[tobyshew]

Hi All,

My local Alfa specialist Palmer and Phillips seems to have closed, such a shame as they were fantastic to me and my alfas (and fiat) over the last 15 years. I am still hoping they are on an extended holiday and will return soon. Does anyone have any information about what happened? - they were good blokes and I'll miss taking the car there.

I need to get my 156 2L JTS serviced and MOTed - does anyone have a good garage to go to near to Oxford?

 

[symon]

Hi All,

My local Alfa specialist Palmer and Phillips seems to have closed, such a shame as they were fantastic to me and my alfas (and fiat) over the last 15 years. I am still hoping they are on an extended holiday and will return soon. Does anyone have any information about what happened? - they were good blokes and I'll miss taking the car there.

I need to get my 156 2L JTS serviced and MOTed - does anyone have a good garage to go to near to Oxford?

No unfortunately. Might be worth a ride to NJS in Pershore or to Autolusso.

 

[ChrisH77]

Maybe try Italia Speed, just off the A34, south of Newbury. I haven't had them do anything yet, but they seem honest and knowledgable, so I'll be using them for the cam belt, water pump, etc in May. Plenty of others seem happy to recommend them.

 

[JTD_Liam]

That's a shame if it's true. Someone posted about this a few weeks ago on FiatForum and I thought perhaps it was just an extended Christmas break. Their website is still active but it seems like a very long time for a holiday. I thought they were always pretty busy, and Mellors of Challow have recently changed to a general car servicing place rather than a Fiat approved service centre, so I would've thought that might've given Palmer and Philips a bit of a boost, but it seems perhaps not.

A great shame as they were always fantastic with my Mk2 Punto and Stilo. Sadly as the MiTo is still under warranty I stuck with main dealers for it's service last year to avoid any potential aggro with Alfa UK if something went wrong, but I will miss them if they've gone as they never put a foot wrong with anything I had done to the cars.

 

[NJS Alfa]

You don't have to have a car serviced at the main dealer if its under warranty any vat registered garage can do it best to use genuine parts and oils tho

 

[JTD_Liam]

Oh I know, I just didn't want the potential aggravation with Alfa UK if I had to put in a claim for something under warranty/goodwill, only to be given the 'it hasn't been serviced within the dealer network' rubbish that some people get told.

Anyway, I went round to Palmer & Phillips in the week as I was driving past. They're definitely closed. Hand written sign in the window saying 'CLOSED'. No message to any of their customers or anything, and the reception looks exactly like it looked when I was last there, with Haynes manuals still on the shelves, so God knows what's gone on. Shame they couldn't have updated their website or at least put a note in the window so their customers knew, but it might've been something very unexpected I suppose. Shame.

 

[Chris M]

A real shame. I used Simon and co a lot when I worked in Cowley. They offered great service and we're always happy to help.

 

[gazza82]

You've got AforAlfa near Aylesbury, AlfaAid near Maidenhead or L&M/Italian Car Servicing at Medmenham.

There's also a company called Superleggera in Oakley .. not heard of them until I spotted them replying on another thread ..