Paying for air at garage?

dulpit

Last night I noticed air in one of my tyres was a little low, so I popped over to local garage to top it up. I had to pay for air, €0.20 for 2 minutes, €0.50 for 5 minutes or €1 for 10 minutes of air.

I've never had to pay for air before, other than popping a euro into a trolley like clip in one place (but you get that back again). Is this common? Seems a bit stingy of the garage to be charging...

The Sidewards Man

Does the garage get free electricity and free compressor?

Time to ring joe.

maximum12

dulpit wrote: »

Last night I noticed air in one of my tyres was a little low, so I popped over to local garage to top it up. I had to pay for air, €0.20 for 2 minutes, €0.50 for 5 minutes or €1 for 10 minutes of air.

I've never had to pay for air before, other than popping a euro into a trolley like clip in one place (but you get that back again). Is this common? Seems a bit stingy of the garage to be charging...

Plenty of places still don't charge, just give them your business when buying fuel.

the_pen_turner

i think this is because very few are using the air.
years ago everybody used it fairly regularly. now lots of people have compressors at home and don't bother with the garage air.
when people used to get air they would buy something in the shop so it worked in the shops favour.


I think asking for 20 cents is very good value.
you could pump a lot of tires in 2 minutes

bazz26

Reality is this equipment costs money to buy and maintain. It gets dogs abuse from the public and I've lost count of how many times I've seen this equipment out of order due to being broken or damaged.

The alternative is to buy a small compressor yourself from the likes of Halfords or Argos to keep it at home.

colm_mcm

Have a read

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056694544

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055401744

Senecio

Best money I've ever spent. I don't mind paying for air in a garage, i just got frustrated when I went to the garage and the pump was out of order.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/7405244/Trail/searchtext%3EMICHELIN.htm

Got mine for ~€35

Cerco

Senecio wrote: »

Best money I've ever spent. I don't mind paying for air in a garage, i just got frustrated when I went to the garage and the pump was out of order.

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/7405244/Trail/searchtext%3EMICHELIN.htm

Got mine for ~€35

Faulty air hoses are a very common problem at petrol stations. I thought the introduction of charging for air would resolve this, but it has not.
Frustrating to fill up and then find the air service out of action.
I bought a Michelin compressor as well but the service at petrol stations is superior when it works properly.

shietpilot

The local garage has the electronic one where you select the pressure and it automatically adjusts the pressure. It's 20 cent for 3 minutes of use and I think it's a good deal

shietpilot

shietpilot wrote: »

The local garage has the electronic one where you select the pressure and it automatically adjusts the pressure. It's 20 cent for 3 minutes of use and I think it's a good deal

Place I use has that, too.

It's €1 for 5 minutes. But you can swap between air, hoover and 'scent' in the 5 mins as you see fit. Didn't get time to use the scent, but curiousity means I'll likely do it again at some point and try figure it out.

Gumbo

Very common. In fact there's been threads about it over the years.
I don't mind t to be honest. It forces people to be careful with them, place them back into the units etc and less chance of going to a garage and the air machine be faulty!

Most places are 20c (ballygall road east), some are like a shopping trolley, you put your euro in and get it back afterwards (north road Finglas) others are free (cool quay).

The place along the quays is €1. I was about to vent my anger but then i noticed it was a triple machine, so for the €1 I topped up air, hovered out car quickly and sprayed some fragrance into the interior. It gave you 5 mins for every €1 lodged.

vectra

Had to do this on occasion in Scotland back in 1991.
I was very surprised back then .

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

XR3i

dulpit wrote: »

Last night I noticed air in one of my tyres was a little low, so I popped over to local garage to top it up. I had to pay for air, €0.20 for 2 minutes, €0.50 for 5 minutes or €1 for 10 minutes of air.

I've never had to pay for air before, other than popping a euro into a trolley like clip in one place (but you get that back again). Is this common? Seems a bit stingy of the garage to be charging...

air doesn't grow on trees you know

Atlantic Dawn

It's a little like paying extra for ice for your drink down the pub.

XR3i

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

It's a little like paying extra for ice for your drink down the pub.

ice doesnt gro on trees you know :pac:

Dempsey

I wouldnt pay for compressed air at a garage. They make enough and id go as far to drive off thr forecourt and take my business elsewhere

ednwireland

shietpilot wrote: »

The local garage has the electronic one where you select the pressure and it automatically adjusts the pressure. It's 20 cent for 3 minutes of use and I think it's a good deal

my local one has that and its free also has the cheapest fuel

jimbis

I totally refuse to pay for air in a garage, I think it's a really bad business move on their part. My local garage is €1 for 5 mins where as another garage a little further down the road just needs a euro to release the pump and you get it back. Its electronic too so all the customer can use/break is the fairly indestructible hose.
I drive that little extra to use that pump and them fill up if I'm there.

