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 journalist and was an English television presenter, best known as the host of BBC game show The Weakest Link from 2000 to 2012, and again in 20....
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.
I’m glad that you learned something about tyre fixing. However, you could have avoided the whole mess if you hadn’t ran over that body..
Uh..
Whoops! Spilled your secret. =P
x
From Twitter: you spell tire weird.
No I think he spelt tyre correctly – but i wheally thing there are other spell-check gotchas in his report. Otherwise, yes agreed, Kwik Fit will sting you for your last penny if they could get away with it. Similar experience as you – with K-F giving me the guilt trip for having tyres that were illegal – when only one was worn below the legal limit. And yet even with the “not mates rates” 25% discount you can definitely find cheaper elsewhere. Just do a google shopping comparison. The other con – is charging without permission for the useless nitrogen inflation.
From Twitter: Hi Phil, we’re read your blog post – Could you DM us you number? We’d like to discuss this further with you. Thanks
kwik fit insurance ,i cancelled before i left to go to the philipinnes all ok ,then when i had to try to get back to uk early found out they had taken 158 pound from my account and i am at present stranded here and also overdrawn due to them taking a payment off my card without my knowledge or consent .I have warned them of my intentions to tell people my true story if no refund is forthcoming and to make matters worse i have an eye problem that needs to be treated at home ,so my health is getting worse due to them ,dont these companies make enough money from us ,time to fight back ,kwik fit will lose more than me in the end ,truth will pevail
Kwik fit are a bunch of assholes. I am a taxi driver and got called out of town to pick up some tyres for them from one of there branches i waited around 4 ages and they then said to me I wasnt needed anymore. They then refused to pay me anything and then I had to drive back to town wasting an hour. Today I was already out of town and got a call to take tyres from one kwik fit to another. I picked the tyres up and got to the other garage. I locked the tyres in the boot making sure I got the money first. A girl mechanic wanted to get them out but I refused I then went in for 2 MINUTES to get the money. When I came out I unlocked the boot but the girl refused to get them out the trunk I politely explained why it was locked but she was having none of it and the man mechanic (what a wanker)squared up to me and said he wanted to smash my fucking face in and I was a cunt this was in the street how professional kwik fit are. Eventually I got back in my car and as I was reversing he said FUCK OFF I said excuse me he said go on FUCK OFF get off my FUCKING PROPERTY. Thinking of kwik fit as a company that delivers a service is laughable there more like thick wits.
Just been to Kiwkfit to have two new tyres fitted. I phoned and asked whether to book on line, or just come in. They said it made no difference – it was up to me. Total bill was over £200. My husband later looked at their website where if you book on line they quote a little over £50 per tyre fully fitted, including valve, wheel balancing, VAT etc . What a rip-off! Won’t go there again and will tell all my friends.
Hi Phil,
I agree with you, Kwik Fit tend to also be one of the most expensive on the High Street.
I am in the process of developing a tyre price comparison website which compares the top online retailers and will save you up to 40% on Kwik Fit prices.
I visited a branch a few weeks ago and overhead someone being quoted £560 for 2 tyres, then after phoning round they offered £420. My site has listed for around £300!
Would love to know what you and any readers think of Bestvaluetyres.co.uk as any ideas on improvements would be welcome (more retailers prices coming soon too, but currently we have over 60,000 tyres on the site!
Thanks for the insight – I’ll be sure to check that out next time I have to replace mine. I’m driving an Alfa Romeo 159 Lusso now and the tires are outrageous, wherever you go. Hopefully you’ll help me save a few quid 😉
The same just happened to me… they told me it would be £280 to replace one tyre, but as my second tyre was close to the limit of tread… they would do 2 for £430 saving me 25% with their latest offer!! He was pushing me to get 2 when I said I can only afford one.. in the end, I asked him to put air in my tyre and I will think about it… drove to ALBA tyres in Leeds… they said it will be £180 for the same tyre… You really can’t get better than a kwik fit fitter to try and sell you overpriced tyres, and push you into spending more than you need!!
It is almost cultural in Kwik-Fit to rip people off, they get away with it so much they think it is moral and normal for their industry. They charge just £25 for the MOT for what reason do you think… It’s called UPSELLING in their world and theft in mine. They are tasked to sell regardless of need.. The management claim to care but frankly know it is easy to get away with this and they can tolerate the odd moany twat like me… check the defences they make in this article and then check my comments on Trust Pilot. It is time this company was put out of business. Spread the word.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4215926/The-great-Kwik-Fit-fit-up.html
https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/58f7bd18a02b420288ce6e5b
My Daughter in law took her car to Pontypridd Kwik-Fit for a service and MOT. The technician told her the tyres were ‘Almost Illegal’. In fact all 4 were new 4 weeks ago and when she asked him to double check he found full tread on all tyres!! Really Kwik-Fit? Still at that trick in 2017
It gets better.
He then told her that her tracking was out. In fact it was 2 One hundredths of a degree out on one wheel and 3 One Hundredths of a degree on the other. Basically 5 hundredths of a degree out in total…Well, well within the acceptable tolerance (in fact almost impossible to get closer to perfect). Not 5 degrees, not 5 tenths of a degree but 5 one hundredths!! He told her that ‘it was up to her’ but ‘The tyres would wear unevenly’… In fact this was a lie because she’d have to do 200,000 miles for the difference to show! He neglected to tell her they were well inside the tolerance recommended and near enough perfect.
It gets better.
She agreed to the £50 work and when he had finished the wheels they were 12 One Hundredths of a degree out,… ALMOST 3 TIMES AS BAD AS WHAT HE TOLD HER WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE!!! I have the paperwork if anyone wants to see it.
AVOID KWIK-FIT PONTYPRIDD…. IN FACT AVOID KWIK-FIT, THEY CLEARLY MISLEAD VOULNERABLE CLIENTS AND TRICK THEM INTO HAVING UNNECESSARY WORK DONE. AND WHEN THEY DO IT THEY MAKE THE CAR WORSE, NOT BETTER.
KWIK-FIT SHAME ON YOU!!! SHAME ON YOU.
IT GETS EVEN BETTER.
The local centre has now told me that in fact whilst the machine wot measures tracking is working fine the printer is not and it printed off the wrong test results for the alignment for the ‘beofre’ test and the correct results for the ‘after’ …. on the same sheet???
Apparently I am quite the cad for suggesting any impropriety…
You can’t dimmer than a quick fit trimmer!
booked a car in for a tow bar to be fitted found out after they had the car for several hours they could not fit it . so if they cant fit a simple tow bar what on earth can they do . truth is i dont think they could be bothered with it being a sunday