I have just received a shocking email titled ’14 million UK motorists feel ripped off by their garage’ from Motor Codes who organise the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code. They have 6200 subscribers of which the lion share (>70%) are franchised dealerships.

I now realise that their research turns out to be based on 1194 motorists which they have extrapolated, for headline reasons perhaps, to suggest that over 14 million motorists ‘feel short changed by their local service and repair garage’.

On reflection whilst this is probably a highly misleading statistic no matter the qualifying asterisks in the Press Release if we assume that this is a sufficiently representative sample to be meaningful in any way, then the following findings are very worrying on their own:

• Almost half of UK motorists (45%) feel they have been ripped off by garages (allegedly representing some 14,063,614 motorists).
• UK motorists feel out of pocket to the tune of an estimated £2.4 billion
• Young drivers are hit hardest with 41% of 16-24 year olds feeling ripped off by local garages to the tune of £51 – £150… which could be explained if they ended up in dealerships without realising they are more expensive than garages of course – whose fault would that be?
• Some 30% of motorists aged 25-34 and over 55 were dissatisfied with their local garage
• Over a quarter of all motorists who felt ripped off believed they paid between £51 and £150 more than they needed to… which could be explained if they ended up in dealerships without realising they are more expensive than garages of course – whose fault would that be?
• 5% of motorists felt they had been ripped off to the tune of more than £300.
• Those who felt more than £500 out of pocket claimed to be on average £1,408 worse off following their latest service.
• The East feels the pinch the most where a third of motorists claimed to have been short changed, compared to just 17% of motorists in Northern Ireland.

If anything was to convince me that there is a case for regulating the UK garage industry, this research is surely it and may prove to be the tipping point for the likes of the Office of Fair Trading who will surely see that this is a quality hurdle too great for any Code of Practice to tackle, unless it’s compulsory…

Not serious at all according to Motor Codes however –  instead they think  it’s time to launch an upbeat Golden Garage competition using £16,000 prize money to reward the really good garages out there (and there are many, see the female friendly FOXY Choice website if you are in any doubt…).  Whereas I feel it’s time (and has been for some 50 years) to rid the industry of the really bad garages so that motorists can look forward to paying value for money prices for measurably good garage services in future, having understood the difference between dealership and garage standards and prices so they can choose the solution to suit them, their car and the occasion.

If that means regulation then so be it.

What I’d really like to know is the strategy behind this garage competition and how it will help outlaw the really bad garages who are as likely to cut safety corners to cut their costs as they are to rip off motorists.

Surely an industry scheme MUST DO MORE to ostracize those garages and dealerships that could be putting lives at risk and are certainly harming the image of this industry…

Yet by concentrating on good garages, Motor Codes seems intent on ignoring the cowboys.

FOXY