We want a garage!

Having a garage is a huge advantage. For one, you will not have to park your car by the road kerb like we do now. That will reduce your car insurance tremendously especially if you live in the UK. If your house has a garage than you might want to shop around for some garage accessories to equip your garage.

I know of a friend who has a hobby building his own furniture and he has an amazing garage fully equipped with machines and tools for the job. I know, people sometimes use the garage for other purposes as well.

Car scares

We had a scare last Monday. My wife came back from University and informed me that there was a strange sound coming from below the car. It's always scary when I hear stuff like that because of the extremely high cost of spare parts and service charges here in the UK.

There had been quite heavy rains and on the way back my wife found a stretch of the road flooded. She drove through it and came through safely even though she noticed several cars had stalled on the road. However, right after that a strange sound started emanating from the car. I took the torch and checked under the car - there was something hanging underneath. At first I thought it might be some box that had got stuck there but on closer inspection realised that it was some part of the car.

Next day, I drove down to Taxi & car repairs on Stony Stanton road. Found that it was closed. I then tried two more workshops but none had their ramps free. I suddenly remembered TPS Autos Ltd in Foleshill. According to the old timers here, the Punjabi owner charges a bit higher than the rest but as I had no choice, I drove there. Fortunately, he has a ramp empty and we quickly found the problem.

The heat shield over the exhaust had come out, probably by the force of water, and was scrapping the road. Pritpal Singh did some temporary repairs (just pushing it back into place) and informed me that I could just take it out and won't do any harm. I was reluctant but he informed me that a new one would cost me around £100. So I just told him to leave it as it was.

Passed the MOT test

Every vehicle in the UK has to go through the dreaded mandatory MOT test. The name derives from the now defunct Ministry of Transport, but is still officially used.

The test is carried out annually to most vehicles over a certain age to ensure that they are safe and roadworthy.

It's that time of the year for our car. So I went over to a nearby garage recommended by some of our friends - TPS Autos Ltd in Foleshill.

I was praying that everything would be OK and I wouldn't have to change anything. Unfortunately that was not to be and I found out that:
1. Nearside front brake pipe excessively corroded [3.6.b.2c]
2. Front headlamp aim too low [1.6]



I was a bit sceptical about the second fault and had a feelign the guy was ripping me off but I kept my mouth shut.

It cost me £45 for the test itself and £80 for the replacements and repair.
Total damage: £125/

Is that costly?

Cars are cheap in the UK but the cost of maintenance, insurance and other extras are really high.

Reminds me of a story I heard from a friend. The story goes that one guy found out that he would have to fork out more than the price he had paid, to fix the car. He just drove it straight to the scrap yard and sold it for a few pounds.

In case you are interested, the owner's name is Pritpal Singh and here's the full add of the garage:

TPS Autos Ltd
14 Boston Place
OFF Durbar Avenue
Foleshill
Coventry CV6 5NN

My only complaint was that they did not have a customer waiting area.

Find your nearest UK MOT test centre here.

Tags: Coventry MOT Workshop