Our test

Before we decided where to have them serviced, our cars were pre-checked by a consultant mechanic to see which items needed attention and what sort of service we would ask for.

Most of our cars had quite a few items needing attention, either immediately or in the near future.

Where we sent them

• 2 cars (which were late models) were sent to the local franchise dealers for Honda and Toyota.
  
  
• 5 cars were sent to franchises of national chains like AA Auto Service and Repair, Midas, and Pitstop.
  
  
• The remaining 7 were sent to independent workshops that we chose randomly from the Yellow Pages.

What we asked for

The franchise dealers were asked to do the next scheduled service.

The car that went to AA Auto Service had traveled 396,000 km and the owner wanted it to have a comprehensive service - so we asked for the $165 "Gold Service", which included a tune-up and checking the spark plugs and air filter. It also included changing the engine oil and oil filter (as all the other services did).

Four of the cars got a basic service: the $99.95 "Value" from Midas and the $129 "Economy" from Pit Stop.

Another two cars were booked in for a WOF check at the same time because they were due. One of these was also booked for a tune-up.

We asked for a pre-holiday check on one car to see if we got more attention to detail - and this seemed worthwhile as the brakes were thoroughly checked.

The remaining cars were booked in for a basic service and check. See Workshops compared for full details.

We sent in cars with drivers of both sexes to see if men and women got different treatment - but we found no evidence of that.

After the service, our consultant mechanic re-checked the cars to see what had been done and what hadn't.