Saab specialists getting less Saabey

[Steve McF]

As my 9-3 gets older, the benefits of taking it to a Saab specialist seem to be getting less and less, as the specialists have had to diversify into other brands to survive, and the Saab expertise is being heavily diluted with the recruitment of younger general mechanics who don't necessarily have the specialist Saab knowledge and experience any more.

As a result, my loyalty to certainly one of the specialists I use is waning. They don't seem to be especially cheap, and they no longer seem to be especially good at diagnosing specific issues. Plus I have to drive some distance to them, and then pay for the privilege of having a courtesy car!!!!

I have used two specialists on both my Saabs in the past (largely documented on here and Saabscene etc). One is 50 miles away and used to provide a free courtesy car, but that was a bit too far to be going to (the only reason why I haven't used them recently). The other is probably 30 or 35 miles away. There is an ex-Saab dealer nearby that is now a Kia dealer, but supposedly still with ex Saab technicians, but their prices have tended to be horrendous when I have had quotes off them.

One I hear good things about is Bagnal Saab in Birmingham, although I have yet to try them out.

But just wondered what people's experiences were with Saab specialists generally now that Saab has been out of business for so many years? We use a local mobile mechanic for our other cars who has been superb, but he is less than enthusiastic about working on my 9-3 for some reason, hence I tend to use him for the general stuff like brakes, MOTs etc, but anything else I have taken the car to a specialist.

[sgould]

I drive 40 miles to a Saab specialist.  www.joesrepairshop.co.uk   Some specialists are better than others...

We had a Saab dealer a mile down the road from us, who was excellent.  They were taken over by another Saab specialist and prices went up a bit more.  When Saab folded, the dealership was sold to a motor group who turned it into a Seat dealership, with a "Saab service" sign over the back door.  I used them a couple of times, but quality declined.  The final straw was when my aircon failed. I found that they had ripped the aircon pipes out of the clips when they replaced the failed power steering pipe. As a result, the aircon pipes rubbed through on the auto gearbox pipes about a year later.

I took the car to have both sets of pipes replaced at another Saab specialist.  A week later the engine light came on and I found that they had refitted the air-mass meter back to front.  Upon complaining, I only got a standard reply "if you have a fault, please book your car in so that one of our expert technicians can diagnose the problem".  I had already fixed "the problem" in the motorway services. I was just letting them know.

So I went to my current specialist.  He has done the servicing etc. for the last five years or so on both our cars.  He had to fix the aircon pipes (again!) because the last specialist, who 'fixed" them, had indeed used the correct clips, but fitted them wrongly, and the pipe had rubbed through on the bodywork...

The local Seat dealership has closed, and the site is empty, and has been for over a year.  The second Saab specialist has diversified into Minis, but his ebay parts shop is run by an enthusiast and is still good.  The current place is on the face of it, a general garage, but work on Saabs gets invoiced under his "Surrey Saab Specialist" name. Alas, being in the London area, the work is not as cheap as a small one-man band, but the cost of doing things without full knowledge could turn out to be more expensive in the long run.

[Audax]

As my 9-3 gets older, the benefits of taking it to a Saab specialist seem to be getting less and less, as the specialists have had to diversify into other brands to survive, and the Saab expertise is being heavily diluted with the recruitment of younger general mechanics who don't necessarily have the specialist Saab knowledge and experience any more.

It also comes down to why would a younger mechanic want to learn Saab now? When I was working on them we would see so many different problems even on classic 900's and 9000's that you would learn quickly and that was  around 2007-2011. It's difficult as once you don't see enough of them then you just get rusty with your experience and there are just not that many on the road now, today I drove from Cambridge to Mansfield and back and didn't see a single Saab on the entire journey!

I still think that the specialists are useful, if we don't use them at all then it will get to a point that you won't be able to find anyone with a Tech-II without a long trip or any second hand parts. Although, I do keep looking at the 9-3 and wondering how long I will have it for. I still don't drive enough to justify replacement but at some point it will have to go.

[Geoff1951]

Will, is that your 9-5 in the photo gallery on Joe's website?

[sgould]

It is.  The photo was taken a long time ago at an evening meeting in Surrey, along with most of the photos in the gallery. It's not from Joe's garage site.

My car is still shiny.  I would guess it was taken around ten years ago.  Long before I started using Joe for servicing.  I bought the car at 10 months old in October 2007. It has the Hirsch wheels, so it would be after June 2008.

[Steve McF]

Will, that is a tale of woe. Makes you not want to take the car to them again for sure. I don't think I've had bad workmanship as such, just that the general service seems to be descending into mediocrity.

Audax, I get the fact that perhaps the Saab specific knowledge and experience will diminish over time. But Will's experience of stuff being fitted incorrectly is not great. I had to get a second hand air filter box when I found one mounting snapped off, which only made itself apparent as a knocking from the engine compartment as the car was idling. I suspect that was one of the specialists who had to remove the box to fit something else and broke it, but did not tell me.

I asked them about the suspension knock that the car has had since I bought it 3 years ago or so, and they never found anything wrong. 3 years on, 2 more services and MOTs on, and the suspension knock over speedramps is still there!!!! I had an oil leak that they 'fixed' by fitting a new vac pump, and I then continued to have an oil leak from 'somewhere else'........

