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1
- Q: Are you
qualified?
2 - Q: What PRACTICAL experience do you have? 4 - Q: Do you work from a unit like other small traders? 5 - Q: Why don’t you work from a unit like other small traders? 6 - Q: You work from a Nottingham suburb, will my car be safe? 7 - Q: Why don’t you do exhausts and welding, other stuff I need? 8 - Q: Do you offer a courtesy car, reception room or coffee 9 - Q: Can I wait as I wouldn’t mind seeing the work done? 11 - Q: When do you get my message if it’s left on your answerphone? 12 - Q: Do you work on larger vehicles, modified vehicles, V6’s etc? 13 - Q: What if I have a question that isn’t in your FAQ? 14 - Q: I want to buy a car, what would you advise and can you help? 15 - Q: Do I pay VAT on the bill? 17 - Q: I want fully synthetic oil/a particular brand of oil, can you do this? 18 - Q: Your service schedule is a bit different from others and from manufacturer, why? |
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A: yes I am qualified as a motor vehicle mechanic with City and Guilds over 15 years ago and have studied at university level in Automotive Engineering as well as being qualified in Information Technology. I am no stranger to computers, electrics and electronics – necessary to work on today’s vehicles, indeed I used to offer PC repair as well. I have a college background in physics and maths which can help in the theoretical side of problem solving. Here at Small-Engine we do not believe a trainee with a couple of years changing tyres and exhausts trains a mechanic, neither do we believe 30 years of getting vehicles through mot’s qualifies anyone to work on today’s computerised vehicles such as the VW TDi engines. I am qualified as a LPG-gas converter/installer but I do not offer this service at present.
2 - Q: What PRACTICAL experience do you have? A: I am as practical as theoretical and have a 17 year background covering engine builds from scratch (starting with a bare block), gearbox rebuilds (most mechanics won’t touch the internals of a gearbox) extensive bodywork, head rebuilds, welding, spraying, engine swaps, services and repairs, crash repair, motorcycle builds (bare frame up) and even 7.5 ton lorries. View some pictures of my work here.
A: Yes I am insured to drive a customer vehicle (please note only trade values are recognised and paid by my insurers). In event of a part that I fitted malfunctioning and damaging your vehicle you are as able to make a claim against the manufacturer of the part as you would be if you went to a main dealer (this would be done between the customer and manufacturer as I only fitted the part – I don’t make parts) and I would be happy to supply manufacturer and supplier details as assist in giving a professional opinion if a part failed.
4 - Q: Do you work from a unit like other small traders? A: Although I could work from a small unit, with no problem, I do not as this would be an unnecessary expense at the present time.
5 - Q: You work from a Nottingham suburb, will my car be safe? A: Car theft and vandalism is sadly a nationwide occurrence. According to the Insurers my location is not a high risk one and normally I would be with your vehicle working on it or test driving it, making the chance of anyone approaching it undetected highly unlikely. Coupled with working from a gated and locked area which is currently gaining motion detection CCTV system and a sophisticated alarm system on the buildings in the area it’s pretty off-putting to opportunist criminals. Remember, however, that if the unthinkable should happen, you have insurance for that very reason. 6 - Q: Do you do exhausts and welding, other stuff I need? A: I do not do exhausts, welding and some other work as this would require more expensive insurance which would put your costs up. The ‘Quick Fits’ on the high street can supply and fit a cheap exhaust almost at trade price for the parts. The ‘Quick Fits’ make their money by only doing exhausts/tyres and having a fast turnover. Bodywork and other areas generally require expensive baking ovens and suchlike to do a good job. This is un-economic for a small business unless it specialises only in that area. Being a small operation I need to concentrate on areas where both you and I can get good value for money: mainly servicing and associated fitting. I can direct you to an excellent bodyshop if you require bodywork on your car.
7 - Q: What am I going to do while you service my car? A: I am 30 seconds from a main bus route stop, 5 minutes from the Nottingham Tram stop and 15 minutes walk from Bulwell town centre. Additionally I can possibly collect and/or deliver your car to an arranged location. There is also that old stand by, a taxi!
8 - Q: Do you offer a courtesy car, reception room or coffee? A: There is no courtesy car or reception facilities. The sayings ‘you get what you pay for’ and ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch’ I believe to be true. If you want a free loan car, a nice warm showroom serving coffee or a pretty receptionist you would be best going to the main dealer. However, you will pay for it in the cost of your service. My father-in-law (lives the other end of the country) recently had a full service brakes and a cambelt change on his VW Golf diesel, the bill was around £700. Overheads, business costs and employing staff mean higher costs to the customer. Also, you are unlikely to have contact with the person actually working on your car. You will see and talk to me, the personal touch making the difference including a larger time slot than a main dealer, for instance, for personal attention to detail in getting to 'know' your car and possible time extensions for any unforseen contingencies to be dealt with.
