Recently I had cause to take my car into a local garage because I kept hearing a clunking sound whenever I went over a bump. After a two hour inspection I was told that they could find nothing wrong with the car, but the two front tyres they'd replaced eight months earlier both needed replacing. Obviously I was a little annoyed as unless you're driving several hundred miles a week you don't expect to have to replace your tyres after only eight months.
Still, I could see myself that they did need to be replaced, though I was reluctant to have them done at that garage. It's not just that they replaced those tyres eight months ago. It's not just that it took them over an hour to fit them while I waited. It was more that they charge £67 a tyre plus a fitting fee, so replacing both front tyres there would have cost me over £140, and with the MOT and road tax coming in the next few months that's an expense I would rather have avoided.
Fortunately, someone recommended the Kirky Tyre Centre to me, and I'm very glad they did. My garage gave me the choice of just one type of tyre, not a brand name. Kirky Tyre Centre gave me the option to have one of four types of tyre. My garage quoted me £67 per tyre, plus fitting, for an unbranded Polish piece of rubbarised crap. Kirky Tyre Centre quoted less than that for a branded tyre.
In the end I went for a brand I didn't know, but which the owner of the garage said he had on his own car. The price he quoted - £41 a tyre, fitting included. I was ecstatic. I drove over there, pulled into their little garage, and they immediately started work. I braced myself for the same long wait I'd experienced in my own garage, but ten minutes later - if that - the job was done. And the tyres - they may not be a brand name but one look is enough to know they're better quality than the ones I had on it.
Contrary to what most men might have you believe, testicles do not give you an immediate and exhaustive knowledge of the inner workings of a car, and there are plenty of garages who will take advantage of your ignorance to charge as much as they can for work that isn't needed. Kirky Tyre Centre is not such a place. They replaced my front tyres, checked the back and said they had plenty of life left in them, and charged me just £82 for the work - £60 less than my local garage.
Best of all, the staff are actual human beings who don't try to induce a migraine by babbling about things you can't possibly understand. They talk clearly, politely and with smiles on their faces. I will be taking my car back to Kirky Tyre Centre whenever I need work done on my tyres, and trusting their recommendation for other garages if I need other work done.
Highly recommended. read more
