Some garages provide lax and inept servicing despite impending compulsory standards being imposed, according to Which? Magazine.

The latest undercover investigation by Which? reported today involved the consumer magazine taking 50 cars, all less than three years old, to garages throughout the country for servicing.

Four simple faults were introduced and the screenwash bottle was topped up - before the cars went in. Forty-six garages (92%) missed at least one fault, and two - Central Garage (Raunds) Ltd, 23 High Street, Raunds, Northants and Motormaster in Leatherhead - missed all five.

Twenty-six garages (52%) missed the low brake-fluid level. Even a half-competent mechanic should notice this, says Which?, while a good mechanic would try to diagnose why it’s low, as it could lead to brake failure.

More than three in four (38) garages failed to adjust the very low spare tyre pressure, and nine garages failed to adjust the other tyre pressures properly. Few garages carried out significant unnecessary work, but 20 still charged for windscreen-washer fluid, even though it had been topped up just before taking the cars in.

Only two garages achieved top marks from the Which? inspectors - Highams Park Motor Company in East London, and Colliers Jaguar in Tamworth, Staffordshire spotted all five faults and had high overall servicing standards. However, the average inspection rating was a 2.28 out of 5.

Which? found no discernible difference in standards between franchised garages and independents, although independents were considerably cheaper. Franchised dealers charged an average price of £255 for a service, whereas independent garages charged £166 on average – 35 per cent cheaper. Which? did not disclose what makes and models of car were involved in their mystery shopping exercise.

Only 12 out of 50 garages said they followed formal codes of practice. A month ahead of a decision expected from the National Consumer Council on whether to issue a ‘super-complaint’ on garage servicing to the OFT, Which? concludes that there are too few regulations to make garages toe the line and that tougher rules are needed to sort out the rogues.

Which? Editor Neil Fowler said: “UK owners spend more than £21 billion a year maintaining their cars. We reckon this should go to reliable businesses with sound service procedures, not gambled on rogue traders. Unacceptably, getting your car serviced is still a hit-and-miss affair. We’ve found a generally lax approach to servicing, unbelievable basic errors and cases of plain ineptitude.”

Alec Murray, non-executive director of the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMIF), commented on the survey, “Garages maintain car servicing standards by constantly reviewing their performance and procedures, making the survey performed by Which? magazine an extension of what our members will already be doing.”

He continued: “The RMIF is currently working with industry partners on the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code, which will provide a national car servicing benchmark standard for consumers,” adding that one of the two garages that scored top marks in the Which? survey was a member of the RMIF, and saying that the RMIF will get in touch with all member garages included in the survey to discuss the results.