Every car owner car service Reading share a story or two about car mechanics when it comes to poor experiences. Although we all have a mechanic who we trust, most people are still afraid of car mechanics due to fear of getting scammed or getting their cars serviced poorly. In this article, we explain why there is a general fear of car mechanics and whether you should trust your car mechanic or not.
Expensive bills after a visit to the mechanic
It is very common that drivers feel like they are getting ripped off by their car mechanic. Although it is entirely possible that your car mechanic is charging you extra for no reason, most of the time what looks unreasonable expensive to you is just how the rates are. Car mechanics charge, on average, $80 per hour and bill a minimum amount. So a job that seems easy enough can still cost you a few hundred dollars if you want it done professionally. There have been many cases where car mechanics are simply scamming people who they believe won’t notice such as not even replacing the engine oil but marking it as done. However, any reputable car mechanic with somewhat of a name in the industry won’t do anything remotely similar and you can trust them with %99 certainty. When the cost of repair rises very high some car owners consider selling their broken car to cash for car services.
Additional list of services
It is not unusual that you take your car to a mechanic for a specific issue and the mechanic ends up doing extra work on your car that you never asked for. If they try to do this, you must immediately indicate that only the specified list of works needs to be done. No additional maintenance is required, which is only beneficial to the car mechanic. It is necessary to beware of those works that are not prescribed in the vehicle manual. If the car service employee is too intrusive, you should leave and go to another mechanic shop. Many workshops offer engine and transmission flushing services that are absolutely unnecessary.
Replacing parts that are in good condition
Another common way to cheat customers is to replace parts that are in good condition. The customer is not able to check the performance of some spare parts, which makes it easy to deceive them. This is especially true for large service stations. They have their own spare parts warehouse that needs to be sold. There is practically no way to prove this either. As mentioned above, this is very unlikely to happen in most reputable mechanic shops, however, not totally impossible either.
A good mechanic listens
The reason that people are kind of afraid of car mechanics is that they don’t listen. A good mechanic listens to the needs of their customers. If necessary, the latter will perform a test drive to identify what concerns you. In all cases, a competent mechanic will take the time necessary to explain the mechanical problems detected to you and present the solutions available to you.
Low quality mechanics
Another reason for the general fear of mechanics is the fact that there are many of them around who are simply not experienced or skilled enough to provide you a high quality service. Most often, these are found in body repair. This particular type of mechanic has an average garage and a modest set of cheap tools. Everything is done below acceptable standards, satisfactory at most. As a result, you need to be prepared for the fact that the work for 2 days will drag on for 2 weeks. The prices won’t be much cheaper than normal workshops.
Reviews and word of mouth
What people hear from others about mechanics also causes a general fear that may be irrational. For example, a new driver who is looking for their first mechanic might hear the unfortunate stories and form a view that all mechanics are trying to scam them. Although that’s not the case, we as humans operate based on the information we receive. The best way to find a good mechanic would be looking at online reviews and others have to say about the place.