90% Of Garages Don't Repair Faults Properly: More Road Traffic Accidents As A Result?

Garages in the UK may be putting motorists at greater risk of road traffic accidents

and serious injury by failing to repair even the most basic faults with cars, a report found last month.

A survey conducted by consumer giant Which? found that a worrying 87% of garages failed to spot at least one potentially serious fault, despite many garages in the country signing up to schemes designed to improve standards. The watchdog asked 62 of its members to book their car in for a service, but before the cars went in for the work Which? deliberately introduced four basic, but fundamental faults which they agree any garage should be able to spot and rectify with no problem.

Only eight of the 62 garages spotted the flat spare tyre, the deflated offside rear tyre, the blown reverse light bulb, and the dangerously low brake fluid level, faults which should be spotted by the most basically trained mechanic. Unbelievably, five of the garages didn't rectify a single fault, leading Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith? to say, This is a worrying snapshot of an industry which desperately needs to clean up its act. Almost all the garages failed to fix basic faults. This could have endangered the lives of drivers and other road users.

The most serious statistic was that 48% of the service centres did not spot that the brake fluid was dangerously low, which could have had a disastrous impact on road traffic accident frequency if unaddressed. Additionally, as a measure of the garages honesty, Which? made sure that screenwash bottles were full topped up, and yet nearly 40% of the garages charged for it anyway.

This will not exactly help to bolster garages reputations, with mechanics regularly appearing on internet lists of the most distrusted professions. It gives the industry a pain in the neck: this cannot be blamed on a few bad eggs in the business: 90% of these service centres failed to spot all four faults, despite the Good Garage Service's checklist which includes the four in the Which? survey, to their members. Rachel Greasby, from the GGS, said she was disappointed with the results of the survey.

She said: "Once we have further details on who is involved, a full investigation into why they aren't using the checklists will be launched and they will be removed or suspended from the scheme as necessary. The point is, does this make a difference? The Good Garage Service is supposed to provide a seal of approval for consumers, so they know where they will receive the best service. But if members are allowed to join and are then retroactively monitored, is there any point in the scheme existing at all? Of all the car insurance claims submitted in the UK every year, 75% of them involve a claim for whiplash injury. With a staggering 50% of garages failing to assess as vital a component as the braking system, is it any wonder?

by: Richard Craig

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