Car Treats

I do believe my car thinks it's her birthday.  She had a wash last weekend, you know one of those hand car washes usually manned by Eastern Europeans trying to earn a living. I got so fed up with trying to find an automatic car wash that actually was in working order I chose the hand wash option and I got a real bargain all for a fiver - excellent service - you should try one!  Really conscientious guys at cleaning every possible mud splat and grimey salt smudges off of my car. I discovered once again the beautiful colour of my car a nice sensitive metallic light blue and didn't she shine well after her scrub up.

Not only that she has she had a new tyre fitted (eventually since it was almost a year ago I was told that it needed changing - hasn't it done well!!), it was time for her general health check i.e. annual service & M.O.T.  With memories of last year when the car bill came to almost £1500.00 and a good dose of fear & trepidation I decided to change the habit of my little car's lifetime and book her into the garage where I had the tyre's changed instead of the garage where she was purchased from new.  That original dealer garage have already pumped me for the last 2 weeks to book the service with them at the bargain price of £89.99 just to look the car over and £39.99 for the MOT if I booked both at the same time!! so goodness knows what it may have cost if I had gone for their "bargain prices" only to find out it needed some more major repairs on top - my little car - bless her is just not worth that much at 6 years old and 98,000+ miles on the clock although she has served me very well over the years without a word of complaint!!

My little local friendly garage offered me so much more of a better deal with an interim service of £60.00 plus £43.00 for the MOT.  Yes my little car needed a brake pad - (I thought so when I found I wasn't stopping as quickly as I should when the brake was almost to the floor - not normal methinks!!) and some new wipers to pass the MOT which she did with flying colours after the minor adjustments.  The bill thankfully was a fraction of what it could have been.  Yes if I was a mechanic I could have done it even cheaper - but I'm not and whose to say I would not have done such a good job anyway at the price I paid. 

Let's go back to supporting our local concerns, I think we've lost much of that over the years and been swept up in so much commercial hype we overlook the locals who are there to serve and serve well without ripping us off - and we can trust.  Let's rally to the locals once more folks!!