Kwik-Fit Tyre & Exhaust Centres > Reviews > Do not use for anything other than tyres!!

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Open on Sundays
Disadvantages:	Can't do/dangerously do anything complicated

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

My experience has led me to conclude that they really lack full mechanical knowledge and do not pay due care and attention. My alternator went and I had it fixed at Barnes Hill Kwik Fit, Birmingham. After the work my battery started to go flat and when the RAC looked at the car it was discovered that Kwik Fit had not tightened any of the bolts securing the alternator, one was missing and the rest were holding it on by a wing and a prayer. The alternator was leaning, the fan belt was slack and it could've fallen out at any moment. Then just 13 months after it was fitted (just outside of the guarantee period) the battery started to drain and I again broke down. Turned out the alternator was broken and I needed another new one despite the fact I had only travelled 9,000 miles on it. Kwik Fit were uninterested and not the slightest bit apologetic, they also did not think it unusual that my alternator had a life span of just one year! During this time I had also been through an MOT at the Kwik Fit centre in Bridgwater, Somerset. Got a shoddy fail certificate with the details of my vehicle but headed with the name and address of some unknown person, crossings out where advisory note items had accidentally been entered on the failure note and typos. It failed on the brake pipes but as I was temporarily working in Birmingham they called the Barnes Hill Kwik Fit centre and referred me there for the work needed. When I arrived at Barnes Hill I was told they would have to remove my fuel tank for that and Kwik Fit did not have the insurance to do that type of job. I was forced to take it to another garage who were quite alarmed they had said that because they did not need to remove the fuel tank at all to replace the pipes. Took it back to Kwik Fit in Bridgwater for a retest who also agreed with the other garage that the fuel tank certainly did not need to be removed. Incidentally... at the time I arrived for the retest I was stood behind a customer complaining of oils stains left all over their car seats. A couple of years prior I had also taken a car for an MOT at Kwik Fit in Worle, Somerset and they advised me the vehicle had an oil leak. I later asked for this to be checked out when I was at another garage for a service. They searched all over and could find no leak and no garage has ever found one since. Mistakes happen but the only thing Kwik Fit seem capable of doing is tyres. Maybe it should've been obvious to me from the beginning but for anything that is more complex that a tyre, for your own safety, please take it to a proper garage!