5 TIPS – HOW TO VET THE NEXT AUTO SHOP YOU GO TO
Walking into an auto shop with an immediate problem, you’re not going to try and understand what kind of shop they are: you’re trying to fix your problem asap. Don’t make a quick decision to drive into the random shop on the corner or gas station (please don’t ever do this), rather, take time to vet the shop before going to them. Here are 5 tips on how to vet the next auto shop you got to –
LEARN ONE PART
By learning the ins and outs of one component of your car, you would be able to tell if someone is being truthful with you or not. Take for example your alternator. If you learned everything to know about your alternator: how it functions, how it’s installed, how it fails, the most common ways of failure, how many miles it typically fails at, etc. you would then be extremely knowledgeable on that one part.
If you then went to 3 shops in your area and asked them about what was going on with the alternator on your car, and then pretended not to know anything about it, you could see who is being honest and who isn’t. You could then make a more educated decision about who you could trust with your car.
REVIEWS AREN'T EVERYTHING
Google and Yelp reviews, while great for some businesses, are a shot in the dark for what you will get in an automotive garage. Read the 2-star or 3-star reviews of a business to find out what’s really going on, and google what the person is saying in the review to see if this is accurate or not for the particular car.
Beyond that, these types of reviews could lead you in the wrong direction because of the simple fact of having no idea who is behind the keyboard when reading their review. You have no idea what knowledge of cars they have to highly recommend a shop and also don’t know what insight they have into that particular shop’s day-to-day practices.
The best thing you could do in trying to find a good shop: go in for a “Pre-Purchase Inspection”. We have a blog article on that
TRUST DOESN'T EQUAL NICE
This is probably the most common fault of the auto industry. The service advisor is someone who is assigned any car that comes in and is typically overloaded with work, underpaid, juggling multiple customers all at the same time, and as a result, the attention to detail naturally falls off.
Half the time the mechanic working and communicating with you through their website or app doesn’t care at all about your car, and is just trying to make as much money as possible off of each and every job. They have an idea how much money you have to make to own your specific car and will cut corners to make sure they get paid as much as possible for as little work as possible.
POP IN WITHOUT YOUR CAR
This test is similar to watching how people treat waiters at restaurants or how they treat people beneath them in the hierarchy. Go by on a Saturday, talk to people, and ask questions about the shop, the history, and about the people working there.
See how people interact with each other, who the managers are, and how they talk to their people. Talk to other customers waiting for their car and their experiences so far. You’ll quickly see the vibe of the place, and assess if this vibe is where you want to take your car. This is time-consuming but worth it.
CONSULT WITH YOURSELF
Bring your car to a shop to have it checked. Tell them you need to think about the work, take your car and leave. Think about the interaction and ask yourself the following questions -
- Did the advisor that helped me treat me as an equal or talk down to me?
- When they explained the estimate to me and I had questions, did they actually answer those questions or divert from them? Were there any follow-ups to the estimate? If so, were they time-pressing? Do I know what they’re trying to actually charge me for and why?
- Do I feel comfortable with this person or the mechanic they’re representing? Actually feel this out. If you don’t for some reason, think about why.
These are hard questions to ask but worthwhile because they’ll lead you in the right direction of whether or not you’re getting taken advantage of.
We hope these tips helped give you some insight on what to do when you’re looking for an auto shop. If you have further questions or need additional help, feel free to reach out - we’re happy to talk to you about your car!
