Stay Away: Dishonest ********s. I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.

In January 2020, I traveled to Cape Town, South Africa with my 2010 Mercedes Benz ML350 from Windhoek, Namibia. At some point on my journey my car developed power steering problems (leaking fluid, rendering power steering ineffective) and I took it to Kessel Motors in Loop Street upon my arrival in Cape Town. They took it in, reviewed the car for one day and decided that I needed a complete overhaul of my power steering pump, for which I asked an estimated quote and they told me it would cost around R9000. Capitalizing on the understanding that I was from another country, they gave me a revised quotation of R9800 the following day to overhaul the pump or R15000 to fix "other issues" with the car that they did not specify. I accepted the latter option and they replaced the pump, which retails at maximum R3000. When I went to pick up the car, I was forced to pay R11 270 in total, with the excess amount listed as value added tax (VAT).

Once they were done with the vehicle, they could not provide me with the part in the car they had replaced and my mechanic back in Windhoek informed me during a follow-up check of the car that the only thing that was wrong with the car was that a pipe supplying fluid from the pump had been disconnected possibly from the numerous humps on the roads. It therefore did not require an overhaul of the fuel pump and that Kessel Motors merely capitalised on the need of a vehicle owner to profiteer.

Back to the VAT; If you go into a grocery store and you want to buy a can of Coca Cola that is listed at R17.50, it is implausible that you would then suddenly have to pay R20 for it once you get to the pay point.

At no point in the provision of the original quotation was the VAT communicated and this is tantamount to bad business and they knew exactly what they were doing. From my experience, I would not recommend Kessel Motors to my worst enemy. They are dishonest and will overcharge you for any service you may require on your vehicle.