Checks were conducted at five garages in Dublin between 5 - 8 October. The AA installed minor faults in each car that should have been picked up in any routine service. All selected garages made some basic errors.
Three garages didn't ask when the timing belt had last been changed. Two failed to check the tyre pressures and another over-inflated them. In one case a car was returned to the mystery shopper with a dangerously low pressure in the right-rear tyre. Many of these faults would have caused the car to fail the NCT.
Other faults included overfilled engine oil, brake fluid not being topped up, not noticing tracking misalignment, loose mud-flaps and corroded battery terminals.
David Murphy of AA Technical Services was concerned with the results. "We were unpleasantly surprised at the findings. Many garages offer a very good quality of service but there is no getting away from the fact that when we carried out this study we found serious, basic and repeated failings. Motoring consumers are entitled to expect better."
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