Elderly lady almost ripped off by a Fast Fit Centre

A new customer called the office today to say she had been to a main fast fit centre and been told that she needed 4 new tyres as they were worn and one of them had a screw in it that they could not repair. The car had just over 20,000 miles on it and had already had the tyres changed once.

Luckily for her an existing customer of ours told her to call us before she had any work done, the office took the details and we loaded four 165/60/14 75H Excelon touring HP tyres onto the van and headed off to see her.

Arrived at the car (Hyundai I10) and started to check the tyres, the tread depth on the tyres ranged from 4mm to 5mm across all 4 tyres. The legal limit is 1.6mm and we start to recommend changing tyres at 3mm as the grip starts to drop off dramatically at this point. So the tyres where perfectly legal and did not need changing.

Now it was time to check the screw, tyres can be repaired as long as the damage is not near the side of the tread pattern and the tyre has not been driven on while it is deflated. Found the screw and it was right in the middle of the tread, so totally repairable as long as the tyre has not been driven on while deflated. Pulled the screw out of the tyre and no leak, the screw had not even penetrated the tyre, it was only 1mm into the tread.

Disgusting thing to have done to a customer if you ask me, most people look on the motor trade as being full of cow boys, this kind of behaviour only reinforces people perception. We left her knowing that she was totally legal and safe to drive and did not charge her. Now that's being honest.

If you would like to deal with an honest trust worthy company call Hometyre on 0800 783 93 10 or 0333 444 54 54 and we will come to you.