Local garages / mechanic recommendations

Hi everyone,

I really hate getting anything done on a car as I don’t feel I can trust any of the dodgy looking businesses. As a biker, I know where to take my motorcycle for good quality work and am knowledgable enough to assess the quality, but for the cars, I have a vague idea, but not really.

I’ve been to Prestige Autos and got a simple job done and they gave me a fair price. I’ve also used Five Star MOT for MOTs and minor work and they’re OK too. Halfords auto centre in Sydenham, conversely, were woeful.

Does anyone have any recommendations of local garages?

We used to live opposite Rodney Garage when they were on Bovill Road. They have relocated to the Malham Road estate now but they were and are excellent. Recommended.

Another option is Ichthus Motor Services off Brockley Rise in Honor Oak. Honest, reliable and reasonably priced - they have been servicing my car for years and do great work.

I’ll second the Rodney Garages recommendation.

Thirded for Rodney Garages. Also used Prestige and they were fine but Rodney is where we normally go.

I’ve been using Rodney Garage for years and am very happy with the service.

Lot of love for Rodney garages on here!

Any where else good?

Hey @Moto_Hodder did you go to Rodney’s in the end?

I’ve just bought a second hand car and looking to get a service on it.
Just wondering what your experience was like?

Cheers

Second for Ichthus and Prestige. We were using a garage in Herne Hill which was meant to be amazing for our particular car (the Queen uses them too), but Prestige gets our vote now. Fab service.

Been struggling on with a growing list of minor repairs required, so can’t comment on Rodney’s as yet. Looks like a job for 2017.

Grove Autos on Worlsey Bridge Road. Never had problems.

http://www.albinbmotors.co.uk/ also on Worsely Bridge Road. Kevin the owner is pleasant to deal with. Always does a good job. Been going there for about 4 years.

Ask Mike

That really annoys me, an Audi garage tried this with my other half and she rang me in tears. I had a word and suddenly a service bill of over £1500 came down to a few hundred pounds. Right bunch of chancers.

Thanks everyone

Based on recommendations from you lot, I’ve spent a fortune at Rodney Garages this last two months. Can’t really complain about anything except how often I’m there which is not a function of them, but a function on the churn of vehicles at my house.

Had a good experience with Rodney Garage for our first annual MOT and service since moving to SE23. Did a thorough job, the tracking was way off, so they called to let me know before proceeding with any extra work.
Friendly and efficient service, will be using them in future.

Nervously took my newly-purchased (but ten year old) car in for it’s MOT on Friday but the service at Rodney’s was excellent.

Needed some remedial work, which they explained in detail over the phone. The quote was reasonable, and after the work was complete, the final cost was actually a tenner lower than quoted.

They close up at 5:30pm which might have made picking up the car difficult, but they helpfully offered to deliver the car back to my house today free-of-charge and posted the MOT document and my keys through my letterbox.

Great experience all round.

I just picked mine up the next morning, I didn’t know they would deliver. makes note for next year

Returned to Forest Hill Car Care on Saturday for another MOT on another car. Every time I am in there, it restores my faith in good old fashioned mechanics garages.

Fun and friendly, fairly priced, and no extortionate “oh we found this” moments, even with little old Bertie the BMW

Gets a nod from me.

http://www.foresthillcarcare.co.uk

Following up the recommendations here, would people who have used Rodneys recommend them for a bit of body work / respraying? I don’t really want to pay dealer body shop prices but the car is relatively new (3 years old) and I want to protect its value.

I think they don’t do it themselves but there’s a body shop across the road (John something) which they refer/link to. Unfortunately we’ve had cause to use them twice in the past year or so, but they’ve been good - no complaints. Can’t comment on pricing as it went through the insurer both times so we didn’t shop around.

Would that be JS Coach Works?

Yes that’s the one

We’ve had a couple of dents/scratches repaired by a really reasonably priced crash repair place just behind the MoT station near the corner of Dartmouth Road and Kirkdale - https://goo.gl/maps/b6BPAjba5Uw. There’s a white car parked in front of their gates in the photo that google map links to. Their phone number is 020 8291 9855. I remember paying of the order of £100-150 each time.

Update: I used JS Coachworks to fix a ding and some paintwork and they were very good, well-priced, efficient and professional.

Hi,
I’m looking to get an MOT for our car - Rodney Garage got a lot of love previously on here - has anyone been recently and is it still a good place to go in the area?
Thank you!

I’m still happy using them. Last visited about a month ago

Fab. Thank you!

I had my car serviced there last week, very happy with them.

Yes to Rodney Garages. looked after my cars for 15+ years. Every year, MOT , service etc. Consistently excellent.

Yes I’ve had 2 Mots and a break pad replacement done there. No problems and they drove the car back to my house 3 streets away on the Saturday before Christmas!

Biggest shout out to the wonderful guys at Dartmouth MOT 86990077 who had my car for 2 days to try and fix the horn but couldn’t and wouldn’t charge me ANYTHING. Amazing service​:kissing_heart:

Hey everyone

My old Astra needs a new Shock absorber and I want to know what garages in the local area are good and fair?

I live just round the corner from Brockley Rise mechanics ( opposite chandos pub ) but don’t know if they have a good reputation?

I’ve heard Rodneys in forest hill are good?

Thanks

Hi Jack, I’ve moved your post into this thread - hopefully you find some good ideas.

I’d recommend Richard at F E T Reeves on David’s Road, but not sure if it’s worth the schlepp over from Brockley Rise if you have one nearby.

Rodney garages near Shannon’s garden are great. Lovely guys, fair prices and have previously taken a look at some issues and refused to charge when they found nothing major wrong.

Hi @Jack

We use http://www.ichthusmotorservices.co.uk/Home.html who are just off Brockley Rise by Dalmain School.

We’ve been using them for a number of years and they have always been reasonably priced and are always busy.

Good luck!

I just used Dartmouth Service Station to service my car yesterday. Already have it back and they were great.

Need to book my car in for an MOT in the next few weeks and wondered which garage to go to. Would love some recommendations.

Hi Hannah,

If its just an MOT (and no repairs) then I’d 100% recommend The Test Centre in Deptford.
Really efficient setup, good website with online booking and they usually have plenty of weekend slots so you don’t need to take time off work. They’re purely testers and don’t do repairs, so no incentive to push you into getting work done that you don’t need. Used them for 4 years and they’ve always been great.

Reading through this Rodneys appears to be the go-to for a service and MOT. Is that still the case? I’ve got a 4yr old Fiesta that is coming up for one.