FAQ


Bristol Clean Air Zone:
What is the Bristol Clean Air Zone?
It's a scheme to deter the most polluting types of vehicle from driving through the zone by charging a daily fee.
Read more (including view the MAP) here: 
https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/streets-travel/bristols-caz 

How do I know if I have to pay the charge?
You can search by your Vehicle Registration Number on the 'Checker' page here:
https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones

Do many BMW's have to pay the charge?
It seems its mainly diesel model's which this effects, however, it's possible some older petrol models will be effected too.
Use the Vehicle Registration Number 'Checker' above to check your vehicle.

Deposits:
Why do I need to pay a deposit to make a booking with Redish Motorsport?
We take a deposit to secure that relevant workshop time for your vehicle.
For some reason, we (as well as other specialist workshops) see our fair share of 'no shows'
which causes us to have 'gaps' in our workshop diary which could have been filled.
This in turn adds to a longer than necessary 'lead time'.
So, paying a small deposit helps show your commitment to us.

But I'm booking in for Redish to diagnose a problem with my BMW?
Do I still need to pay a deposit?

Yes, this is for the same reasons as the question/answer above.

How much deposit do I need to pay?
That depends on the value and length of each job you require.
If a deposit is needed, it says so at the bottom of the relevant web page in red.
(Usually between £100-£1000).

What happens to my deposit money which I pay you?
We allocate your deposit payment amount to your 'account' within our CRM system.
Then, at the end of your service/repair, you can use your deposit to pay towards your invoice.

Is my deposit refundable if I need to cancel?
If you cancel with more than 1 weeks notice before your booking date we can refund you.
If you cancel with less than 1 weeks notice before your booking date we cannot refund you, but we can 'transfer' your booking to another date.

Special-Order-Parts Payments:
Why do you ask me to pay for special order parts before my booking date?
Both parties would like the entire process to run on time and as smooth as possible.
Therefore, if we don't carry the specific part(s) for your job in our own Parts Dept, we will need to specially order them just for your visit.
Naturally, we want to ensure these parts arrive with us before your booking date so that neither you or us are having to unnecessarily wait for parts to arrive.
This is even more important since the pandemic and the volatile nature of certain parts availabilities due to many factories and plants still catching up.

How much do I need to pay towards the specially-ordered-parts?
We request full payment for any specially-ordered-parts.

Why do I have to pay the full price of the specially-ordered-art up front?
As explained above, if we don't already carry those part(s) that you've requested in our in house Parts Dept stock, we have to purchase them on your behalf.
If you were to cancel your booking or decide you no longer wanted those parts, we would be stuck with them (as many manufacturers don't take returns on certain items).

How do I know what is deemed a specially-ordered-part?
We will inform you either at the point of your booking, or any time between your booking and the date of your workshop appointment.

How much notice do I have to pay your special-order-parts?
We will always give you as much notice as possible, but would general expect a request of payment to be made to us within 1 week.

Parts:
Can I supply my own parts for you to install?
Unfortunately not.
We have our own in-house Parts Dept with dedicated staff and stock, and for that reason we do not accept customer-supplied parts.

Can Used parts be installed on my vehicle?
No, we do not work with used parts unless there is a rare circumstance when a replacement new part is no longer available for BMW, for example.

Part Payments:
Do I pay my invoice in full at the end / when I collect?
If your vehicle is with us for less than 1 week, yes you will pay your invoice upon collection.
If your vehicle is with us for more than 1 week, we will request you make periodic part-payments upon request.
We will email you an updated Pro Forma invoice and ask for payment to be made.
BACS payments are preferred. Card payments are accepted - see below.

Communication methods:
How do we communicate whilst my car is with you?
We prefer (and prioritise) WhatsApp as a form of communication.
Please regularly check your WhatsApp for messages/voice-notes/pictures/videos

What type of payment methods do you accept?
BACS:

Our preferred method is Bank Transfer (BACS).

Cards:
We accept the majority of Card payments.
However we do not accept American Express (AMEX). 

Cash:
We also accept Cash payments.

Vehicle storage fees:
Will there be a charge if I cannot collect my car straight away?
Not by default.
Although we have limited parking spaces, we will always be as understanding as possible if you cannot collect your vehicle the same day we notify you of it's completion.

Under what circumstances will you charge me for vehicle storage?
If you have arranged to collect your vehicle at the end of the week for example, the pre-arrangement means we do not charge a vehicle storage fee.
If however you fail to collect your vehicle on the pre agreed day and do not inform us, we reserve the right to charge a daily storage fee of £30 until the vehicle is collected.

