Getting the most out of your visit to the repair shop
Apr 13 '08
The Bottom Line When you go in with a positive attitude positive things will happen.
Scenario from last week.
I was sitting on the computer with my back to the counter listening to the young lady explain that her 96’ Cavalier was diagnosed with a bad head gasket at another shop. They wanted eight hundred dollars to do the job. I was quickly adding up the cost in my head; labor, parts, system flush, fluids, incidentals… her young son was pulling on her arm. I could hear the strain in her voice. Her baby was wriggling around in her other arm. She went on. “I don’t have that much. I can’t afford it. My ex isn’t even paying his child support.” She couldn’t have been twenty years old.
I spun around in the chair and bellied up to the counter. I’m sure I spooked her a little at first as I took over the conversation. “Miss, why are you here if you can’t afford the work?” She was fumbling with a cell phone in one hand and the baby in the other. “I heard you could make payment arrangements here. I just didn’t know where else to go and I need the car.”
Id heard enough. I have a daughter of my own and I can’t imagine her thousands of miles from home, two kids, divorced and with a broken car. This girl should be out dancing or traveling, maybe in college. Enjoying her youth while she can but her choices put her on a different path. She came to this shop after already getting an estimate from another shop. The place she did get her estimate is actually a very good professional shop and they would have done excellent work. She didn’t know this of course and thought they were ripping her off. That seems to be what most people think when they go in for service, so I figured Id lay a few things out here for anyone seeking service.
Types of Shops:
Dealerships. I put them first because this is where most folks buy their car and go back to because they have a warranty. Warranty work for the most part is a good deal for the consumer. The car breaks, and you get it repaired or at least get some of the repair work done and the tab picked up by the manufacturer.
It is a good system as you’re getting the preventive maintenance taken care of on time and using OEM parts and recommended lubricants. I bring that up because you really need to look at what the manufacturer recommends. If your owner’s manual gives you a code for the recommended oil, look that code up. I’ll bet 3:1 it translates to synthetic oil. If you’re getting the oil changed at Jiffy lube for twenty bucks, I’m sure synthetic isn’t being put in the pan. Guess what? You voided the warranty.
The dealership is pretty much locked into doing work on estimated time. The estimates for good work are always too low but the entire industry is given these unrealistic times by the manufacturer. This forces the dealership to take less money from the manufacturer for the amount of hours expended. It also puts the consumer at a big advantage since the unforeseen problems that always crop up aren’t included in the estimate. Most work that is done have these unforeseen problems. Small stuff is usually just swallowed. Why bother the customer on trifling matters when we value their patronage more?
Bigger problems leave the service manager with the unpleasant task of calling the owner to make additions to the estimate. This was always the worst part of my day because seven people get defensive with lines like “That wasn’t there when I brought it in!” or “What are you people trying to pull?”
Two of the ten will go into denial with: “Don’t do the work, I didn’t ask for that” or “That can’t be, I bought that car new in 1934”
And one in ten will be pleasant and say “OK, good thank you, can you take care of it for me” Guess which one will get the real break on their bill?
Dealerships also offer menu priced work. Brake job $35.95, Oil change and filter with 100 point inspection $35.95, so on and so forth. These menu jobs force the technician into hustling and getting a lot done quickly. Looking for other problems and fixing them just isn’t in the cards. The 100 point inspection thing. Sure a quick look over and we just might find something, but guess what the typical reaction is when you do find a problem?
Independent Shops: These shops can usually be broken down into different categories.
1. The full service independent garage. It can be anything from a single guy working in a garage at the edge of town all the way up to a shop so large you’d think it was a dealership while driving by. These are usually started up by mechanics disgruntled with the internal politics and paycheck gouging techniques dealerships use to keep their profit margin up. Most of these shops are very “vehicle” oriented and with less sales tactics. If you want good work done and the cost is less important than the quality of work, this could be the place you want to go.
2. The specialty shop. These shops cater to special maintenance needs like four wheel drive, sports cars, diesel engine work, transmissions, electronic problems etc.. They are pros at getting specific work done. When it comes to getting it done fast, correctly and with less stress, this is the place to go. These shops have no real competition and can set the prices they feel are fair. Dealerships, independents and other shops will often subcontract to these shops simply to get it done faster and correctly.
3. The service center. These are very hit and miss. I know you’ve seen them. The Sears service center, Jiffy lube, Midas, etc.. These shops bill themselves as specialty shops but you have to be extremely careful with them. They are the bane of the professional shop because they take away the bread and butter work of preventive and regular maintenance. Many of these shops do not employ professional mechanics. They will often bring in inexperienced workers at minimum wage and give them on the job training. On newer cars this is like playing Russian roulette!
4. Moonlighters. There are a number of excellent mechanics that will moonlight out of their own garage or a leased garage. They bring all the knowledge and skill and professional work you’ll get in the dealership and do it at a much lower cost. My own independent shop got started this way. Dealerships in general not only discourage this, they will also terminate the mechanics employment if they are found out.
5. Cousin Trent with the 76’ Black Trans-Am or The Backyard Mechanic.
I used to cuss these guys out when I was a floor mechanic. It seemed like every day I was fixing someone else’s botched job. With experience I realized these guys are the garage-mans best friend. You see if the job has been attempted, all bets are off on the estimates. And yes, a professional mechanic knows when the job has been tried. Usually there are more broken parts that need replacement, more hours that have to be spent on the job and if the customer does not want all the work done, no guarantee.
