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Getting Auto Repair work from Repair shop ?
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Thanks for replies to my threads and your guidance. It is hard to find honest auto repair shop. As I take my car to repair shop for oil change, they come up with many other repair work.
If I do not have any idea about auto mechanics, how do I know these repairs necessary/unnecessary?
If I accept their recommendations, went with repairs and realized those repairs unnecessary later on, will I able to take the repair shop to court?
What a lot of people don't recognize is that the "oil change" service is oft-times the first contact that a vehicle may have with an inspection of the car.
In my shop, that routine service interval was an opportunity to check over a car for the benefit of the owner. We frequently found maintenance items or repair items while the car was on the rack which did require further attention. Some of these issues were very apparent without needing a close inspection ... brakes, suspension items, fluid leaks, light bulbs out, tires, accessory drive belts ... in a matter of seconds.
If you accept their recommendations and do the repairs, you have little grounds to "take the repair shop to court" at a later time. A competent service writer/shop will be glad to show you the items in question to demonstrate the issues.
As well, you have every right to decline the work when first offered and seek a 2nd and 3rd opinions before making a purchase decision. If you have any doubt as to the validity of the suggested work, do your due diligence, shop to your hearts' content ... but especially on safety items, do follow up on the recommendation.
I well remember one Jag XJ-6 owner in for a routine oil change interval service. On the hoist, my tech spotted that the rear brake calipers were seeping and the brake pads were metal-to-metal, scoring the brake rotors a bit. We advised that the car needed immediate attention to these items before driving again and that the car didn't have normal braking ability. The owner scoffed at my recommendations ... and essentially called me a "thief" trying to upsell him unneeded work. OK, pal, I'm not the traffic police ... but my recommendations were noted on his work order along with his decline to authorize the work. I even suggested that he might want to have the vehicle towed to another shop for an evaluation rather than drive the car. At that, a Brit car "specialist" shop was only 6 blocks away from my shop at the time.
A few days later, he got into a fender bender traffic accident ... rear-ended a car he was cited for "following too closely". The next thing I know, I'm hearing from his lawyer that I was at fault for allowing him to leave my shop with the defective brakes on his car. The guy had the opportunity to take his car to any other shop for a 2nd opinion and quote, but didn't do so.
Back in those days, we didn't have digital cameras and had to walk the customer under their car to see the problem area ... which many didn't want to do. These days, I have digital cameras and can document the problem to show the customer on my laptop as well as for my business records. With the digital inspection cameras these days, I can even document internal engine issues such as a damaged valve in a combustion chamber in an engine missing on a cylinder without having to pull the head ... just a peek through the spark plug hole is enough access. In today's litigious society, I document everything ... before and after repairs; right down to broken bolt extraction pix to document that I did it "right" and didn't damage the adjacent components.
PS: understand that there is a difference between legitimate recommended work and bogus stuff ... "blinker fluid top-up" or a "frammistat" servicing or replacement ... or a shop that quotes an unreasonable price for a simple item replacement and/or doesn't do the work at all.
Don't confuse fraud with honest recommendations ... some of which definitely fall under the category of "professional opinion". What one shop considers a marginal item another may condemn as worn out. It's not all written in stone ....
sunsprit gives good advice, and good insight. on top of what he said, my advice to you is to learn something about automobiles, how they work, etc. even if you never do your own work, it can help prevent you being taken advantage of when taking a car to the shop to have some work done.
for instance, the jag that sun talked about, if you didnt know anything about cars, you might do the same thing the owner did. on the other hand with a little knowledge, and the willingness to get under the car yourself and see what the mechanic is talking about, you can make a more informed decision. do a little research as to the cost of parts, and labor, and you can figure out if you are getting ripped or not.
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Originally Posted by GNCamry99
Getting Auto Repair work from Repair shop ?
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It is hard to find honest auto repair shop.
Word of mouth is still the best advertisement available to us. So start talking to friends, neighbours. Join a forum on the net with people who own the same car you have. Ask questions on that forum, just like you do here.
As I take my car to repair shop for oil change, they come up with many other repair work.
A good repair shop should come up with suggestions on what to do next, to keep your car in tip-top shape.
I happen to have a good repair shop who specialises only in one brand of car. When he suggests something we listen, because he also tells us that it either should be done soon, or we can wait for a few months. In essence, he does a thorough check on the whole car. All we came in for at one time was to just have the AC system checked, because it felt that it was not doing a good job. He *fixed* the problem and then also told us a few other things that should be taken care of. Two of those things, would have caused us trouble down the road. The other anomalies he mentioned were OK for the time being but we should come back in two months or so and he would then find out if it needed to be fixed or not.
If I do not have any idea about auto mechanics, how do I know these repairs necessary/unnecessary?
The answer to this is above.
If I accept their recommendations, went with repairs and realized those repairs unnecessary later on, will I able to take the repair shop to court?
Everybody makes mistakes once and a while, including you. My opinion is, that if you trust the person who is doing the work, then you also take the bad with the good and trust him to fix it when it later does go bad. In a normal situation even a repair shop should give you some type of warranty that their work is done correctly, or ?
Sadly we today live in a "sue happy world". If the repair shop refuses to fix the mistakes he made, then the case can go to court if the work was done within the warranty time frame. Not fair to come back years later and blame him for 'you' not taking care of 'your' vehicle.
In other words, when you do find a good repair shop, you really need to bring the bugger in regularly to keep your car in a good shape. No need to take it to a dealership.
Just like 'you' should go into your Primary Care Doctor once a year !
Keep in mind that Preventive Maintenance is , in the long run, cheaper than fixing it later when it breaks.
We have two cars, both a Honda, one 2003 Accord, and one 2004 Odyssey, both bought when 12 months used. They both now have over 150,000 miles and still look and run like new.
But ... , our mechanic has been taking care of both of them since the day we bought them.
1. Educate yourself so that you can make reasonable judgments as to what is or is not necessary. The information is readily available- all over the internet.
2. Pay up. That mechanical judgment that you currently don't have? It costs money. People aren't really willing to pay for it directly... so you end up paying for it via (possibly) unnecessary repairs.
It's time to man up and learn about auto repair. Or man up and pay up. Either way... time to be an adult.
I have a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 with 240,000 miles. Local tire chain store quoted $770 for replacement of Tie Rods and Track Bar. Appears high based on what I see parts advertised for. Is it a complicated job?
Getting Auto Repair work from Repair shop ?
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If I do not have any idea about auto mechanics, how do I know these repairs necessary/unnecessary?
As stated many times here you need to find a good honest independent local automotive repair shop.
Go to that shop for all oil changes and automatic transmission fluid changes. When getting oil changes ASK for shop/mechanic to check brakes and suspension. Each and every oil change or visit to shop.
Go to local shop for car battery and even windshield wiper replacement. Get to know mechanics and shop.
Get ahead of all potential repairs.
How does one find a good honest local repair shop. Ask those that know. The local barber shop/beauty salon. Local place of worship. Even the local coffee shop/diner/restaurant. Co-workers.
Unless under manufacturers warranty skip the new car dealership and skip the chain/franchise facilities.
READ your owners manual. Learn to know when it is time for maintenance.
Mentioned many times here but apparently some just don't get it.
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