Kwik Fit Rugby: Avoid at all costs

The Short Story

Kwik-Fit have featured on more episodes of WatchdogWikipedia: Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: than I care to count. They have been criticized for inflated prices and selling work that does not need to be done. The Rugby (Warwickshire, UK) branch is no exception. Avoid it at all costs.

For tyres, I highly recommend BT Tyres in Rugby. For all manner of repair work, services and MOTs, TW Tyres are honest, reliable and competitively priced. TW Tyres, perhaps not suggested by the name, have a full blown repair garage capable of doing simple and advanced repair work. Guaranteed it’ll be cheaper and less hassle than Kwik-Fit.

The Longer Story

There’s nothing quicker than a Kwik Fit Fitter… at trying to pull a fast one in getting you to pay for car work which you simply don’t require. The opening sentence of this blog post bares such a close resemblance to an episode of WatchdogWikipedia: Watchdog is a British consumer investigative journalism programme that was broadcast on BBC One from 14 July 1985 to 17 October 2019. The programme focused on investigating complaints and concerns mad... that you should read the rest of it aloud; whilst doing a poor impersonation of Anne RobinsonWikipedia: Anne Josephine Robinson (born 26 September 1944)[1] is a former[2] journalist and television presenter, best known as the host of BBC game show The Weakest Link from 2000 to 2012, and again in 2017 fo....

I recently got a puncture in one of my car tyres and, being busy at work, took the car into the Rugby branch of Kwik FitWikipedia: Kwik Fit is a car servicing and repair company in the United Kingdom. As of December 2024, there are over six hundred Kwik Fit locations in the United Kingdom.[1] Kwik Fit also has locations in contin... for a repair. A few minutes after dropping the car off, I got a call from the branch with some bad news. The tyre that was punctured was un-repairable, the front tyre on the other side of the car also needed replacing and they would have to do wheal alignment also. The total cost of this was set to be £245.

I didn’t, for one minute, question the legitimacy of these claims but didn’t like the thought of shelling out £245 because of a single flat tyre. I instead opted to phone around and see if there was a cheaper deal to be had elsewhere. I was informed by the fitter on the phone that the prices Kwik Fit offered were already discounted as they were having a tyre sale, and that I wouldn’t find cheaper elsewhere. After a single phone call to a tyre fitter in Rugby (BT Tyres), I found the same tyres Kwik Fit were selling for £70 each. This would have reduced my cost for 2 tyres and wheal realignment to £165.

I subsequently called Kwik Fit and asked them to match this price. They noted they had a price match promise and that all I needed to do was bring a written quotation from BT Tyres. The logic of this didn’t stack up as I would have had to drive to BT Tyres, get the quotation and then drive back in order to get the same price as I would if I simply got BT Tyres to fit the tyres. I opted for the sensible option and took the car over to BT Tyres to have the work done.

BT Tyres assessed the car and noted that the Kwik Fit fitter was correct in his analysis of the puncture and that tyre did indeed need to be replaced. The assessment of the other tyre, that Kwik Fit noted should be replaced, was that it in fact had another 1500 miles left on it and it shouldn’t be replaced at this time. BT Tyres also noted that the ware on the tyres was so close to the centre that wheal realignment would be pointless.

All in all, the cost was £70 for a single tyre replacement – vastly less than Kwik Fit quoted.

My major objections and the reason that you, the one doing the amusing Anne Robinson impression, shouldn’t take your car to Kwik Fit are thus:

• The replacement tyre quote was based on using high performance BridgestoneWikipedia: Bridgestone Corporation (株式会社ブリヂストン, Kabushiki gaisha Burijisuton) is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city ... tyres. Only after prompting was a lower price alternative even offered.
• A large establishment such as Kwik Fit should have no reason to invent work or con the customer. The car needed neither a replacement front offside tyre nor wheal re-alignment.
• The price quoted for the tyres was nearly 60% more than a small tyre shop sold the tyres for – yet Kwik Fit still maintained that they had a sale on and the tyres wouldn’t be obtained cheaper elsewhere. Kwik Fit take advantage of bulk buying but do not pass this on to the customer.

I admire the professional honesty of BT Tyres who could easily have taken a similarly dishonest stance to Kwik Fit.

To summarise, be wary of Kwik Fit… and badgers.

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