Drake
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2019
- Threads
- 23
- Messages
- 1,085
- Reaction score
- 1,517
- Location
- Ohio
- Vehicle(s)
- Honda Civic Si
- Thread starter
- #16
The only problem is, like diamonds, good honest mechanics are somewhat rare (or else they wouldn't have the poor reputation we give them). People can afford to shop around for things like groceries or a good barber, because if I happen to get a bad banana I can just throw it away, or a poor haircut will only put me out $20 and my hair will grow back in a couple weeks while I just wear a hat. However, if I try out a new, small repair shop I've never been to before and it turns out they did a bad job, I could be out hundreds to thousands of dollars, my valuable time, and perhaps even risk my life if they messed up a vital component that fails while driving. Those who can immediately tell if a mechanic did a poor job servicing their car are often the people who aren't having someone else work on their car in the first place. That's why the perception of quality and assurance lies more with official dealer mechanics, although they do often charge more.A good honest mechanic controlling billing is worth their weight in gold. They exist... but from my experience only at the very small independent level. At that level, they can control both the work and the billing. There are a lot of very good, honest and skilled individuals that work at larger places/service departments... but they get lost in the organization. Folks should really try out the small businesses. There's diamonds out there. Big places range from peat to coal at best.
It's crazy how much people will shop around for goods and even services... then take their automobiles for expensive work at the most expensive places with regard to labor rate with similar to poorer quality of work.
If any of you have any advice for evaluating new shops without spending too much cash/risking my car, I would be happy to hear it.
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