Questions You Should Ask Your Mechanic

Questions You Should Ask Your Mechanic

Most of us do not know much about servicing and fixing cars, we take our vehicles to the auto shop when the time comes for a routine oil change or when there’s some kind of breakdown. We have to trust our mechanic to be truthful, tell us what is really wrong and what needs to be done. A reliable mechanic will never take advantage of the fact that they know so much more than us about fixing cars. A reliable mechanic will tell us exactly which parts they will need to replace, how much the new parts cost, how long it will take them to get the job done and how much they’ll charge you for it. But how can you tell if your mechanic is being so honest? How will you know that they’re not exaggerating just in order to charge you for parts they will not really need to replace? Maybe they’re telling you the parts they’ll use cost more than they actually do, that the work will take longer than it actually does. In this article we bring you a list of questions you should ask your mechanic in order to tell if they are on the up and up.

What Exactly Is the Problem and How They Plan to Fix it
Before you authorize your mechanic to begin working on your car ask them to tell you what exactly is the problem and what needs to be done in order to fix it. Ask them to explain it to you in layman terms, do not feel intimidated by professional terms they use, just ask them questions until you feel satisfied that you know what the work they’ll do includes. Your mechanic will then know that you understand enough to check out if they’re telling the truth and will be discouraged from charging you extra or doing less than satisfactory work.

What Parts They’ll Use and How Much they Cost
Mechanics calculate how much to charge by adding the cost of parts to that of labor. In order to ensure that you’re not being overcharged you should ask your mechanic to tell you the price of each part they intend to replace. You can also ask them if there are options, such as using refurbished parts. There are usually original parts (identical to those fitted in your car by the its manufacturer) or less costly substitute parts, ask your mechanic to tell you about the differences in quality so that you can tell them which sort of parts you’d like them to use.

What Kind Of Guarantee are They Giving You
Ask your mechanic what will they do if the problem returns not long after they fix it. There may be tricky to fix malfunctions and if this is the case you want to be sure that if the mechanic does not manage to do the work properly (this may happen from time to time even to highly qualified mechanics) they’ll just do it over for no charge.