When you decide where you want to take your vehicle then remember these rules of engagement.
1. The Dealership Service Manager. Even as he’s smiling like the cat that got the mouse he is already cutting you a deal. The estimate book has his hands tied even if he knows that the job will take more time.
2. If you go to an independent/specialty shop don’t count on a practiced smile and free croissants, the quality of work will speak for itself.
3. Arrogance, hostility, and believing that you deserve a special rate will get you the newest guy with the least experience. The squeaky wheel in an auto shop only gets greased if it’s on the car.
4. Sincerity, politeness and understanding that shops cost money to run and the mechanics have families to feed, will get you the top mechanic and those few incidentals just might get slashed.
5. Complete disclosure. If you’ve been somewhere else and are told one thing, if the job has been attempted before, if there has been an ongoing problem, then spit it out. Holding back information only slows the job down. The mechanic still has to do the diagnostic work, but if its been done before and the problem wasn’t solved, it means digging deeper. Why not save yourself a couple hours of charges and help the shop get your car done right. OR Do you know how many times people have said: I took it to three different garages and none of them could fix it. I can bet that this person never told the next garage what the first one did. And second, why not go back to garage number one. They may have been trying to save you the high dollar fix by trying a low dollar fix first.
6. The guys really do care. Mechanics don’t do the work for fat paychecks, status or glory. There are much easier ways to make more money. They do it because they enjoy it and care about keeping you on the road. If you care about your car, they’ll pay more attention to it. Is it clean when brought in? Have you kept the maintenance up on it? There aren’t half eaten Big Macs under the seat are there?
7. Hold your temper. We want to be partners in keeping your car healthy. If you’re not happy with something a simple explanation will do. Make a big scene and point 8 may occur.
8. The crappy customer list. There are more broken cars than mechanics on any given day. Due to attrition the field is at a huge need for technicians. A few years back some Florida shops got on-line and started building a crappy customer black list. The thing took off an its been spreading through the U.S. and now into the EU. Don’t get on this or cousin Trent may be your only option.
9. Check pre-conceived notions. Mechanics are not high school dropouts, unable to do other kinds of work nor social outcasts. I find it amazing the number of people who don’t realize the education, training, continued training and certifications required of modern mechanics. Most new mechanics will move on to easier, higher paying jobs before they hit thirty.
10. I can tell you more in a five-minute test drive than I can an hour in the shop. Come along and answer a few questions for me and you’ll be surprised how much time we’ll save. The question is do you have the time?
11. We want to know your name. Preventive maintenance and regular maintenance can be shopped around for. But you get what you pay for. Staying with a single shop and mechanic can be one of the best investments in your cars health.
12. Your mechanic really does know best. There are things I do to my own car that have kept me from ever having a breakdown. An experienced mechanic can tell you a number of things that you can do to avoid costly problems. The thing is no one ever asks or if given the advice will ever follow it. It all boils down the ounce of prevention refrain.
13. Women are easy targets and men get better deals. No, women get taken care of because we all have wives, mothers and daughters. Most shops are made up of men and the natural tendency is to want to help out or take care of the women. “Sexist maybe, dishonest, no.” Women also tend to be more sensible about their maintenance decisions. The ounce of prevention thing. Men, sorry to say, either want to control a situation that they can’t, fuss too much or think there’s a conspiracy to get into their wallets.
14. Follow up. If your car has had some major work done, then its not to early to schedule a follow up. Whether it’s just to have the work rechecked, fluids topped up, or an oil change. You care about the car; we’ll care about it even more.
15. It broke down and it was just in the shop! What broke? If it’s an unrelated component don’t make a fool of yourself by making that first statement. Brakes aren’t engines and tail lamps aren’t transmissions. If it’s the exact same problem, you have reason to be upset, but Iv found there’s usually a simple enough explanation for mechanical problems. So take the high ground and be patient. If the shop is at fault they will take care of you. The good ones will anyway.
Just some FYI
Back in the 1920’s and 30’s anyone who had any knowledge of automobiles could be a mechanic. These guys were run amok and not always the most honest in business dealings. In the 1940’s Readers Digest printed an article about how mechanics would sell you work you didn’t need. It sold a lot of press and the media expanded on this right through the 1970’s trying to play the sting game on unsuspecting shops. Seems like the only folks that could see through the bull were the trained techs. Bad press made for bad blood between consumer and shop. It’s a PR issue that shops have tried to play down for years but never goes away. A lot like that joke about the Scottish wharf builder that I can’t tell on Epinons. In the business we say you can do one hundred jobs to perfection, but mess up just one and you’ll never live it down.
We’re all in this Human Race together.
And that young lady at the beginning of this column; I took her aside and asked her if she’d be willing to let one of my high school students do the work, no charge other than parts. She agreed and I tracked down a head gasket kit and some other parts. We had the job done in less than three days. We also went over the car for other problems fixing up what we could. Her battery was also on the verge of going kaput, so I found a decent one out of a junker car and installed it. She knew nothing about the extra work or repairs and her cost was just over one hundred dollars for parts, fluids etc..
Why do I bring this up? Because the most important point of all is this; After more than 30 years of working on cars, trucks and equipment, the most important part of the job has always been helping people out. Iv done well in this line of work and I try to do what I can for people in need. It boils down to respect I guess. I try to keep it in perspective, and I know there are inexperienced and bad mechanics out there. There are also a lot of guys that have grown hard shell’s from dealing with customers who forget how to be amiable, gracious and patient. So if you want get the most out of your shop, show a little respect.
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