Fuel:
Will your work use any of the fuel in my vehicle? *** IMPORTANT ***

Yes, we use a surprising amount of your fuel during our meticulous work which includes a pre work roadtest, various amounts of engine idling during fault findings and/or QC checks, and then final roadtesting as well. And that's before the twice daily starts/drives to take it outside during the day, and inside during the night. 
Depending on what engine you have, it's quite common place that a V8 or V10 may use 1/4 - 1/2 a tank of fuel whilst with us (depending on what work you've selected, and how long your vehicle is with us for).
Therefore PLEASE ENSURE YOU BRING YOUR VEHICLE TO US WITH A FULL TANK OF FUEL.
Whereas if we have to make a special trip to a fuel station for your vehicle we will invoice you for the fuel required as well as our technician's labour time for this process.

Why do you need a full tank of fuel?
If we need to carry out a Wheel Alignment process for some reason, vehicle manufacturers recommend the fuel tank is full as it acts as a weight ballast to simulate real-world-driving.
Also, if you handover your car to us with 1/4 - 1/2 a tank and we use the majority of that (as explained above), when you collect your car you may be on the reserve light and need to get fuel almost straight away, in an unfamiliar city perhaps, rather than enjoying the reconnection and drive home with your freshly worked vehicle.

Are there any exceptions to the fuel situation above?
YES, If you are having an E46 RACP process, or any vehicle requiring the FUEL TANK to be removed (Brake Pipes, Welding, Sills, Corrosion, Jacking Points etc) please bring YOUR vehicle in with the smallest amount of fuel possible.
That's because we will need to remove the fuel tank from your vehicle and a fair amount of your fuel will be wasted - not to mention the extra processes required to drain/remove a 55+Litre tank for example.

Can you suggest a local fuel station?
Our local Esso (Supreme+ 99) is located 1.5 miles away at BS4 1UJ (24hrs)
Our local Shell (V-Power 99) is located 2.5 miles away at BS41 8JP (24hrs)
Our local Tesco (Momentum 99) is located 3.0 miles away at BS4 5AY (24hrs)

How much will it cost me if you have to add fuel to my car?
That depends on a number of things (will your car be driveable at that time, is it just once we need to get fuel, how long will your car be with us on site etc).
Fuel is charged at the current forecourt rate, plus a 10% surcharge.
Offsite labour for fuel collection is charged at a flat rate of £48 per visit.

MOT's
Do you offer MOT's
We are not an MOT Testing Station so unfortunately cannot MOT your vehicle.

Can't you just take my car to a local MOT Station on my behalf?
We don't have the man-power to have 2 members of staff away from site twice per day which is what it would take to cater for MOT's. So even if you organise and book a local MOT, I'm afraid we can't deliver (or collect) your vehicle from a 3rd party MOT station.

What if my vehicle's MOT expires whilst it's at your workshop?
Most of the specialist and complex work we carry out requires us to road-test your vehicle before AND after the work. So, if your vehicle's MOT expires we cannot carry out the work to the standards we require.
Therefore, if your MOT is due for renewal soon, we strongly urge you to obtain an MOT test before your vehicle comes to us as you may have to arrange recovery/transportation home as your insurance will be invalid if you drive home without a valid MOT.

Can I bring my car to you with no MOT?
We highly recommend you make sure your vehicle has an MOT before you visit us for work.
This is because we commonly need to road-test your vehicle before/during/after certain types of work to check for an effective repair.
If we cannot road-test your vehicle (due to it not having an MOT) we cannot be held responsible for any work and potential issues arising that would have been noted and rectified during our final road-test.

Cleaning:
Do you clean my vehicle after work is finished?
No, we don't have the facilities or man-power to have a cleaning bay on site.

Will my vehicle require cleaning after work is finished?
It depends on the work you've had carried out and how long your vehicle has been with us.
If your car is with us for a service, or just a few days then it's likely not.
However, if you vehicle has been with us for extensive mechanical or underside/restoration work then it's likely you car will benefit from external cleaning.
This is because there will be times (during the day) when you vehicle is parked outside in our carpark and there are natural environmental factors which are outside of everyone's control like atmospheric fallout, bird & bee droppings, tree sap & leaves, and industrial fallout to name a few. We regularly keep an eye on external vehicle conditions but due to us not having a cleaning dept onsite it's risky to try to clean certain areas manually.
We feel it's much safer to recommend a specialist detailing company like Bears Detailing Ltd when it comes to exterior car care.

