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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be thinking "today I will be told I have nails/screws in my tires"

121 replies

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 10:12

Today I've taken my car in for MOT/Service.

The last 3 years I have done this (at 2 different places) I have received a call to be told I have nails/screws in 2 otherwise perfectly good tires and they need to be replaced.

Apparently I am both very unlucky to get so many nails/screws in my tires, and also very lucky that despite the high number of nails/screws I have in my tires I NEVER get a flat.

So I'm beginning to think this is a con - but I don't know what to do about it?

I wanted to ask them to check my tires before I left this morning but there was a huge queue. And I wimped out. They came out to someone waiting in the waiting room and told him he had a screw in his tire and he just smiled and nodded. Yeah I know the feeling mate.

I am doubly cynical about this as I have been driving for 30 years, and it it only the last few years since I split from XP and have been getting the car serviced myself again that this unfortunate affliction has been affecting me.

I don't know anyone else who gets so many, or even any, nails and screws in their tires. I drive on perfectly normal London streets.

So AIBU to think these car service places are fucking me over?

Is this a "thing" now?

Or is getting screws and nails in your car tires a really common thing these days? And if it is a common thing, how come nobody gets flats or blowouts?

OP posts:

Tinuviel · 20/07/2015 11:57

We've had quite a lot of nails/screws in tyres and not all have gone flat. But we get them repaired at a local tyre place which costs less than £10.

Cupcaketin · 20/07/2015 12:10

Are you near the garage and can you get there quickly? if they call, as soon as you hear them start the sentence say very quickly, sorry got to go, will call you back in a minute. Then get down there and say hi, just passing, what's this about the tyres then ? Am assuming if it's a scam they will want to reuse the tyre and won't have already got the nail in

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:15

Am assuming if it's a scam they will want to reuse the tyre
oooh I hadn't thought of that - I thought the scam would be simply to sell me new tyre but it could well be a double edged scam!

I'm not that close - it will take me about 45 min to walk there and I am at work.

OP posts:

treaclesoda · 20/07/2015 12:20

I have had nails in my tyres a few times before but I have always had a slow puncture to go with them.

Our MOTs aren't done by garages, you have to take them to a govt run test centre. It does away with a lot of this type of thing I think, as there is no worrying about them inventing things that you need to get fixed.

SoupDragon · 20/07/2015 12:24

Today I am at local Kwikfit. Are they trustworthy?

Mine certainly aren't.

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:25

There are no govt run test centres around here - I looked into that before. I'm from NZ and use govt run centers there.

I can see how this does happen - it's just how many times it has happened to me that is pushing my buttons.

For a while i thought maybe I really pissed someone off and they are vandalising my car but I really really doubt this.

Also for the amount of times this has happened to me, I've never had a flat tyre. too weird.

OP posts:

Flingingmelon · 20/07/2015 12:25

Ha, I'm reading this whilst sat getting all my tyres replaced. Three are virtually bald and you guessed it, one has a nail in the side wall.

Who are these bastards scattering the roads with nails?

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:25

oh crap - whats up with Kwikfit?

OP posts:

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:26

Flinging please tell me it was at least a bald one that has sidewall nail in it?

OP posts:

SoupDragon · 20/07/2015 12:29

The last time I went there for tyres, they added on a number of chargeable extras that I had not asked for and they failed to mention at any point during the transaction. I read the itemised bill at home and went back to give them hell. I got a refund and an apology from the area manager once I'd also complained to them.

SoupDragon · 20/07/2015 12:30

And they should be prosecuted under the trades description act for the use of the word "Kwik" in their name.

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:33

I will check the bill Soup cheers for the heads up.

There is really still a massive need for female friendly mechanics etc I think. perhaps we need a MN list of tradespeople who don't lay on the bullshit? I thought I had found one with the last place I used - but there was then the small matter of them not attaching my wheel and releasing the car to me - which kind of fucked the whole relationship up.

OP posts:

DadfromUncle · 20/07/2015 12:33

There are two MOT places around here that aren't government run, but they only do MOTs so have no interest in getting extra work. There may be similar nearby you - doesn't have to a govt/council place.

chocolatechip123 · 20/07/2015 12:34

We've only had one in 25 years, and that was on the side so we needed a new tyre.

Bloody removal men had decrated some stuff on the road and a couple of us mysteriously ended up with a flat due to screws in the tyres.

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:34

is Kwick even a word though :)

OP posts:

VivaLeBeaver · 20/07/2015 12:34

My local Kwikfit are a bunch of scammers.

Ive now found a nice, very trustworthy village garage which has been up and running 20 years and a very good reputation. Ask about on your local fb groups. Another option is every town/city has a council run mot only garage. They don't do any repairs so no interest in scamming you. But it's a pita if you need work doing as you have to find another garage. Plus they don't do servicing.

HellonHeels · 20/07/2015 12:34

Lovely friend I use a local independent mechanic in west London (queens park) for my car service and MOT. Used him for years and never had any trouble at all. He doesn't do MOT himself but takes car in for it post-service.

PM me if you would like his details.

Flingingmelon · 20/07/2015 12:35

Nope,no it wasn't.

And I've just had to shell out to get my tracking done too.

I have a shared gravel drive and I'm no stranger to a pot hole, luckily it's the cheap car and not the expensive one

DadfromUncle · 20/07/2015 12:35

SoupDragon - maybe that's why they (Kwik) don't spell it properly - so they can say they didn't mean quick :)

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:35

I've not come across any dad
I will check again - if you know of any in West London please let me know. I would use them.

OP posts:

VivaLeBeaver · 20/07/2015 12:36

When my car was in Kwikfit for an mot and service they rang me to say my car needed £400 worth of stuff doing to it to pass its mot. So I had to say yes as needed my car to pass its mot. When I actually got the paperwork half the stuff was only advisory rather than needed doing. So if they'd been more honest I could have put some stuff off a few months and spread the cost.

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:38

Thanks Hell QP is a bit far from me - I work in Chiswick. And I'm always scrabbling around the last week or 2 in July looking to get it done.

I just want a nice reliable, trustworthy reasonably priced company to do my annual MOT/service.

OP posts:

AliceAlice1979 · 20/07/2015 12:40

god I used to get loads of nails in tyres when I lived in (outer) west London. Sometimes, usually, they caused a flat. Had a couple of tyres repaired for £5 each time. As a result I know a good tyre dealership in teddington if you want the details?

PuppyMonkey · 20/07/2015 12:46

Been driving 25 years and had one nail in tyre, which immediately caused a flat. Never has it come up at an MOT.

Original poster

LovelyFriend · 20/07/2015 12:47

maybe there is a plague out west Alice
Teddington prob too far out for me but thanks.

I have previously blamed all the work on the Hammersmith flyover but really how many nails/screws would they use on a concrete structure? And most of the work was internal or underneath anyway

OP posts:

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