How to Find To Find The Right Auto Repair Shop
Find the Right Auto Repair Shop
Finding the right auto repair shop for your vehicle is the decision that vehicle owners have faced for decades. From routine maintenance to costly damage repairs, every vehicle requires the visit to the workshop once in a while. Your vehicle might only need the routine oil change, but only taking it to a reliable automotive service center can ensure excellent performance and long life of your car.
Research:
The first step towards ensuring proper care of your vehicle is the appropriate research for a reliable and efficient auto repair shop. Most people go to the nearest auto repair shop to their home or work, but if you are looking for proper care of your vehicle, this might not be the right approach. If you want to find a good auto repair shop, you should first ask around in your family and friends for recommendations. Once you get a list of recommendations, you go to their websites and social media pages; there, you can find reviews and experiences of people who have tried their services. This way, you have multiple input sources for your decision to be based on. See how long the facility has been there? Now you have to do a little trial and error by visiting some of the best-reviewed facilities.
What to look for:
Upon entering the facility, you need to look for these things right away. Many people think that the behavior of the staff doesn’t affect the service of your vehicle. Still, the truth is that if the staff cares enough to treat you properly, they probably will try to make your service experience exceptional. So, upon entering the facility, see if you were appropriately greeted? Look around to see that the facility is clean? Does it look inviting? Were you comfortable there?
Look around do they have “best of the best awards” displayed in their lobby?
Next, you need to look around for what type of equipment they are using. Is it state of the art? Let’s take an example. Suppose you went for an oil change, look around if they are using proper lifts or pits for an oil change. Are they using high-quality parts on vehicles?
You need to be careful of some “Red Flags.” Many shops try to attract customers by saying that they are the cheapest in town, you might be happy at the moment that you got a lower price, but it will end costing you more in the future due to cheap parts and mediocre service. You also need to see the behavior of technicians towards small things like check engine light. You need to know if they try to talk you out of it like “That is normal.” It’s not normal!
What Questions to ask:
Most auto repair shops are task-oriented; they usually specialize in some field and offer only those services. So you need to find the shop that specializes in the kind of work you need on your vehicle. Some facilities are members of companies or associations. This can be a good thing, but you need to be careful about what kind of prices they are offering, many company facilities tend to have much higher prices than normal due to their brand tag. The next thing that you need to ask is what kind of warranty do they offer? For example;
- 12 months/ 12,000 miles
- 24 months/ 24,000 miles
- 36 months/ 36,000 miles
You need to ask for the best warranty that you can get that will help you later on. Do you also need to see if the staff is experienced? Some new facilities try to attract customers by lower prices, but don’t be tempted by that and look for the most experienced technicians for the best care of your vehicle. In your search for the right repair shop check us out at Edgestoneautomotive.com or give us a call at 512-288-5050.