To think that mechanics are thieves and liars ...

[Rosieeo]

Even though they sound reasonable?

How can suspension ROT??? What the bloody hell is GREEN CORROSION in my fuse box? What, and where, IS my fuse box and what has it got to do with anything?

Why is an MOT that was supposed to cost £35 now going to cost me nearly £500?

And am I wrong to secretly blame the bearer of said bad news, namely the mechanic blokey? Or is it actually my fault for knowing sweet fa about cars and actually hating them with a passion for draining my pockets on a regular basis?

scratch peougots are the worst car to work on apparently - don't know if it's true but the extra would have been the labour charges.

I have experienced some right gits of mechanics who have robbed me blind. I found a garage about 5 years ago who are brilliant and I trust implicitly they have often done little bits for free when I have dropped in on the off chance and they are really friendly, because of this I recommend them to everyone and they have gained a lot of business because of it. I wishmore garages could see the benefit of treating customers well.

Which? did some research once, sending a women to some garages and a man to some others. They had checked out the cars and knew exactly what was and wasn't wrong with them.

Surprise surprise, many garages really ripped off the woman. Some ripped off the man too, but not as many and not to the same extent.

Having said that, French cars are notoriously badly made. My sister's getting rid of her Renault as she's sick of the faults, including the entire elecrronic dash failing.

The car guys at Which? told me if everyone just wanted a practical, reliable car that would get them from A to B and back again, we'd all be driving Toyota Corollas...

We were recently fleeced by mechanic.

They charged £185 for a part ,total bill was £500.

We duly paid but dh called the Peugout peeps and asked how much this part was and they said £85 !

We went back to the mechanic who dithered and fluffed a bit then gave us a £100 refund.He had no reason for the extra £100.

We also queried the 6hr labour to do the job as peugout ssaid it was 3hr job but obvioulsy that is harder to argue about.

YABU - my lovely friend is a mobile mechanic and is honest as honest can honestly be.

FWIW - I have had a Renault (Laguna) and would never have another - practically replaced every part on the damn thing.

My mechanic friend told me beware of the 3F's - Ford, Fiat & French.

(In saying that I totally ignored him and bought a Ford that I havent had any trouble with despite the huuuuuge mileage).

To be honest we would usually buy Ford as Dh is fully trained to work on them and as he works in a main ford dealer gets the parts at cost. However we couldn't afford the galaxy or an S max which is the size of vehicle we were looking at as we have an ever expanding family and usually end up doing the driving if we go out with his parents as they don't like driving! They do chip in for diesel though so we can't complain.

Have to say that it may be a better idea to take car for MOT at a place that just does that - they then just tell you what is wrong, if anything, and have no incentive to lie as they don't do repairs! You can then go and get it fixed at a reasonable price.

Polgara - was just coming to say exactly that! Make sure that when you take it for MOT they know in advance that you will NOT be having any repairs done there!

mummyhill - we have just got an S reg galaxy. It's pretty good. Things have gone wrong but that is par for the course IME with older cars and once they are sorted things tick along nicely as long as you look after it.

Our last car was a Laguna estate and v reliable. Previous car was a Renault 19 - lovely lovely car. Very sad to see it go. Have also had a fantastic Citroen diesel estate. So far I'ev had good experiences with French cars.

We had a Renault Scenic and it was a disaster. I hated it with a violent passion - the electrics went on it in a fairly epic style and it was a foot longer at the back than I used to think cause it had a really pointless towbar! I mean, what's the point of putting a towbar on a 1.6 automatic tank?! The car could barely shift itself, never mind anything else.

Have a Skoda Felicia now and I heart it. Never had anything go wrong on it and get it serviced at a local HiQ who are fabulous. I reckon you're less likely to get ripped off by the chains, but I could be wrong. I just wish dh was more of a grease monkey, but he has less idea about cars than me, although he'll pretend he does!

My car is 9 years old in November and the only things ever changed are the tyres and wipers.