I don't rely on my Saab as my main car so I can park it in my garage if I need to wait to get parts etc, and I have another car to use. But the Saab is my sort of project, my car that I don't really need but I want to have. I do rely on mechanics and specialists as I am not a mechanic myself, and as it gets older and stuff wears out, I accept I'll have to spend a bit to sort it. But I want to take the car somewhere where I feel they know what they are talking about/doing. Otherwise I could take the car to any back street garage or Halfords Autocentre!!!

But they wouldnt have the Tech2 or knowledge.....or passion!!!

[ScarbSaab]

I feel a large number of garages and their mechanics have no clue about any car... or they don't care. A lot of the problems are not Saab peculiarities but common to most older vehicles, yet they don't know how to deal with them or cause other problems as they go.

I fell out with the local dealership years ago, when I discovered they weren't doing the work I was paying for. The last garage was as expensive as a dealer and used to be good, but I had a number of bad experiences like screws missing from the bumper (and as I later found out at some expense, the undertray), oil leaks that were worse after being fixed. I had new springs, dampers and top mounts fitted to the 9-5 about three years ago, it cured the knock on the front offside, but there was a new knock on the nearside. They couldn't find the cause.

Took it to a new guy, who struggled to find it but didn't give up. We fixed a few other issues along the way. One day he was assisted by an old part-time mechanic who immediately said 'top mount' and proved it. The supposedly new top mount (from the previous garage) looked considerably more than a year old, the rubber gaiter (I don't know its proper name) was split and the nut was hitting the side. As soon as it was replaced, the knock was gone and the steering felt more precise.

He's welded up the exhaust flexi where a hole had formed in the flange rather than replacing the entire part, sorted the oil leak the other garage hadn't, tracked down the fuel leak to a pin hole in a banjo fitting. He's not afraid to show me what needs doing or the work he's done. He cares about his work, and is always busy. He's a generalist, but his motivation makes him better than most of the mechanics I've dealt with.

[Steve McF]

ScarbSaab, where is he based?

[Audax]

I don't rely on my Saab as my main car so I can park it in my garage if I need to wait to get parts etc, and I have another car to use. But the Saab is my sort of project, my car that I don't really need but I want to have. I do rely on mechanics and specialists as I am not a mechanic myself, and as it gets older and stuff wears out, I accept I'll have to spend a bit to sort it. But I want to take the car somewhere where I feel they know what they are talking about/doing. Otherwise I could take the car to any back street garage or Halfords Autocentre!!!

But they wouldnt have the Tech2 or knowledge.....or passion!!!

That's just it though, you take an old car to any old garage with a problem and they won't want to deal with it so will just give silly pricing to make you go away or they will just "fix" problems by bodging them. I used to spend a lot of time fixing two problems on Saabs when they'd been to a back street garage or Halfords for a problem and the garage had butchered something to "fix" the problem creating a new one to go with it.

For example a common occurrence was ignition problems with 9-3 and 9-5 DI based cars, so often the cheaper garage or chain would use a generic scan code reader and see it was an "ignition fault" so they would fit the cheapest compatible plugs and the cheapest DI to a car, of course this would just cause further problems and result in people trying to replace sensors and trying lots of other tricks, the car would then come to us and be fixed in 20 minutes after just fitting the correct plugs and DI.

[welshwizard]

Owning an NG9-5 leads me to use the local Vauxhall garage as much as my favoured agent (Ian Allan in Virginia Water).  I would prefer to use IA but Robins and Day in Kingston is easier for me to reach.

Plus, if anything is needed, on the basis the NG is an 'Insignia in Drag' there's less delay getting parts.  Last MOT told me I had to get pads and discs at the back and got them at a very good price.

Following Will's recommendation I am willing to give Joe's a try.  The NG is at that age that any rattle from the engine bay is the prelude to timing chain failure.  I get 'convincing' replies from the garage saying there is nothing wrong but I would prefer to have the work done before engine goes BOOM.  I bought the NG aware of the issues and that won't stop me from enjoying the car...

[sgould]

Joe is very popular.  Currently booked up for nearly three weeks ahead...

[Steve McF]

WelshWizard which engine do you have in your NG9-5?

Is it the petrols that have the timing chain (like with the old 9-5)?

[sgould]

I bought our last two cars from Mark Arnold in Gloucestershire.  He has long since retired after 30 odd years selling Saabs.  He refused to deal in the NG9-5 2.0 petrol because of warranty claims resulting from timing chain issues.

[ScarbSaab]

ScarbSaab, where is he based?

RJK Autos in Eastfield, near Scarborough. Sorry, not helpful for most of you! There again, for years I have envied you the easy access to specialists with good reputations.

It's an interesting discussion on the NG9-5. I was toying with getting one if I had to replace the Aero (MOT last year was expensive), but it doesn't sound promising. Hopefully she will last a few years longer.

[Steve McF]

I'd love an NG 9-5, but it sounds like the 2.0T is one to avoid. Most on sale seem to be diesels though which wouldn't have been my choice.

I wonder how the specialists cope with a car that was only made for 2 years?!!