9 - Q: Can I wait as I wouldn’t mind seeing the work done? A: There is no waiting room/viewing area/toilets. I’m afraid it’s strictly no entry to the premises (health and safety/insurance purposes) which also allows me to put 100% attention on working on the vehicle. Of course I will be very happy to chat to you on arrival/departure of your vehicle!
A: Payment in full prior to collection, in accordance to our payment terms, is required. As normal in the vehicle repair industry, customers agree to allow Small-Engine to hold their car as security until payment has been received by us.
11 - Q: When do you get my message if it’s left on your answerphone? A: Your bill is lower because I do not employ a receptionist. Leave a message and I WILL get back to you – or drop me an email and I’ll reply when I have a cup of tea ;-)
12 - Q: Do you work on larger vehicles, modified vehicles, V6’s etc? A: No, because quite simply some of them are a nightmare to work on. Parts costs are very variable. Quotations get more involved and time consuming. Specialising in small engines keeps the pricing structure to you the customer simple and cheap, jobs done on time (excluding any unforseen complications) and better quality of work due to greater experience on a smaller range of vehicles. It’s well known that specialists are better because we know the vehicles better as we see more of them.
13 - Q: What if I have a question that isn’t in your FAQ? A: Contact me and ask me! I can then include it in the FAQ for others.
14 - Q: I want to buy a car, what would you advise and can you help? A: I advice cheap to run and simple to service and well made. Drop me an email or call me via my contact page and I’ll be happy to give you my opinion, free of charge, on the basis that if, because of my advice, you are happy with a car you bring it to me for servicing! Occasionally I can assist in sourcing/selling personal cars but I’m not insured to buy and sell and don’t operate as a dealer. Autotrader and eBay are probably the biggest source of vehicles.
15 - Q: Do I pay VAT on the bill? A: In UK law registration and payment of VAT is only required for businesses with a turnover of over £60,000 a year. Being a small outfit, this threshold isn't relevant and so automatically keeps prices and overheads lower, saving you money.
16 - Q: I only want genuine Ford/Vauxhall etc parts used on my car so do I have to take it to the dealer? A: ***All VAG vehicles (VW, Skoda, Audi, Seat) come with GENUINE hard parts in our servicing, the same as at the dealerss*** For other makes, not at all, I can purchase the parts directly from the dealer. I would ask you to bear in mind two points though. (1) Manufactures don’t make belts, filters etc – they are made by big companies such as Gates (who make most of the cambelts) and come out of the factory with either Gates branding (for aftermarket parts) or manufacturer branding (for supplying to dealers). Mistakenly people go to the dealer and buy the same belt with ‘Ford’ printed on it, but for four times the price. I only use branded parts such as Gates, Unipart, Lucas, Champion, Delphi – these are the SAME people who make the parts for the manufacturer in the vast majority of cases. (2) I am more than happy to use branded main dealer parts, but they will cost more and this will be reflected in your bill. Alternatively I’m happy for you to purchase the parts of your choice and I will fit them. I will deduct from the bill the cost of the parts that I would have supplied. In every case your cheapest option is likely to be me supplying the parts.
17 - Q: I want fully synthetic oil/a particular brand of oil, can you do this? A: Yes, just tell me what you require. I use grades of oil specific to the application so if your car requires a ‘fancy’ oil then I would be using it anyhow. I use fleet oils. These are trade oils of the same grade (all oils have an API rating) but they are not retail branded and so they are cheaper. In most cases the very expensive oils are in my opinion a waste of time. They are designed to not degrade after intensive use over extensive service intervals. However, they can’t stop contamination and acids getting into the oil. I believe that it’s far better to use a good grade of oil and change it regularly (way before you would have to worry about the oil breaking down) and keep it CLEAN, than pay for expensive oil and try and push the service intervals further and further apart. Basically I see these ‘fancy’ oils as 50% marketing and 50% a crutch to keep the engine together for unhealthily long service intervals that appeal to fleet buyers. My advice is to use the oil I recommend and if you want to do something extra spend the money on one of the extra treatments I offer such as Slick 50 or the additive which keeps your oil seals in the engine healthy, avoiding expensive repairs and oil leaks.
18 - Q: Your service schedule is a bit different from others and from manufacturer, why? A: Manufacturers are interested in getting cars through the 3 years 60k miles or so of warranty. They are also interested in showing how their car requires next to no servicing so that it looks cheaper to run on paper to the all important fleet car buyer. After this, they are interested in making as much money on repairs and servicing as possible. My interest is to protect the car and keep it in good condition at the lowest possible cost. So I won’t waste time and paper inspecting the body for dents or measuring the disks and reporting they are 0.2mm thinner than spec (when they still work just fine for you), instead I’ll use your money to change the oil far more frequently and do things like flush the engine if it’s dirty – things a main garage wouldn’t necessarily do. I have seen vehicles in a poor state with over 100,000 miles on them be serviced by me and afterwards run happily for a further 100,000 miles with NO detectable wear on the engine and no failures/breakdowns. My system is ‘real world’ proven, when you bring you car in you pay to get something done on it, not 100 different checks carried out but only the oil changed! |
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