Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres

Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres

Overall user rating Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres 61 reviews | Write a review | Add product to list

Kwik fit with their signs and glorious advertising 'you can't get better than a Kwik fit fitter'- you'd think well, I must give them a try, because one of the beauties of Kwik Fit is that they are literally everywhere, yes literally everywhere. Last count there were at least 600 of them around ... Read review





Please wait ....
Rate this product:  
 
Related offers for Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres    
 
Advertise your car
Advertise your car
Need a quick hassle free sale? Advertise your car on 101 websites until sold for only £29.99. It will appear on websites such as TopGear, Fish4cars, Whatcar and the Independent. We also offer a free car price valuation.
Advertise your car


1-6 of 60 reviews    
> Display all 60 Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres reviews
Kwik Fit misfit
A review by makro74 on Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres
August 23rd, 2008


Author's product rating:   


Advantages: Many centres, atrractive setup
Disadvantages: Shoddy after sales, workmanship not always upto standard, maybe dishonest

Recommend to potential buyers: no 

Full review
Kwik fit with their signs and glorious advertising 'you can't get better than a Kwik fit fitter'- you'd think well, I must give them a try, because one of the beauties of Kwik Fit is that they are literally everywhere, yes literally everywhere. Last count there were at least 600 of them around the country. An attractive proposition if your looking for a garage. Or is it?

Kwit Fit, founded by Tom Farmer, and its first centre opened in Edinburgh in 1971. In 1999 it was bought by the Ford Motor Company for a cool £1bn only to be sold in 2002 to CVC Capital Partners and again in 2005 to the French company PAI Partners.

Kwik Fit prides itself on customer service, you notice this on their flyers which reads 'customer satisfaction' but with satisfaction struck through and replaced by 'delight' above. Question is, how far is this true?

Certainly, the availability of garages are not an issue. I live in North Birmingham, and I know there is one in Great Barr, Sheldon, Erdington, Walsall, Perry Barr etc. But is this enough? Also, some of the setups are not very busy while some are busy.

SETUP
Kwik fit generally do tyres, brakes, MOT's, servicing, exhausts, batteries and other bits and pieces. Only some of the large garages, do the MOT. There is generally 'waiting area' with sofa type seating with a drinks machine and toilet facilities and friendly staff. This clearly adds to the atmosphere of the 'feel good' factor. And staff are most certainly trained to capitalise on this.

STAFF
Blue uniforms. clean, friendly, courteous and professional when you first meet them. This is one thing that gives them the edge, since you wouldn't think that they'd been working on cars, because look clean and tidy.

CENTRE APPEARANCE
Clean and tidy - even the workshops have very little clutter, and if ever you wanted to inspect your car in the workshop, you find it a safe and clean (clean as garage could ever be) experience. As mentioned above, the customer waiting area is also clean.

Now the above, is all about customer first impressions and presentation is certainly delightful as the staff come on really friendly.

EXAMPLE
Perry Barr - VW brakes problem, needed new brake pads and since they had worn to the metal - discs were required as well. Time 4pm and I went to Kwik Fit wishing they'd be able to do it. Met the staff, friendly and using touch screen and book references they identified the brake pads and discs, and said to me they would be ready in an hour. Excellent! They even took my phone number to call me as soon as. They called me at 4.40pm that my vehicle was ready. They also informed me that these pads are good and a guaranteed to be replaced if they wear out. Delighted ? Yes, of course. So definitely, I drove away, new discs and pads for, if I remember just over £100.
So far so good>??? Read on!

10000 miles in, I could hear some rubbing in the brakes - I thought nothing of it since it was irregular, but it increased. Naturally, I went to Kwik Fit Perry Barr to have them checked. To my suprise, they turned me away saying it cannot be looked at now, to busy. This happened 5 times. Not only with Perry Barr, I could not get some of the others to look at them either.

Anyway, the brakes got worse and my worst fears, brake discs were materialising again. This time, I went to Perry Barr - again they didn't have the time and I then demanded to see the manager. When I exchanged a few words of disgust and told him the problem, he said he would like to check them. I thought finally! I'd get my brake pads replaced and discs would have survived. Read on!!

The manager didn't physically inspect the brakes, instead he insisted driving the vehicle around the block. I found this strange at first, because, surely checking brakepads, fluids etc can be inspected manually. Anyway, he drove and guess what - he drove at speed and applied emergency braking! I could hear screeching of metal tearing. After doing all that he said 'Yep, your is your brakes and brake discs, they've had it.' Read on!

Ok, so the manager, ruins your brake pads and discs at the same time to find what the problem is. Yep, ok I naturally would get them replaced free of charge woudn't I? Or would I ? This is what I found out. We are back at the garage, and the manager finds me a quote for new discs, pads. Whoa, what are they charging me for? !! I asked the manger to explain. He just said, 'your brake discs were already scrap before you came here', I then referred to first his careless driving and secondly to the guarantee. He refuted the 'careless driving' allegation and said the guarantee did not apply because I came in too late to get them checked!

