What Makes for Great Car Service?

Even if you’ve never had a reason to say “Oh, it’s so hard to find good help nowadays!”, you will definitely understand the sentiment. It’s difficult to find good service in many areas of industry – and none of these is more prevalent than car service and repair. If you don?t know much about cars, or have recently had to leave your regular mechanic, you probably feel that you’re in the middle of a minefield of potential budget-disasters waiting to happen. Today we’re looking at some of the things you can do to assure yourself that your mechanic is worthwhile – without spending a cent!

Customer Service

If you get a good vibe from the customer service team, whether that is a team of individuals or nothing more than the mechanic’s own manner when he answers the phone, that is one of the crucial elements of great auto service. If there are any unexpected issues with the car service, you want to feel that you are being looked after, rather than taken advantage of.

Flexibility

Does the mechanic work on weekends? Will they come to you, rather than you coming to them? How soon can they start work on your car? A workshop that is fully booked for the next six weeks solid isn’t necessarily a sign that you’ll get great auto service. It might just mean that you’ll get a stressed and overworked mechanic, and your problems will be exacerbated by driving in the meantime.

Watch-as-they-work

Understandably, occupational health and safety regulations prevent people watching the work being done on their car in most workshops. When you engage a mobile mechanic this isn?t so – you are free to talk to them as they work in your garage or driveway, asking exactly what is going on.

Fixed Price Quotes

Look for a mechanic that offers fixed price quotes – this is one of the gold standards in ensuring good auto service. We’ve all had the horrible experience of having to scrape the bottom of your bank account (when you weren’t expecting to!) so that you could get your car out of the shop and get to work the next day. Fixed price quotes remove that possibility – especially when they are offered in conjunction with the next point.

Warranties

A written warranty on the work performed removes worry that fixed-price quotes will cause work will be rushed over. A 12-month or 20,000km warranty is a reasonable expectation from qualified mechanics who are good at their work, and care about their customers’ satisfaction.

Ask around

There’s a reason that they say word of mouth is the best advertising! It is the most trustworthy recommendation you can get. If none of your friends and family have been to the mechanic that you are thinking of having come to your home and do your car repair, there are alternative research avenues. Check for customer testimonials (with full names and locations) on their website, or Google for customer reviews.

Reputation/Size

This ties in to the point above, but in some ways is more critical. A large company with a good reputation will have the experience to give accurate quotes, and the confidence and resources to provide warranties on their work. Mechanics don?t build their business on bad work – so those that have built their business to the highest level have an innate trustworthiness.