One day the iPhone will create an app that will complete auto repairs for us. Until that day comes, we’ll stuck depending on our local friendly auto mechanic. A competent and friendly auto mechanic is worth their weight in gold.
If you knew how to service your vehicle yourself, you could look it over and be certain that the work that your mechanic does to it is necessary, a fair price, and most of all, good quality. But then, if you complete your own auto repair services, you don’t really need a friendly auto mechanic at all. For the rest of us, the trick is finding a trustworthy and friendly auto mechanic who will treat your car as if it’s their own car.
How do you know when you’ve found a mechanic you can trust, who won’t use mechanic lingo and scare tactics to dupe you into getting repairs that you don’t really need, or do a shoddy job servicing your vehicle? Well hold onto your shorts girls and boys, we’ve put together a quick guide for finding the right mechanic:
- You might have a great mechanic if your marriage counselor would approve of their communication skills.
Communication is an essential part of being a good mechanic. Your mechanic needs to be able to convey to you why your car is making that noise, what type of repairs you’ll need now, and the ones you should anticipate needing soon. A good mechanic will tell you that while they have the engine out to change the timing belt, you could save yourself some money if they change out the other belts that you’ll need replaced soon anyways.
A good mechanic is easy to reach when you have a question or when they have your baby. If you call them, they answer or call you back right away. A good mechanic welcomes your questions. The more you know about taking good care of your vehicle, the easier their job is. A good mechanic is good at communicating. - You should always be able to get a free estimate with a good mechanic.
Your mechanic is responsible for diagnosing and making affordable auto repair services. But before fixing it, they give you an estimate of how much the work is going to cost. This estimate should be in writing, because they aren’t going to try to fool you into letting them doing the work and then charging you twice as much.
If the mechanic looks at you sideways when you ask for an estimate before they do the job, you might want to take your bad boy somewhere else. This isn’t a good sign that you can trust them. - Follow your gut when checking out a new mechanic service.
When you visit a new mechanic, it might be a little grease laden. The shop might be cluttered. It might not be up for a segment of Better Homes and Garden any time soon. This is to be expected.
However, you want to see that the mechanic is professional in the way he treats you and other clients. You want to feel confident that the environment of the shop is conducive to providing good quality work on you car. You want your gut to tell you that you can trust this guy to make the necessary repairs and maintenance to your vehicle. If your gut is telling you anything other than this, you should follow that instinct before you entrust them to make repairs on your vehicle. - You might have a good mechanic if their dedication to documentation would make your accountant smile.
You want to keep records of the work being done on your vehicle. When you are ready to sell your vehicle, having this information will make it far easier to have a buyer. If you plan to keep your car for another ten or twenty years, having organized documentation about the service and maintenance that have been done to it will help you keep your car in great working order. If you ever relocate and need a new mechanic, being able to show them records of the work that has been done to it will allow them to seamlessly take over care and maintenance of it.
What do you think about our list? Share below!