By this point I was outraged. Kwik Fit were prepared to leave my vehicle damaged, disclaim themselves from any fault or guarantee, and happily do the job at full whack! I was speechless. The manager then turned away and started dealing with another customer. Read on- there's more .......

At this point I rang Kwik Fit customer services, explained the situation. Very helpful at first, and then rang the manager at the branch. To my horror, Kwik Fit were patronising me for not going to any of the local branches, but offered free brake pads, but not the discs. I also explained, the life of the pads and discs, why should they wear out so quick? No answer. So eventually I paid to sort them out.

A couple of months later- you guessed it, same problem. Brakes wearing out into my discs. Kwik Fit could not give me an answer and I was adament that they were not doing the job properly - moreover, they would not allow me to get the parts for them to fit.

This time, I was in no mood to argue with Kwik Fit, so I went to Euro Parts and bought front discs and pads and take it to another reputable place where I have had other work done. He fitted the discs and pads relatively cheaply, I thought this would be reckoning whether Kwik Fit were indeed doing it properly, or my vehicle is faulty or this other garage is dodgy as well??

6 months later, no problems with the brakes, 12 months later, no problem until I finally sold it after 20 months. Throughout that time it would have done around 60000 miles yet not a single issue with the brake pads or the discs.

So what do I conclude from this??

It doesn't sit well with me that, there were things going wrong, fitting or otherwise, and they could not be honest about it. Further, they were very 'Kwik' to have the brakes done and 'delight' me by doing so, but they were very poor when it came to 'after-sale' service.

But of greater importance, and worrying, is that a company the size of Kwik Fit can be capable of such malpractices. Hard testing already worn brakes, as a result of poor workmanship and/or parts and then blaming the customer, I mean this is the worst kind of service you may expect from a rogue trader.

SERVICING
For a basic oil and filter change, £23.95, if again everything is ok, its not bad. I once did this in Doncaster and the guys did it more or less there and then. Just had to turn off the service light (Kwik Fit will charge as the want you to a proper full service) but this can easily be done yourself manually if you know how (most garages will charge you). But again, some local Kwik Fit garages moan about this. They now say they need to order the filters in and usually wanting you to book it in.

All in all Kwik Fit is a company that over-tries in winning customer bases, but does nothing to retain them. If you don't have any problems with Kwit Fit's work on your vehicle, then probably you would value their service. But situations develop, and believe me there are many, beware!

RECOMMENDATION????
They certainly should not be anyone's first choice, if you want a big recognisable brand to record your service and workmanship and don't mind paying a premium - then a better choice would be National Auto-centres.
Kwik Fit in my view are all about PR and 'looking good'. It is almost as if when they do I good job they were 'lucky'. They specialise in exhausts amongst other things, and but they certainly are not experts in mechanics.
I would not recommend them, unless you know exactly what the problem is, and your Kwik Fit garage, can really be 'Kwik' and fix it there and then. Otherwise, stay well clear. 
More Reviews
Kwik, drive away before they change their minds
Review of Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres by rolletrog

Advantages: Local, easy parking,
Disadvantages: you may not be so lucky...

...off to the garage. Cue Kwik-fit - picked purely due to its location. Located on the main road, even we could spot its massive exterior and obvious blue sign. The car park was ample for my rubbish parking so we dumped the car and wandered in. Playing the ignorant female card, we announced we had a puncture which needed immediate repair and a replacement one that may or may not be attached to the car properly. Perhaps it was my elderly mother who ...
...fluttering that did it, but nevertheless 3 men clamoured to help us. After explaining the situation - NEC was waiting, mother impatient, stupid temporary tyre that wouldn't get us up the motorway etc- we needed the puncture done by sun morning. The lovely man said it would be done and we could pick it up before 6 the same day or anytime sat or sun - perfecto! Not bothering to ask the price, we set off knowing that the problem would be resolved and ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful

02.04.2008
(03.04.2008)
Tyred of bad service - Try Kwik Fit
Review of Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres by freakydeaky

Advantages: My nearest tyre dealer (to home). Excellent service. Reasonable prices.
Disadvantages: None that I found.

