Hi Chris

It would be interesting to know how many of the complaints about honest Independent Garages relates to what the customer perceives as "unnecessary parts" being fitted

Today i had a loyal customer back in for service and MOT, i telephoned him to inform him that it needed a new NS lower suspension arm as one of the bushes had become detached. I had previously fitted the same arm on 07/02/2007 and the vehicle has covered 2,951 miles since the fitting (only uses it for short journey to work)

He was not happy that after covering less that 3,000 miles he was having to pay over again. I did explain that parts and labour are only warrantied for 12 months or 12,000 miles, but this did put me in an embarrassing situation with a loyal customer

Should the Consumer Council not do some further investigation into the QUALITY of parts being manufactured by Aftermarket companies before making Independent Garages scape goats for inferior quality parts being sold by Motor Factors and customers thinking we are "trying it on" by fitting parts that are not needed as it was only fitted 2 years ago.

This is not the first suspension arm supplied to me that has fallen apart within 5,000 miles



This was manufactured by a leading aftermarket name, clearly a manufacturing issue that is passed on to us. The Motor Factors hide behind the "12 months or 12,000 miles" so it just leaves the Independent garage with an unhappy customer and out of pocket

Perhaps you Motor Industry Codes should be extended to Parts Manufacturers

Peter