J.pilkington

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

It's a little like paying extra for ice for your drink down the pub.

No it's not, anyone can pull into a garage forecourt and use the air pump without going to the shop(unless they have the charging machine), in your example you are already buying something in the pub so reasonable to expect ice at no charge.

liamo

Ice in the pub is a good analogy. Perhaps garages should include a code on each receipt for fuel that will allow 5 minutes use of the air at no charge for the next 15 minutes.

I don't really mind paying for air. It's hardly going to break the bank. And I understand that it's not free for the garage to supply this service. I also have a compressor but the device in the garage is much better. So, I have a choice and I choose to pay for the better service.

J.pilkington wrote: »

No it's not, anyone can pull into a garage forecourt and use the air pump without going to the shop(unless they have the charging machine), in your example you are already buying something in the pub so reasonable to expect ice at no charge.

killanena

Working in a garage (with air that you put a euro coin in and get it back after) I can tell you for a fact that at least once a week it gets damage by some fool either not bothered to put it back to get their euro back and leaving it out on the drive way for some other car to run over or someone or someone cutting off the compressor completely to rob it..

Shint0

shietpilot wrote: »

The local garage has the electronic one where you select the pressure and it automatically adjusts the pressure. It's 20 cent for 3 minutes of use and I think it's a good deal

I find very few garages have the electronic one these days. About ten years ago more of them had electronic but then seemed to revert back to analogue which I find very cumbersome to use.

Skatedude

Ice in a pub is not a good analogy, For air you just need the equipment. For ice you need to spend the thousands for the ice machine and then the thousands a year for commercial water charges, which was at least 10k a year for the pub where my family used to work, and that was years ago so dont even know how expensive it is now.

I can understand the use of a coin which you get back afterwards as it encourages people to have a little more respect for the equipment.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Skatedude

Skatedude wrote: »

Ice in a pub is not a good analogy, For air you just need the equipment. For ice you need to spend the thousands for the ice machine and then the thousands a year for commercial water charges, which was at least 10k a year for the pub where my family used to work, and that was years ago so dont even know how expensive it is now.

I can understand the use of a coin which you get back afterwards as it encourages people to have a little more respect for the equipment.

But the 10k for water charges isn't there just to benefit ice.

Arguably, you're simply saying that "For air you just need the equipment. For ice you just need the equipment."

I don't think those compressors, fitting them, fixing them, etc. comes cheap.

dr.fuzzenstein

Well, building that car park wasn't cheap, charge extra for that. Maybe charge an entry fee into the shop, that thing cost a bomb. Toilets, actually in Germany you pay for those. Here they just say "sorry, toilet's out of order". Record for toilet being "out of order" is about 7-8 years for the Texaco beside Raheen industrial estate. They must have one hell of a sh*tty, lazy incompetent plumber
It's just a sign of the times, where people would charge you money for farting sideways. I just have my own compressor, throw the car in front of the house and I can do all that for free. But then again, the garages wouldn't do it if they didn't make money from it. They're just not making it from me.

Del2005

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Well, building that car park wasn't cheap, charge extra for that. Maybe charge an entry fee into the shop, that thing cost a bomb. Toilets, actually in Germany you pay for those. Here they just say "sorry, toilet's out of order". Record for toilet being "out of order" is about 7-8 years for the Texaco beside Raheen industrial estate. They must have one hell of a sh*tty, lazy incompetent plumber

Not many petrol stations have car parks and the shop is where they make all their profits.

The reason why toilets are always out of order is the same reason air is no longer free, we have too many inconsiderate people who have zero respect for property and destroy either through negligence or meanness.

Mc Love

Initially I saw it as an outrage but I have come around to the idea that it stops people abusing the facilities. 1 euro for five minutes in Chawkes garage in Limerick, is all I need it for.

frozenfrozen

I was putting air in at a petrol station in Ennis and the numbers were so faint on the gauge that I was praying it was 28psi not 2.8 bar


The air pump is good in tesco at coonagh in Limerick. You just press what pressure you want and it keeps filling on its own until it reaches that number and turns off. No charge either