...to go with my local Kwik-Fit as they were within walking distance of my house and I could go home if I needed to leave the car for any length of time. They ordered the tyres in for me and I took the car in to have them fitted. Service When I arrived I said it was the rear tyres that had worn and needed replacing. They checked the front tyres for me (oh oh! I thought. Here we go with the 'You really need to replace these too madam……) but to my surprise ...
...impressed I am intending to write to Kwik-Fit and express my gratitude. I can only give my experience of my local Kwik-Fit and not the company as a whole but if this is an example of how Kwik-Fit now want to treat their customers then hat's off to them. ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful

11.04.2003
Kwik-Fit. The story, the moral, the Pros & the Con
Review of Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres by treley

Advantages: Quick, friendly, convenient locations
Disadvantages: Practiced con artists

...INTRODUCTION: It seems that Kwik-Fit don't just have a difficulty with spelling, they also have a problem with honesty. Their staff earn commission on what they sell and consequently a young woman like me, dependant on her car, instantly transforms the mechanics from men with spanners into the most prolific of con artists, dodging and weaving innocent questions and scrambling to make a buck. Of course, these monsters didn't realise that they were ...
...because it was convenient; the Kwik-Fit garage in Exeter is near to the city centre which is where we had planned to spend the few hours that the MOT would take. It saved us about £3 in car parking and I was pretty sure that by the time we had finished looking at suits and ties the car would be ready for us to drive back to Exmouth to visit the soon-to-be-in-laws. I had had tyres and exhausts changed at Kwik-fit in the past, although they were slightly ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful

05.08.2006
(09.08.2006)
Haggle with Kwik Fit
Review of Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres by MAllen400

Advantages: can get a good deal
Disadvantages: not always had a good reputation but now improving

Needing a new tyre for our car I decided to telephone around to find the best and cheapest deal. You would think that this would be simple wouldn't you. You ring up and go to the one that has the deal for you.. No there is an art to this! Never presume that the place that was cheapest last time will be the cheapest this time. I ring around about 5 places - that is because in our nearest town there are only 5 places that sell tyres. Beware that ...
...price and then you will get that added sentence saying but they do not have them in stock at the moment. What you do do though is remember the lowest quote. You then telephone Kwik Fit and if they run their business like our local one does the first question they will ask is "what is the cheapest quote you have had". Now you do answer this truthfully but I dont think you need to say that they didnt have them in stock! Kwik Fit will quote you a ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful

15.01.2008
Diamond review   Tyred? Exhausted? Avoid Kwik Fit! *UPDATED*
Review of Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres by SRowlands

Advantages: Brake parts insured for life of car
Disadvantages: Very poor workmanship

...I received a letter from Kwik-Fit after having read this review. They apologised that they had not been in touch sooner, but had not received the letter I sent. The matter is now being looked into.*** ***UPDATE 17/10/04*** After a phone conversation with a very helpful lady at the Customer Services department, and a follow up call from the manager of the local center, this matter has now been resolved to mutual satisfaction. This comprised of a ...
...give Kwik Fit another chance when my car next needs work, hoping that this incident was a one-off. (Look out for an updated review at a later date !!!). So, to summarise... Good Points - No need to book your car in / relatively fast service / Brake pads and shoes guaranteed against wear & tear and damage for life of car. Bad Points - Poor workmanship / poor service (on this occasion). For information, the opening hours of this branch are Monday ... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
very helpful

13.09.2004
(17.10.2004)

Products similar to Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres  
new tyre

Punk Rock - StudioRecording - 1 CD(s) - Label: Red Eye - Distributor: New Note/Pinnacle - Released: 15/09/2003 - 634457600522

toy tyres

trauma centre

****Trauma Center: Second Opinion for Wii**** I first played this game earlier this year after a friend had recommended it and i found it was addictive!! Basically you play a doctor *dr derek styles* mainly and you have to "preform* surgical... more

cv centre

Last year, sometime, I don't remember when, we went to a wedding fayre at out local Hayley Conference Centre. We were given the usual tour of the function rooms, hotel bedrooms and shown the menu options for the wedding breakfast and evening... more

call centre

Hotel - Calle Espalter 29, 08870 Sitges - 35 Rooms

music centres

Rock & Pop - StudioRecording - 1 CD(s) - Label: Zebra - Distributor: Pinnacle - Released: 02/11/1998 - 5013929401129

Related tags for Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres
bike tyres car tyres car tyres winter tyre dunlop tyres exhaust exhaust's media centre motorcycle tyres think centre tyre

Compare similar products to Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres

  • Zaino Polish System
    (+) Dead good (-) Dead hard to get hold of (*)
  • Go Ped
    (+) fast ,fun (-) loud (*)
  • Kit Cars
    (+) Brilliant fun. A flashy expensive looking car at a fraction of the price of a mass produced one. (-) Needs a bit of effort and you may need some proffesional help. (*)
  • DIY installations
  • Buying A Second Hand Car
    (+) Bargains to be had, large choice (-) Can be risky, it's a minefield (*)
(*) Reviews by Ciao members

Gift ideas

Similar products and search queries by other users


KwikFit Centres, KwikFit Tyre Centres, KwikFit Exhaust Centres, KwikFit Tyre Exhaust Centres, Kwik Fit Centres, Kwik Fit Tyre Centres, Kwik Fit Exhaust Centres, Kwik Fit Tyre Exhaust Centres



Are you the manufacturer / provider of Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres? Click here