Early or late even the best car needs qualified mechanic’s servicing so the owner will have to take it to the repair shop. In this article you’ll find a few tips which will help you to choose a repair shop you can trust.

Tip # 1. Ask your friends, relatives and other trustworthy people for recommendations.

Tip # 2. We recommend you to find a good repair shop in advance before you actually need it. Otherwise you will look for it in a hurry and your final choice may be wrong.

Tip # 3. Collect as much information as you can. Make telephone calls to various repair shops to compare their prices and repair warranties.

Tip # 4. A good shop must be neat, well organized and provided with modern equipment.

Tip # 5. Look foe professional and polite personnel answering your question and providing with all necessary information.

Tip # 6. Don’t forget to carefully check the shop’s current licenses and certificates. To get more information we recommend applying to the local consumer protection agency or state Attorney General’s office where you can get to know whether there are any complaints in connection with a certain repair shop.

Tip # 7. Remember that the shop must honor the vehicle’s warranty.

Tip # 8. We recommend to choose a shop offering various certifications, for example, an Automotive Service Excellence seal (ASE). Certificates prove that the staff meets main standards of servicing and has necessary competence and knowledge in specific technical branches.

Tip # 9. Make sure that the mechanic or technician has proper experience in servicing cars of the same mark as yours.

Tip # 10. Ask on which principle the shop’s pricing is based. The fact is that some shops have a flat rate per labor hour. This means that you pay for time spent for your vehicle’s repair and servicing. Other shops can have other policy.

Tip # 11. IF you have been told in the shop that your car needs a very expensive repair or you have any hesitations about recommended works, consider having other mechanic’s opinion to make sure that you are not going to be cheated.

Tip # 12. Find out whether a certain shop charges for diagnostic time too as this practice is very widely spread.

Tip # 13. If you make up your mind to get the work done in a certain repair shop, ask the mechanic to make a written estimation of the works to be performed. This document should mention the parts necessary for the repair, identify the defects or damages to be removed and have an approximate price of all the works and diagnostic. Take a signed copy of the document.

Geoffrey Thomson

posted in Auto Repair