Right said Fred (in the shed)

A fact of life when trying to save money in a recession is you really do have to think about every penny you spend. The main dealers are always looking at innovative ways of enticing you into their service departments and will bombard you with letters and e-mails about cheap service deals. However it is often the smaller one man band operations or ‘Fred in the shed’ type workshops that offer the best prices and do actually do a good job with your car.

A friend of mine recently needed to get his wife’s car serviced and also thought he might need some new brake discs and pads. To cut a long story short the difference between the main dealer and the medium sized independent was about £100 but the little back street guy was a clear winner saving him over £200 and still having genuine parts used on his wife’s 5 year old BMW.

The experience at the first two places was exceptional and my friend could not fault the welcome or the way they tried to get his business. However the back street guy in his rotten overalls and less than salubrious under the arches setting could barely communicate with my friend but carried out the work proficiently and at by far the best price.

Of course the moral of the story is to make sure you always shop around but at the end of the day you pay your money and you take your choice!