It may have taken 4 weeks, but our little Peugeot 206 is back on the road! So why the change of heart? Well, it turned out that the car was not in as bad shape as the first garage had made out. I replaced the radiator, and the front brake discs and brake pads for a total of £105. Me and my dad fitted these easily enough, so that saved us on labour costs. I then put the car in for it’s MOT, and with just 2 new tyres and a new brake hose it passed. Total cost back on the road was £220. Slightly less than the £600+ the (rogue?) garage tried to charge u.

So, what have I learnt from this experience? Never to accept a quote from a single garage! The garage I took it to for its MOT was recommended by a friend, and true to his word they were very fair and didn’t try and rip me off. If you can’t get a recommendation from anyone I suggest looking up your local council test centre. These are purely setup for MOT purposes and as they don’t do repairs it’s not in there interest to fail you unless absolutely neccesary. Unfortunately my closest one if a 30 minute drive away, and that’s more hassle than its worth in my opinion.

Anyway, I’m a very happy and frugal father this week!