8 Best ways to choose the right mechanic or service for your car

Car service centers provide a range of services to keep your vehicle in good condition. It is important to find a service centre that can provide the services as per the requirements along with providing quality workmanship at reasonable prices. Going to the wrong service centre can result in costly mistakes and unsatisfactory work, which can lead to further problems down the road. So, we have to be careful while choosing a right mechanic or service for your car, especially when we need to get it repaired.

There are a lot of good service centres for our cars like asking our family and friends for recommendations, researching online about it or examining the stores offline. So we have options to choose the right mechanic or service for your car carefully, to get the car repaired on time.

Factors to be kept in mind while choosing the right mechanic or service for your car

There are several things that can go wrong if we choose the wrong service center, such as tampering with the safety of our car, irreparable damages, or permanent issues with the parts of the car, etc. So there are a few factors that need to be kept in mind when you choose a car service center:

Services offered: We need to check whether a particular car service center can offer the car service we are looking for. Whether they are able to work on the make and model of your car.

Reputation: Some service centers have a reputation attached to them and it at times helps the customers to reach out to them. Asking family and friends for recommendations can be done to get good suggestions.

Equipment: We should check if the service centre owns the equipment and tools with up-to-date technology for diagnosing and repairing your vehicle.

Experience: We should look out for the experience a particular centre has in the field, whether they have previously worked on car models or not.

Customer service: We should have an idea of how the service centre treats their customers because their behaviour will tell a lot about their work and their working ethics.

Convenience: The location should be convenient to us because we won’t be able to go far with issues in the car, it can be very dangerous. It is important to check the location of the car service center. 

How to choose the right mechanic or service for your car

Here are some pointers to help you locate right mechanic or service for your car:

• We can ask our friends and family for good service centres, if not we can research online. If there are some reputed service centres then we can inquire them about the issue with our car.
• Checking the price. Some service centres charge more for the same work than others, so we should have an idea about what is the price in the market for the particular service. 
• Cheaper does not mean it will be convenient, so we have to be careful when we try to get cheaper spare parts for our car.
• It is important to know whether the service is certified or not, we should always go to the certified service centre.
• We should check for the warranty offered to us for a particular service. The longer the warranty the better.
• Make sure they provide the services that are required by the car. They should be trustworthy and have the expertise to work.
• Ask about their work. We can inquire about the working process at the centre.
• We should check the facility before we give out the car for services. We should check for a clean, organised and well-equipped workplace. This indicates a better quality service center.

Services provided at a service center

Here is the list of services provided at a service center to choose right mechanic or service for your car:

1. Oil changes
2. Tire rotations
3. Brake repairs
4. Engine maintenance
5. Suspension repairs
6. Battery replacement
7. Electrical repairs
8. Transmission repairs
9. Detailed cleaning

All the services can either be provided at one service centre or they offer only a few from the above list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How do I find the right mechanic or service for your car?

Ans. You can find the right mechanic or service for your car by researching online, sending out inquiries or by word of mouth from your family or friends. Choose a list of reputed service centres around you and inquire if they can work the model of your car or not.

Q2. What should I look for in a good mechanic or service center?

Ans. You should look for the services they offer, their reputation, customer behaviour, experience, convenience, the price charged for the service, types of equipment, and ASE certification.

Q3. How can I tell if a mechanic or service center is trustworthy?

Ans. To tell if a mechanic or service center is trustworthy or not, you need to get assurance over some points:

• The warranty they claim for the services.
• Customer services
• Reputation
• Expertise

Q4. Is it better to go to a local mechanic or dealership?

Ans. As long as a mechanic is skilled and has the hands-down experience, we can always go to him.  Going to the dealership can be costlier so if you can afford it, you can go to the dealership as well. At a dealership, you can get a guarantee on the services, but it can’t be said about the mechanic. His skills and experience are the only guarantees.

Q5. How can I compare prices and services offered by different mechanics or service centers?

Ans. There are a few key points, to get the proper comparison between the two:

• Check for the ratings and review
• Services provided
• Quality of work
• Experience

Q6.  How do you negotiate at a mechanic shop?

Ans.  You can inquire about the prices of various services at different mechanic shops. Compare prices by acquiring quotes, but keep in mind that the cheapest option is not always the best.