My Panda had its last (12k) service at Stoneacre in Wrexham. They left me thoroughly unimpressed, so I decided to try another Fiat dealer - TJ Vickers in Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury is the wrong way for me to go to work, but that didn't matter too much, as I was offered a courtesy car. When I booked my service, I had to wait a week or so to get the courtesy car, but as I could wait, I chose to.

When I arrived to drop my car off at 8am, the staff were just getting sorted for the day, but I was given the courtesy car key, signed a couple of forms, and went on my way.

The courtesy car itself was a Grande Punto 1.2 Dynamic. I had thought I might get a base model Panda, but I ended up with a courtesy car worth more than my own car! It only needed a couple of white stripes to finish it off. It was clean, about 6 months old, and in excellent condition.

During the day, I got a phone call to advise that my front tyres were worn on the inside, and did I want them changing? I declined, but was given a price that was a sensible amount. Later during the day (about 3:00pm) I got a call to say that the car was completed, and that were a couple of advisories, but no problems. The advisories were a small chip in the windscreen, and a cracked front fog light. Both of those I already knew about. The foglight had been cracked at the 12k service, but Stoneacre never mentioned this at all. It was a nice change to get the call to say that the car was finished early (I'd asked for it to be ready by 5pm) as when it was serviced at 12k, I never got a call to say it was finished.

When I got back to the dealer I had to wait for 5 minutes, as the only Service Administrator was on the phone. I had a stroll around the showroom, looked at the other cars there (their Panda didn't have a boot light either, but it had nicer upholstery than was available when I bought mine), and flicked through their folder of letters from satisfied customers. They also had a tray of sweets in the waiting area, with the Fiat logo on the sweets. Unfortunately I forgot to take any.

When I came to pay for the service, I got a small shock. Luckily it was a pleasant one. The total cost of the 24k service at TJ Vickers was substantially less than the cost of the 12k service at Stoneacre, despite being more comprehensive. In addition the cost of the oil was more reasonable (still dealer price, but less than Stoneacre), the cost of the filters was less, and there were no random charges added on.

When I got to my car, there was an added bonus - the carpets had been vacuumed.

I know where I'll be going for my next service.