Don’t use their courtesy car
Firstly, the staff are great, the repair to my own car is fine and the repair time was faster than estimated. But…
The courtesy car, a Toyota Aygo, was a nightmare. Driving home along the A1 it felt like being strapped to a roller skate at high speed. Very disconcerting! At handover I found there was damage to the passenger side front wing which I pointed out rather than be blamed for said damage. Driving off the the forecourt 3 malfunction alarms started flashing: SRS airbag, LTA and pre-collision systems. I have location and time stamped photos, which were forwarded to the garage manager, but they can’t be loaded here because I am reviewing the garage service, not the courtesy car.
As already indicated, I emailed the garage manager, attaching the photographs and asking for advice. The advice: clean the windscreen.
Ok.
Didn’t help.
I had to nip back to the garage to collect a sentimental item from my own vehicle and took the opportunity to show the mechanic the malfunction alerts.
His verdict?
It’s fine. You can drive it. 😳
Now, I look like a daft old woman. I’m past the point of caring about looking attractive. I have mobility issues and walk slowly with a distinct limp, and I’m hard of hearing (mutton Jeff, deaf – a proper cloth ears). But I have hearing aids, the ability to lipread competently and a PhD (yes, seriously). I am moderately intelligent and my looks belie my abilities.
I’m not a mechanic but due to financial necessity and an enquiring mind, I’m (arguably) competent with home car maintenance. The 3 faults occurring simultaneously lead me to suggest the issue may be the result of a faulty battery connection – checked it. Nope. A faulty common fuse, then? Couldn’t check this. And of course, the manager had suggested cleaning the windscreen, which I did - as helpful as a handbrake on a canoe.
A moment of cogitation: how would a dirty windscreen camera have caused air airbag malfunction?🧐🧐🧐
My concern is that I have other equally decrepit but better informed friends, far better informed on matters of motoring and the law, who unanimously told me that driving the Aygo whilst the malfunction alerts were actively and continuously flashing could be an offence, as these malfunctions at once invalidate the MOT certification. Furthermore, it is an offence to drive a car in a dangerous condition and, worst of all, most insurance policies require the car to be in a roadworthy condition – and the Aygo, the courtesy car I got, was not.