THE GREAT Kwik Fit FIT-UP

IT IS one of Britain’s best-known garage chains, renowned for its proud slogan: ‘You can’t get better than a Kwik Fit fitter.’

But today an undercover investigation by The Mail on Sunday reveals how the firm charged reporters posing as customers for parts that were never changed and urged them to have expensive repairs – some of which an independent expert said were completely unnecessary.

After a whistleblower from the company came forward, this newspaper sent cars that had already been checked into five different Kwik Fit centres for full services.

Our reporter was charged £49.95 in Nottingham for a wheel-alignment adjustment, which we were told would improve handling and increase the life of the tyres. Our expert believed it was unnecessary.

A reporter in Birmingham was warned that in the ‘worst case scenario’ her wheel might come off if she didn’t spend £151.60 on a new bearing. Our expert had said it did not need changing.

Mechanics charged her for four new spark plugs as part of the £195.95 service package – but they were never fitted.

A one-year-old Mini was allowed to be driven away in Mansfield with a leaking oil filter. Our expert said this could possibly lead to the engine seizing up.

An examination of a car serviced by Kwik Fit staff in Derby found the screen-wash container did not contain sufficient anti-freeze additive.

Last night a spokesman insisted Kwik Fit stood by its work and the ‘majority’ of its mechanics’ recommendations, saying: ‘We have thoroughly investigated each of these cases, audited our service records and interviewed our staff.’

Kwik Fit made £25million profit last year and claims to be the largest network of fast-fit centres in the UK with more than 600 workshops.

The firm was founded by Sir Tom Farmer in Edinburgh in 1971 when he was 31.

By 1999, Kwik Fit had established more than 570 centres throughout Europe.

Sir Tom, now 76 and one of Scotland’s richest men with a net worth of around £130 million, sold the firm to Ford in 1999 for £1.2 billion.

To test Kwik Fit, each of our vehicles had MOTs at an independent garage overseen by forensic vehicle examiner Mark Brown, a member of the Institute of Automotive Engineer Assessors and registered expert witness for the motor industry.

Each car was then transported to a nearby Kwik Fit branch by flat-bed truck to avoid any post-examination jolts or damage.

The point of an alignment check is to make sure wheels rotate to give maximum fuel efficiency and minimum tyre wear.

At Kwik Fit, checks are offered free with a full service, with customers charged £49.95 if they need a standard realignment.

The Mail on Sunday sent a reporter’s Citroen C2 into a city-centre Kwik Fit in Nottingham for a full service costing £139.96.

The vehicle’s wheels had already been aligned at an independent garage, but the reporter was told that his alignment had been tested and was out.

The Kwik Fit staff member later showed the reporter a diagram of the supposed alignment issues, saying: ‘We have adjusted it for you. Now we’ve set it back dead straight.’

Kwik Fit also quoted the reporter for £650 worth of other urgent repairs, which our expert found was reasonable.

A Kwik Fit spokesman said: ‘We are confident that our staff followed the correct procedure for wheel alignment.

‘After The Mail on Sunday advised us of discrepancies with their measurements, we found that the publicly available MOT record of the car shows that it may have damage to a front strut.

‘This damage would explain the variance in alignment readings. We encourage the car owner to have the strut repaired.’

Our expert said: ‘Not even slight movement was found by me or the MOT test I oversaw before the car went to Kwik Fit. Either it was so slight it was not worthy of mention, or it no longer existed at all.’

In Birmingham, our reporter was told her car needed a replacement hub bearing in the nearside rear wheel at a cost of £151.60.

A staff member told her: ‘Like I says madam, I don’t want to scare you because we’re not in the game to scare you but in the worst case scenario they can actually dry up and they get hot, basically, and then dry up and it could actually collapse.’

Asked if the wheel could come off, he replied: ‘The worst case scenario, yes.’

A colleague also said this would only occur in a worst case scenario. We were also charged for changing four spark plugs even though the mechanic left the old ones in.

Staff also quoted for a further £548 work of work, which our expert said was necessary.

Our expert used ultraviolet (UV) ink, which the naked eye can’t see, to mark the bolts fastening the coil packs, which on this car must be removed to take out the plugs.

They remained in exactly the same position when inspected afterwards.

A Kwik Fit spokesman said: ‘We cannot accept that the centre’s diagnosis of a faulty wheel bearing is incorrect without re-examining the car.

‘However, our own investigation confirmed that the spark plugs were not changed in this case and we fully apologise for that.’

Our expert said: ‘The wheel bearing showed no signs of wear or impending failure.’

He added: ‘Detachment of a wheel due to a wheel bearing fault is extremely rare.’

The Kwik Fit in Mansfield left a leaking oil filter on a reporter’s Mini, which our expert said could have caused the engine to seize up. The reporter was told her car was finished and ‘everything is fine’.

But when she went to collect it, an employee said they could not replace her oil filter – something they are meant to do as part of their standard full service – as they did not have the right part in stock.

Asked what would happen if she did not get the oil filter changed, the Kwik Fit employee said: ‘Nothing.

‘You can leave it until your next service, but you’ve paid for it so if you nip into town or anything at the weekend you can drop it in and we’ll put a new one in.’

Our expert said: ‘Had the leak not been detected and all the oil lost, the engine could potentially seize up and stop working. This would be potentially very dangerous if this occurred, say, on the outside lane of the motorway.’

A Kwik Fit spokesman said: ‘We were very clear to the customer that we had not been able to change the filter on the day as it did not arrive from our supplier in time. We have had the correct oil filter ready and waiting for the customer since that afternoon and do not believe that if there was any oil leaking it would have been serious enough to cause damage without advance warning.’

In Derby, our expert found evidence to suggest Kwik Fit had not added sufficient anti-freeze when topping up a screen-wash tank. The reporter was also quoted £189 for other work, which the expert said was necessary.

Our expert said: ‘In the winter months additive is essential to increase the strength of screen wash solution so that the screen washers can still be used even in freezing conditions.’

Staff at another Nottingham Kwik Fit told a reporter they had changed his Ford KA’s spark plugs when evidence discovered by the expert suggested they had not. Prior to the car being sent in, the expert made invisible UV marks on the terminals of three of the four spark plugs. All the marks remained when inspected afterwards.

The Kwik Fit spokesman said: ‘We are confident the spark plugs were changed.’

‘Worst case scenario? The wheel could fall off’ Mechanic left a leaking oil filter on our Mini