Got now but
 

All joking aside mark, I am away from Glasgow right now but will be back around the 14th or so and my car Is sitting on the drive. Could always lend you a working 8 if that would help whilst you are in mackie. brianG would (I am sure) help show where my keys are. sorry to hear about the present troubles. It does seem a hell of a lot of work you are having done.

Thanks David. That's an incredibly kind and generous offer. I couldn't possibly borrow your car though. I'd be absolutely terrified of something happening to it (even more so than with my own car!). Thanks so much for the offer though :)

I'm hoping that Mackies manage to reserve the courtesy car for me now that I've spoken to them and explained I need it. He tells me they're short of courtesy cars at the moment due to a few "ongoing issues" with customer's vehicles but that they'll "try" to make one available for me. I'm going to phone them again on Wednesday. If they're still unsure whether they'll have a car available for me I'll organise a hire car.

When my car was with them for a gearbox rebuild last year they had no problem loaning me a courtesy car for 2 weeks. Now that I'm returning for a service they don't have a car to lend me for one day. Can't help wondering if the real reason is that I'm not spending 3K with them this time. It's completely understandable that they should give priority to customers who are paying for an expensive rebuild, but if that is the case I'd prefer they were honest. I'd rather pay more to secure a courtesy car than be unsure if I'll have any transport. I wouldn't mind if they were local and I could just get a taxi back, but they know I'm travelling over 200 miles.

Curious - do Mackies open the gearbox up and change the filter for the service, or is it just a fluid exchange with the magic machine?

That's a good question. I don't know.

Their service prices are pretty cheap though (around £150 I think) so it's probably unlikely there's much disassembly involved.

The main reason I'm going back to Mackies is to preserve the 3 year warranty.

Well Mackies have redeemed themselves. Spoke to John this morning and he's managed to reserve a courtesy car for me +++


Admittedly, I had already started looking at hire car options. With decent (but boring) cars starting in the £100/day region, my man-maths was beginning to justify this:
http://www.dreamcarhire.com/car/audi-r8

Got my car back on Monday, with all jobs done except the PS pump (which is still on back-order), so will be driving up to Glasgow tomorrow morning.


Any recommendations for places to visit in and around Troon? :)

Ignore the post I have just deleted.

Ooow interesting. Knocking shop was it?

I think the term you're looking for is 'panel beater'.

;)

Thanks Dezzy for bringing your usual level of humour to the thread. :rolleyes:
I was going to suggest that mark might like to spend an hour or two absorbing the art in the Kelvingrove museum in particular the Salvador Dali painting Christ of St. John of the Cross. ......
:ROFL:

Oh OK that's what you call it.

Oh right, yes of course. With free entry too, you could just slip in there Mark especially if it's wet, doesn't matter how long it takes you :snigger: