Finding a repair shop with RepairPal

If you are a conscientious car owner like me, I am sure you have at one time or the other faced the problem of finding a suitable garage to repair or service your car.

Unless money is not an issue, it can really be time consuming and stressful to find a repair shop. One site in the US that is getting a lot of attention is RepairPal. Set up by a couple of auto enthusiasts and entrepreneurs in California, to make it easier for car owners to access a comprehensive auto shop directory and more. Their encyclopaedia page is filled with a lot of useful explanations of car related terms. Found it really useful.

You can get fair auto repair estimates in a few steps by choosing your car make, model, year, the service type you are interested in (for example, Timing belt replacement) and finally providing your zip code. Customers can then rate the shops as per their experience.

Signing up allows you to access a number of features including a place to maintain your car records. The will even email you when your car service is due. Definitely a useful site for all car owners.

Changing clutch on my Ford Escort

The problem with buying a used car, especially one that's older than 5 years, is that the parts start failing one after the other.

I have had clutch problems on my old Ford Escort from day one. Of late it had been giving me a lot of problems - the clutch was so damn hard that I used to have pain in my left leg driving anywhere. It was worst whenever there were traffic jams with short 'Stops and Gos'. However, last Monday, I got stuck at an intersection as the gears refused to go into first gear. I eventually managed to get it into first hear but that was really frustrating and that was it. Finally decided to have something done.

So this Tuesaday, I took the car back to the best Ford specialist in Coventry, KNS Autoparts. Left it in the morning and the car was ready by 5pm. It cost me £164.50 (inclusive of vat). Lot cheaper than what other garages were quoting - one said £300 before VAT and another £250.

I had a tough time adjusting to the new clutch - it' so soft. The car drives like a dream now. I am definitely not selling it anytime soon.

2008 Singapore Motorshow

The 2008 Singapore Motorshow is now on. This bi-annual event started on the 26th of this month at at the Suntec City Convention Centre It will run on till the 5th of October.

Response to Anon - National Tyres and Autocare

Someone "Anonymous" left a comment on my post "Experience with National Tyres and Autocare". He or She said:

"hi there i work for national, the advert is not mis leading !! if you bother to read it properly it states, ON A RANGE OF BARUM AND AVON TYRES, SELECTED SIZES ONLY !! as for the tracking, the vocher (sic) sheet also states that prices are subject to change at any time, plus where else are you going to get tracking done for £15.00 any way ???"

In response to Anonymous, I am so sorry I forgot to read the SMALL PRINT. It does say that. Regarding the Wheel alignment offer, they have now increased the price to £12.50 from £11/ If it costs £15, why don't they just say so instead of misleading consumers.

This is precisely the reason why so many companies in the UK are unable to retain customers. They are so focussed on getting new customers by any means possible (including misleading ads). However, the most important part - retaining customers, is forgotten.

I left them a complaint on their web site and I am still waiting for their answer. A simple apology would have been enough and I won't have written the post and even if I had I would have written it in a more positive tone. Maybe "National Tyres and Autocare" got back to me and they were willing to even do the alignment for FREE. Amazing company". Unfortunately that didn't happen and I will go to the tyre shop near my house who are friendlier.

Remember it is cheaper to retain old customers instead of getting new ones. The old satisfied customers will bring new ones along with them.

Small 4X vehicle

My "Auto Story in Pictures Wednesday" post.

These kind of vehicles are used in the University of Warwick, Coventry by the Landscaping people. Not sure but I think they are Kawasaki 4X mules.

Fuel prices may go down in the UK

According to Sky News, petrol prices may fall in the country. I hope this is true even though I am not betting on it.

It's quite funny to see petrol pumps increasing the prices as soon as World oil prices go up. However, when the World prices go down, they will take their own sweet time to lower the pump prices.

According to the report, the most expensive petrol prices are in London. Even in Coventry itself, prices vary between pumps. The costliest in our area is the Texaco, while the cheapest is Shell.

First batch of MGTF LE500S leave Longbridge

A batch of MG Rover cars left the Longbridge plant in Birmingham today - the first time since April 2005 when MG Rover was taken over by Nanjing Automobile Corporation for £53 million. The first batch of 47 MGTF LE500S was sent to dealers all over the country. The will be launched to the public on 20 September 2008.

Only the first 500 cars to leave the world famous Longbridge factory will receive the LE500 designation. I guess LE stands for Limited Edition.

They say that the car will be available in 6 body colour choices but so far I have only seen the orange coloured cars.

The car is powered by a 1.8 16v 135bhp 4 cylinder dohc engine with 5 speed manual gearbox.