Three garages out of four provide a poor service when repairing cars, with franchised outlets performing as badly as independents despite being more expensive, according to a Which? magazine report published on Thursday.
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According to the Daily Telegraph, the magazine’s survey of 48 garages across the country found that 35 carried out flawed work on vehicles taken to them for full services. Among franchised operators, Renault performed the worst.
The paper said the Consumers’ Association report highlighted a Renault garage at Colindale, north London, which recharged an air conditioning system that only needed topping up and changed the rear exhaust assembly. It then replaced all three wiper blades when only one was split.
Overall, the 24 franchised outlets cost about £40 more per service than their independent counterparts, the Daily Telegraph said. All three Renault franchisees tested were rated as either “below par” or “poor”.
Negative ratings were also recorded for Toyota, Peugeot and Nissan outlets, the report added. A Ford dealer in Redditch was the only manufacturer franchisee to be classed as “very good” or “good”.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Renault UK said in a statement, that it had “every confidence” in its dealer network: “If in an isolated occurrence a customer is dissatisfied with the level of service received, the issue is addressed accordingly.”
