Why ask the client?

You shouldn't need to ask anybody if you've got a brain. Use a map; OS, A to Z, google, multimap, whatever, before you set off and remember the route. I find that much more reliable than asking for directions since most people you ask will know the route so well that they will miss things out.

So many sat nav devices have mapping problems that you'd be foolish to rely on them without actually doing some research on the route first hand. And you'd certainly want to carry a map book.

When is comes to the shortcomings of satnav take a look at 53.253479deg N 4.43169deg W. My TomTom was convinced you could head on accross the A55 at this very obvious dead end. Furthermore where the "road" continues on the other side of the A55 it's just a dirt track. This actually happened to me on a two mile journey between two addresses about 160 miles from base which is where you'd expect sat nav to be most useful because you have no local knowledge.

This highlights two problems with sat nav mapping. Firstly it sees a road dead end next to another road and thinks it's a junction. Secondly, and perhaps more importanty, an awful lot of sat navs don't seem to differentiate between a minor road and a byway, footpath, bridleway or cyclepath. Many sat navs suffer from this latter issue right outside my house. Now admittedly this sort of thing doesn't tend to come up on long journeys, because the sat nave will rightly prefer motorways and A roads. Delivery drivers and service engineers and the like may have several calls in one area where the whole journey will take place on minor roads and this is where sat nav falls appart. And it's probably where it should be the most useful. And although the example I've given is in a rural area there

The example I've given was in a rural area, but similar things happen all the time in cities. Many sat navs will try to direct drivers through a pedestrian presinct to find our office. Credit to Tom Tom, they actually find our car park.