Afternoon Chaps,
One of our engineers(?!) has a 2008 vauxhall corsa 1.2 petrol and last week the engine vandalized itself on his commute home.
Hes told me this morning that hes taken it to said halfords to have a new one put in?! has anybody heard of them doing this kind of thing before?
if it all goes horrible wrong (inevitable really) can anyone recommend a descent independent garage in north/west Manchester to sort it out?
Cheers
Halfrauds do have Autocentres but I've no experience with them so just wanted to show my appreciation for "the engine vandalised itself"....that is all.
keep us updated on this, it could be a good story
Wow, hahahaha....
I'm going to grab some popcorn.
Halfords can't usually be relied upon to change a tyre.
Halfords Autrocentres arent Halfords thought are they, they are another company that got bought out and rebranded. I would expect they have to remove engines to clutches etc on some cars, so its not too unusual.
Have Vauxhall started putting replacement engines in blister-packs? Ho ho, pass the popcorn, timbedford! 
Halfords autocentres are the old Nationwide Autocentres....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8521404.stm
I'm not sure I'd have ever trusted Nationwide to fit an engine before they were rebranded anyway.
Frank Bough was off his face on coke most of the time.
(That joke will be lost on anyone under the age of..... oooooooh... 43 or so)
There are some real horror stories about them. Including stuff like people taking a car in for service and halfords auto centre mot'ing it
without permission or need and then failing it on something mirror. Trying to charge the earth after.
Avoid like the plague
I think "adithorp" here on LCB runs a garage in the Manchester area. Might be worth a U2U to see if he can help?
No connection with him BTW
Had to book my company car in for a serice today, this what i got
Drop it off about 8.30 or 9
Can i wait?
If you want but it will take about 2 - 3 hours
for what an oil and filter change
yes we have to get the parts in
And then he said see you Frtiday and hung up, what a ***b
I would not trust them with an oil cjhange let alone an engine change
Thought i'd read somewhere that they operate a bonus scheme and that's how the staff make-up their wages ?
ie find as much wrong as possible and go from there 
Hmmm think i'd be looking for an independent with a good reputation....
Seriously?
That's like being mugged, but with a waiting room.
I wouldn't let them put air in my tyres never mind an engine change.
They can't even put bicycles together properly. Lots of work colleagues have had new bikes from Halfords on cycle to work scheme. They've left forks loose, handlebars loose and even put tyres on wrong way!
I wanna see what happens
quote:
Originally posted by timbedford
I'm not sure I'd have ever trusted Nationwide to fit an engine before they were rebranded anyway.
Frank Bough was off his face on coke most of the time.
(That joke will be lost on anyone under the age of..... oooooooh... 43 or so)
Adi is in Hyde (East Manchester) I think I would push it there rather than take it to Halfords!
If you can't do it yourself, and they say they can then i'd say give them a chance. Any garage is only as good as the mechanics that work
there whether it's Halfords or a main dealer!.
Ian
quote:
if it all goes horrible wrong (inevitable really) can anyone recommend a descent independent garage in north/west Manchester to sort it out?
quote:
Originally posted by Oddified
If you can't do it yourself, and they say they can then i'd say give them a chance. Any garage is only as good as the mechanics that work there whether it's Halfords or a main dealer!.
Ian
I wouldn't be able to remove my own appendix. It doesn't mean I should entrust the job to the nearest bloke who says he could do it and has a set of overalls with a logo on the back.
quote:
Originally posted by beaver34
quote:
Originally posted by Oddified
If you can't do it yourself, and they say they can then i'd say give them a chance. Any garage is only as good as the mechanics that work there whether it's Halfords or a main dealer!.
Ian
I agree, to easy to slate someone or place
Also payment on upsell is the norm in the motor industry
Halfrauds autocentres are rebranded Nationwide autocentres which are rebranded AA autocentres. When I used to work for the AA there was an incentive
to take work to Nationwide (as it was then) we even had to get our vans serviced and repaired there. One of the guys had his bottom pulley fall off
and lunch the engine after a timing belt change. When my van went in somehow the vacuum pipe to the brake servo fell out which meant I nearly smashed
it up leaving the carpark. My sisters 206 had a timing belt changed there against my advise and ended up with them having to buy it off her because
they fitted it wrong and destroyed the engine. I would never, ever, ever take any car to any of them but I am also a firm believer that the work is
only as good as the mechanic. Good Luck
update
£2200 they have fitted a 2nd hand engine with 8kmiles on it 
Ive tried to politely tell him hes been ripped off, but hes certain hes had a good deal...!
I wasn't aware they would buy second hand parts so im wondering if a mechanic working there has done a cash deal?!
If they've changed the engine, I'd be wanting a) some sort of guarantee on the workmanship, b) some sort of warranty on the engine itself (have they checked it over at all?), and c) a complete engineers report including where the engine was sourced from - ie. is it stolen/a ring-ding-dinger, the old engine number confirmed as removed and scrapped, and the new engine number. When you write to the DVLA telling them you've changed the engine, they'll want all these details and more!
ive asked 'emmanuel' what his new engine number is and all he keeps saying is '1.2'.. its probably not worth explaining!
What is it they say about a fool and his money? Oh well...
quote:
Originally posted by dinosaurjuice
ive asked 'emmanuel' what his new engine number is and all he keeps saying is '1.2'.. its probably not worth explaining!
Tell him you've looked it up and his engine's from a stolen car
Oh dear, these type of people never learn. That's a massive ammount for a fitted second hand engine I would check with Halfords if they are even allowed to do that in their policies. Mug
its a huge amount of money. makes me proud to have the knowledge and skill to do such a task myself.
On a positive note, this lad has been with this company for 9 months and done naff all (apart from tell everyone how good he is) and has today handed
his notice in to leave
well had my company car serviced this morning dropped it off 8.30am give us a couple of hours. Went back after 1 hour car up and oil draining, sat
and waited the man behind the counter went away and kept peeping round the door (strange) he came back and said i was on the phone to our suppliers
your oil filter should have been here by now. I asked can you not get it from the store, no it costs to much from them i get them cheaper else
where.
Then a work shop guy walks through and says that car i think its failed its MOT, he asked what the items were and said it was border line so just fail
it so we could do with the work.
I'll be honest and say I get decent (fair) MoT's on my cars from my local Halfords Autocentre.
Why there? Most of the time they do 1/2 price offers, and I make it quite clear that I'll be doing any work on it if it fails. So far, so
good..
On the flip side - our company cars used to get only done at main dealers. They tried going through a third party 3 or 4 years ago for a few months;
first car that went for a service (oil change and pollen filters, I think) came back covered in oily fingerprints (inside and out) and with an engine
warning light on. Garage denied all knowledge, refused to fix the warning lamp. Cost more than the dealer service to get the warning light
fixed..
Just changed over to an external fleet management company who seem to want to use...yep, you've guessed it...