Consumers' Checkbook tips on auto repair

Modern cars need little maintenance and most people are using the dealer.  If you want to save money and help out a local business, try an independent auto repair shop!  I like the recommendations below and wanted to share them with you. 
CHECKBOOK recommends you do the following to help improve your auto repair results:

  • Whenever possible, compare prices, especially for big repairs. CHECKBOOK found some shops charge more than three times as much as their nearby competitors for the same work.
  • Deal with the shop in a business-like way, and be especially thorough in the first few years, while you are getting acquainted.
  • Write down a detailed description of the car's symptoms, give a copy to the shop, and keep a copy.
  • If possible, talk directly to the repair technician who will be working on the car.
  • Either get a written estimate in advance or write on the repair ticket that no work is to be done without the customer's approval based on a written estimate. Be sure a list of symptoms is attached to the estimate and referred to in the estimate.
  • Before paying, request an invoice detailing the parts and labor the shop has provided.
  • Pay by credit card. If you have a problem, you can protest the charge with your card issuer.
  • If the car is still not right after it is picked up, notify the shop in writing immediately.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

San Anselmo Car Show

Image
They call it Hot August Nights San Anselmo. This car show benefits the town's holiday lights fund. In January 2005, San Anselmo was under 4 feet of water and the flood devastated both merchants and residents alike. Why, city hall just opened this week after 20 months of rebuilding. Funding was lost for the holiday lights, so Helen and her daughter, Lauren Gregory of Bloomworks put together this fundraiser, among others so the town could celebrate the holidays in style and welcome visitors back to their newly remodeled shopping district. The car show was a success. Seventy seven cars were rejected and the money refunded because of lack of space. The cars that did make it were amazing. The best of show went to a '56 Kaiser Darrin - cream color exterior and red interior. Flawless beauty and the cool thing is that the doors open into the fenders - a pocket door on a car!!! I also saw a '61 Pontiac Catalina, the first car I drove and very seldom seen at car shows. I was driving ...
Read more
Image
Hello! This is the first time I've visited my blog since I sold my business, Bertolli's Auto Body Shop, in August of 2017. To clear my head, I went to Burning Man with a friend who had been asking me to go almost every year since I had met him.  I had an interesting time being so far from my life of routine, business and family responsibilities.  It was a good way to clear my mind and spirit of the decades of business ownership.   I've done a bit of traveling, had to move, bought a condo, sold an investment and started looking for a new career.  I was asked to teach a class at College of Marin and became the first female instructor in the Auto Repair Department.  I became the first President of the Las Gallinas Lions Club after 40 years of club history. Nowadays, I wake up, drink tea, do yoga and then work a temp job, or apply for a permanent job.  I read about 'finding your purpose' and have yet to find mine.  I do a lot of volunteer work a...
Read more

Pioneer woman

Image
I was on a retreat to dig deeper into my purpose and the biggest revelation was the word PIONEER.  I really resonated with that word. Perhaps it is because my father came over from Italy when he was 15 years old.  His can-do, hard working experience must have rubbed off on me.  He courageously learned English, got a job, a wife, started a business and created a beautiful family. As a first born, and immigrant's kid, I pretty much raised myself.  When it came time for college, I applied, got accepted and was the first on both sides of my family to graduate from college.  I packed up my Chevy Chevette and drove off to college, waving to my Mom, who was standing on the doorstep. Although there were offers, I chose to work at the family business.  I took over the auto body shop at age 26 without really thinking about what I was getting into.  As it turns out, very few women manage, much less, own an auto body shop! After having been married for 13 ye...
Read more