Can you clean my vehicle after work is finished?
Yes, by prior arrangement.
It requires us to pre-book your vehicle with Bears Detailing Ltd and have 2 of our technicians available at the same time to take your vehicle to Bears Detailing Ltd.
Then the following day also have 2 technicians available at the same time to collect your vehicle from Bears Detailing.
Charges apply for our time carrying out the transportation of your vehicle to/from cleaning.
Charges apply for Bears Detailing's processes.
Choose options here: https://bearsdetailing.co.uk/services/

Pictures & Videos:
Do you offer pictures of the work you carry out?
We take digital pictures of key stages of our work.
We can supply these to you upon request.

Do you offer videos of the work you carry out?
For an additional fee (starting at £90) we can offer video documentary of certain jobs (Conrod Bearings, Inspection Service Advisory Reports, Vehicle Check Services, RACP Check & Reports, RACP Repair & Reinforcement Processes. 
Please request this at the time of booking.

Do you use pictures of my vehicle and the work publicly?
Yes, we use pictures of our work (which includes your vehicle) publicly on our Social Media accounts.

Can I opt out of having my vehicle shown publicly?
Yes we can offer to obscure your Reg No. if you prefer.
Or we can omit your vehicle entirely.
Please let us know at the point of booking.

Dashcams:
I have a dashcam system installed in my vehicle. Is this OK?
This is fine for road testing and we will usually keep the system active whilst on the road in your vehicle unless a specific requirement calls for it to be disabled (usually to do with diagnosing issues at speed).
However, our company policy, in line with most vehicle workshops, is to not allow dashcam video or audio recording to take place on/in our premises.
This means that if your dash cam system is present in your vehicle we will respectfully disable it whilst in our care by means of power lead removal, manually switching off, and in some cases removing any relevant memory card.
Although we take extreme care when handling owners equipment, a delicate and technologically reliant memory card could unknowingly become corrupt.
Therefore we strongly advise that if you are concerned about any precious footage you have on your dashcam or memory card that you remove said equipment before you visit.

Warranty:
My car still has BMW warranty - can you carry out BMW warranty work?
No, unfortunately not.
Only BMW Main Dealers can carry out BMW warranty work.

My car has Aftermarket Warranty (warranty wise, AA warranty, warranty direct etc).
Can Redish carry out warranty work?
No, unfortunately not.

Can't you just speak with my warranty company and get the claim authorised?
No, I'm afraid it's our company policy not to deal/speak/email with warranty companies.

How come you can't even speak to my warranty company?
Warranty companies are extremely hard to deal with. It takes several hours from start to finish to get an authorisation, then sometimes weeks until payment is received.
We do not have the administration man power to deal with aftermarket warranty processes.

So what can I do if I want my work done under my warranty?
If you want to have work carried out using warranty I'm afraid we can't help you at this stage.
You're welcome to still have us carry out the work but you'll have to pay for the work yourself.

My car is due a BMW Quality Enhancement (aka Recall). Can Redish do this for me?
No, unfortunately not. 
Only BMW Main Dealers can carry out Quality Enhancement (aka Recall) work.

Loan Cars:
Can you provide me with a Loan or Hire Car whilst I leave my BMW with you?

Unfortunately we don't operate a Loan or Hire Car system.
However, you could have a look at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Details here: https://www.redish-motorsport.com/LoanCars.html

Fault Codes:
Do you accept fault analysis codes from software other than BMW?

No, unfortunately not.
We do not accept fault codes over the phone/email, or in person from software like Snap On, Autologic, Bosch or anything that isn't BMW ISTA.
We must carry out our own diagnosis in house at Redish to obtain a correct diagnosis.
We only use Genuine BMW ISTA software 'over-the-internet' direct from BMW AG servers.
Non-genuine software (like Snap On, Autologic, Bosch etc) have different fault code structures which do not cross over or help in any way with our required BMW software.

Recommending 3rd parties:
Can you recommend a bodyshop to me?

Unfortunately not.
We recommend asking on relevant M-power forums or Facebook groups.

Can you recommend a recovery company to me?
Unfortunately not.
We recommend asking on relevant M-power forums or Facebook groups.

Can you recommend a Detailing company to me?
Yes, we take our staff vehicles to the highly regarded Tony @ Bears Detailing Ltd.
https://bearsdetailing.co.uk   07542 332596  - be sure to mention Redish Motorsport.

Can you recommend a tyre supplier/fitter to me?
Although we don't work with any particular tyre companies, when we need tyres for our own fleet of M cars, we tend to use Black Circles.

Can you take my vehicle to your local tyre fitter on my behalf?
Unfortunately, we're not setup with the man-power, transportation, and logistical solutions to transport vehicles/wheels/tyres to a 3-rd party tyre workshop.