My mother, who lives in Phoenix called me about her recent vehicle repairs. Since i own a car lot and sold her the vehicle, a PT Cruiser, Used to do feel bad that her experience at a well-known auto repair archipelago went so bad. First, and I agreed, she paid too much for a basic tune-up and was informed her oxygen sensor was bad. So she shelled out some dough to get her car back. While she did pay too much for her repairs, as I’ve always informed her, she could have achieved a better price if she would have worked with the technician and service writer.
In my opinion, all technicians get a bad rep for trying to sell auto parts you don’t need and most consumers complain about their hefty labor time charges. I am still stymied at why this is? Not many employment offer up this amazing experience of Hybrid Auto Repair always feeling like you’re a crook. People will pay home repair experts if their difficulties container is leaking or their furnace isn’t working, but often, no very often, complain about the amount of their vehicle repairs–even whether it’s just required maintenance like a lube-oil-filter or full-service check-up. There are ways to work with your technician to achieve results that produce you happy and won’t leave your auto repair guy feeling like a crook. Use these guidelines every time you visit your auto repair center whether it’s a franchised dealership, auto repair archipelago, or just a plain old independent repair facility:
Explain exactly what your complaint is and try and be specific as to what the automobile does or not doing. No auto mechanic is a very ball reader and all vehicles will vary so don’t just drop the automobile off and expect them to figure it all out on their own.
Insist and go on a try out before your technician begins the repair process especially when your car or truck is making a noise you can’t describe or identify. My 80 year old father-in-law bought a new vehicle and took his vehicle to the repair facility a whopping ten times for a sound he heard repeatedly but could not identify. Instead of making it mandatory on a pre-repair try out, the auto mechanic tried his best to find the cause of the noise to no avail. Once I suggested a pre-repair try out, the noise he was hearing was his automatic door locks that were performing as required–locking at the teen mile-per-hour mark. Not only was my father-in-law’s time wasted, the mechanic’s time was as well and further, the auto mechanic was most likely not paid for anything other than the first visit and each time he looked at the automobile, the repair facility where the auto mechanic worked probably looked at each visit as a “comeback” so he made no money on those repeated visits.
Know how technicians are paid. People complain about the cost of labor. First, all good repair facilities utilize labor time guides that are fond of the repair facility by the vehicle manufacturer or from an impartial source such as All-Data. For example, if a labor guide says it should take one hour to fix a water pump on a specific vehicle–that is all the auto mechanic gets paid for. Even if it takes the auto mechanic two hours to fix the water pump, they only get paid for one hour of work–this is called a flat-rate hour. So, your auto mechanic and repair facility are not trimming you off, they’re going by the guidelines provided to them that is utilized nationwide by all auto repair centers. Don’t be so quick to complain about across the country recognized labor time guides.
Most movement achieve some sort of ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) certification in all or specific areas of auto repair. If your auto repair center has an ASE Master Technician–that means they have been through grueling tests–and passed. Tests offered by ASE are not easy, so keep that in mind if your tech is ASE certified.
Tucson Hybrids
8051 E Lakeside Parkway Suite 108
Tucson, AZ 85750