but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t far short of £400. Today, having taken my car to our local garage for its MOT and a service, the actual cost was a fraction of the dealership estimate and I got a knowing smile and a wink when the local mechanic, who I have known and trusted for years, gave me his bill. There were a couple of minor advisories but neither would require action for “at least another 10,000 miles”.

Part of my problem could be my limited understanding of what goes on beneath the bonnet. When the local dealership, whose name begins with T, explained the long list of advisories, my head began to swirl. “There is an issue with the Sprocket Flangellator and I’d strongly recommend you get that dealt with urgently,’ they told me. I may have misremembered the actual name of the failing part but not the extortionate cost of replacing it. At the time, I spoke with my partner who is much smarter than me and said, “We might as well get it all done how.” Looking at me as if I had just had a frontal lobotomy, she said – and here I paraphrase, “Are you soft in the head? Let’s take the car to the local garage and see how much really needs to be done and how much it will cost.” I did today and I have – no, she has – saved us a fortune.

I find that with local businesses, you get less bullshit. How many times have you been to a chain dealership and been faced by a sharp dressed salesman who purses his lips, inhales and then announces, “This doesn’t look good, I’m afraid” and then thought to yourself, “Shit”? Luckily for me, my partner who also acts effectively as my carer, is sharper on the uptake. “Oh, it doesn’t look good, does it? We’ll see about that. Goodbye.” No. The local business relies on honesty and trust, on recommendation and reputation. I’m not sure the big multinationals give a toss about that, although most of their employees are, in my experience, generally lovely. It’s just that their jobs are different. They need to persuade you to pay for stuff that you don’t necessarily need to have done and buy things you don’t want. The local garage provides what is, to all intents and purposes, a public service.

Still, that the MOT and service done for another year, on whenever it is next year when I forget the date and get on bended knee to my local garage to fit me in.