Do you have questions about car maintenance or opinions on your previous experiences when sorting out an MOT or service? Ask Quick Lane - £200 voucher to be won

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Quick Lane CEO David Alexander and Centre Manager Vicky Oakes have answered Mumsnet users questions on car maintenance and MOTs. Click here to read what they had to say.

Your car’s MOT may have you worrying about the amount of work that will need doing, how long your car could be out of action for and how much you’ll be out of pocket, but it’s crucial that your vehicle can get you from A to B safely. However, lots of people find the world of car maintenance and servicing confusing, and aren’t sure about what they should expect.

With this in mind, Quick Lane is here to help answer your questions about the car servicing industry and what you should expect when you’re getting an MOT or your car serviced. They’d like to hear about the experiences you’ve had in the past, and whether there’s anything putting you off of engaging more heavily with car maintenance, so that they can help you understand how to have a less stressful experience in the future. Quick Lane CEO David Alexander and Centre Manager Vicky Oakes will be answering your questions.

Do you have questions about whether your experience of car servicing or getting an MOT was what it should be? Perhaps you have questions about the car servicing industry and your perceptions of it? If you’re distrustful of the car servicing industry, perhaps you have questions about what you should look out for?

Here’s what Quick Lane has to say: “Quick Lane is a movement to change previously disappointing, intimidating or surprising interactions when looking to get your car serviced or worse, in a disruptive situation like a punctured tyre or an MOT failure. At Quick Lane our ambition is to build a business whereby a community of vehicle owners can be confident that any question regarding their vehicle will be addressed in the right way by experts – we’re supporting this with our Quality Assurance Check. It doesn’t cost Quick Laner Customers anything and we complete them on all the vehicles we see to provide our customers with all the information they need to keep them and their families safe and mobile.”

Want to know who will be responding to your questions and comments? Find some information on David and Vicky from Quick Lane below:

David Alexander, Quick Lane CEO
David has been the CEO of Quick Lane for just over a year, after working for likes of British Gas and Europcar. He was brought into Quick Lane for his experience within customer services and his non-automotive background to try and bring new energy to the sector rather than the tried and tested.

Vicky Oakes, Quick Lane Centre Manager
Vicky started her time with Quick Lane as a Service Advisor receiving high volumes of 5-star customer reviews. Because of her dedication to customer satisfaction and continuing the brand mission detailed earlier by CEO David Alexander, Vicky has been promoted to Centre Manager.

Whether you’ve got a burning question or an experience to share, let Quick Lane know by posting on this thread and their experts will join the conversation and address some of the queries raised.

All who post on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £200 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

Would NOT servicing a vehicle have detrimental effect on the vehicle and or its value

How often should I be getting my car serviced? What do they actually do when they service a car?

I recently purchased a car from a car dealer and it came with a new MOT with no advisories. It failed the original MOT on a number of issues but these were dealt with and it passed 2nd time.
After about 3 weeks I took my car to my local garage to get it serviced and asked them to look it over for me.
When I collected the car they said it must have had a special MOT because the front and rear brake pipes had rusted through and needed replacing immediately.
I contacted the car dealership I purchased the car from and they apologised and said there must have been a miscommunication with their mechanic and themselves and they would have the car back to do the work on it.
Looking back on previous MOTs the brake pipes were noted as advisories in 2018 and 2019.
On the 2020 MOT they were not mentioned at all.
My question is - what action should I take ? I’m worried that there is a dodgy MOT company / person out there who is putting lives at risk.

Do you give customers who have been told that their car has failed its MOT the option to see the failed part (where possible) or at least give a detailed explanation?

I find that usually you're told it's failed on this and that and no explanation is give as to why. If for example it was down to driving style it's something the owner could look to change in the future

We've recently had a MOT completed on our new (-ish) Peugeot car. Quick process, no faults.
3 weeks later, a 'spanner' symbol has started appearing on the car dashboard indicating car service is due. It's easy to reset the dashboard setting, but if there is a genuine fault with car, it will not be addressed. Did the garage miss a fault, and if not, surely they should have reset the counter?

Is it recommended we visit the garage again for anothercar check / service?

How can we fight against the view that women don't know what they are talking about?

I come across it so much - age and looking younger than my age probably doesn't help - despite it being MY car, me who has sorted everything with it since I got it etc

I've always had old cars and never bothered with a service, last year i bught a newish car and since then i have taken it to the dealer for a service - for the first year i was delighted but after this last time i'm not so sure - not really sure what i was paying for - is it really worth keeping having a service if you plan to run the car until it drops!

I receive so many conflicting recommendations fir mechanics in my area - all small independent garages. I’ve tried one fir service and MOT but it was expensive in my opinion. It’s not something you can really shop around for is it? Or is it just trial and error?

What questions should I be asking when deciding which garage to use for my car? I don't know all that much about cars and want someone who will give me honest, sensible advice, but how do I work out who that is?

Every time my MOT is due my garage always recommend a full service too. Is it necessary to have one every year? I’m ashamed to say I have very little understanding of cars and what is essential maintenance or what is just the garage up selling.

What are your views on tyre rotation? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

What level of service would you recommend? Does it differ for the age of the car? Is it better to get the pre paid packages or pay per service ? Not sure if the pre paid things are all essential or just nice to haves.

How do i know if i am over paying and what should the cost come to

How do I know the garage have actually done what they said they would do?

Is it worth renewing a warranty on a five year old car? My warranty runs out soon but I’m not sure whether I should get another or not.

my previous car was a very old but precious ford. It had been lovingly looked after, re-sprayed and pampered, all in good working order, serviced every year etc etc. However as it got older, the Ford dealership that I used lost interest as the car was old, they cut corners, they didn't include the standard wash after service, they damaged the wheels badly when changing tyres.... I spent 18 years with this dealership and spent a lot of money over the years but there was no loyalty back. I was very disappointed in the end...

Is there a way to compare prices of parts as I always pay more for a manufacturer to do my service as I trust them not to rip me off but their prices are effectively ripping me off anyway!

My last MOT gave me some 'recommended' work - not essentials, one of which was tyres - I want to replace all four, but can only afford 2 this month and two next - what would you recommend front or back first ? which is the more important ? (and are remoulds any good for all 4) my mileage is quite low as i am WFH for the foreseeable

Is the car service worth the price or are there easy to do things I should be doing myself?

what do your staff actually know about cars?

We had our car serviced and MOTd at our local garage. It needed a new door catch (couldn't open the boot) and local garage couldnt get the part. We went to the dealer eventually. They came back and said there was £1500 work required on the car to make it safe plus another £1000 work which was recommended. They also promised a video and list of essential works. Now feel obliged to try a 3rd quote to see which garage is lying more. I resent being lied to and resent having to pay money to find truth. Any advice to how to proceed.

How long should pre worn tyres last compared to brand new tyres and what is the standard price difference

do you give quotes or estimates for the work that needs to be done and do you source all of the parts?

Do I really need a car service? Obv we have an MOT but what does a service offer?

Every time I have ever had a puncture in our history of car ownership, we have been told it could not be repaired and had to buy a new tyre.

I’m sceptical that it has always been the case and statistics would also suggest otherwise. How can we as customers actually verify this?