Far too many fitters and not enough mechanics these days. Keep changing bits until the problem stops. Costly!

I am very lucky in having a good, honest garage just around the corner. Having had some nasty experiences with main dealers and their apprentices in the past I would never take my car to a main dealer unless it was under warranty. Not a problem as none of my cars have ever been that new!

The final straw was several years ago when the main dealer had fitted new brake pads to my car as part of a standard service. Three months later the car went in for it's annual MoT test. For non Brits, that's a compulsory road worthiness test we have in Britain.

Anyway, the car failed because the brakes were uneven and were pulling to the left.

Took it to a friendly mechanic for a quick look and he discovered THREE different makes of second hand pads fitted to the front brakes! Only two of the four were of the same make and they were on different wheels!

Bear in mind I'd been charged new prices for these pads. The main dealer insisted someone else had messed about since they'd done the job. I knew different but they wouldn't budge. Last time I went to a main dealer!

Gareth