I’m going to go out on a limb here and will probably step on a few toes in the process but I think this is an issue that needs to be discussed. I’m talking about the perceived notion that most mechanics are out to rip people off. My opinions come from being on both sides of the fence, once as a self-employed mechanic and now as a consumer as I’m no longer able-bodied enough to do all the repairs on our vehicles myself.
First-up I’d like to put forward a (rather long) opinion from the workshop owners point of view. Owning a workshop, like any other paid service is first and foremost a business. Nobody is there for the love of it! (heaven forbid!) Yes, certain mechanics and I include myself in this group have a love of cars and do find some enjoyment in what they do but the reality is that they find themselves in the position of a workshop owner becuase working for yourself generally has larger financial rewards than relying on someone else for employment.
As a business owner your financial commitments have to be met if you are to stay in business. Wages, lease payments on equipment, rent on premises, monthly parts accounts and a roof over your head and food on the table. These are only the basics and taking on the responsibility of a business should mean that you are able to enjoy the fruits of your labour a little bit more than as an employee, financially speaking.
To meet these goals you need to be a good salesman(woman) and up-sell to a certain extent. Doing grease and oil changes nine to five, five days a week is not going to earn you the sort of money that makes the stress, long hours, time away from family and all the other issues that come with business ownership seem worthwhile. Sure grease and oil changes are part of it, but generally these are used as avenues for sourcing the good paying jobs, such as brakes, suspension work etc. I know I employed these tactics, more out of habit than anything else. I was taught as an apprentice to be on the look-out for other work that could be classed as necessary while servicing vehicles.
This is where things get a bit shady. I can honestly say that if you had your car in our workshop and got the dreaded “It needs this and it needs that” phone call then that is exactly what the vehicle needed to be kept in a safe and roadworthy condition, however I know and have seen first hand the sort of tactics that some workshops employ to increase their bottom line. Doing repairs that aren’t necessary or ‘over-servicing’ goes on in our industry for sure. I’m in no way saying that every workshop owner does this and I also have an argument the other way which I will get to but I do know it happens and it happens way too often which gives the consumer grounds to be wary when taking their vehicles in for repair.
Which brings me to the flip-side of that argument. A lot of people don’t trust mechanics, no secret there. So many horror stories of taking the car in for a service and coming out one thousand, two thousand worse off for it. This is where communication plays such a vital role. Your vehicle may be in a state of disrepair and need that amount of work to keep it safe and reliable. The trouble is that you are at the mercy of the mechanic and unless you have spent time sussing them out you have no idea whether they are being straight with you or not. A lot of mechanics see this as a black and white situation - all the work needs doing straight away - and you, the owner needs to pay for it - end of story. Unfortunatly for the honest mechanics out there this feeling of dis-trust has made the job of recommending extra work an up-hill battle. I often struck a brick wall when getting permission to carry out extra work, either through dis-trust or the owner thinking that they knew better.
I adopted an approach of spending as much time as I possibly could getting to know my customers on a personal level and build trust between us which helped a little but at the end of the day some people have no idea what can be reasonably expected from their mechanic and at what price. Sometimes as a customer you need to trust that what you are being told is correct and that a mechanic hasn’t been through four years of training for nothing! If you are unsure about what your mechanic is telling you, ask questions, ask for the old parts that they replaced, please don’t go off telling everyone who will listen that you know better and that guy down the road tried to rip you off, he may be the only honest mechanic in town and you’ve just ruined his reputation because you think you know better. A very frustrating situation!
Another issue that workshop owners face is that some people don’t realise what is involved in repairing modern motor vehicles. Nothing is as simple as it was thirty or so years ago when most repairs could be carried out by anybody with basic mechanical skills. Vehicles have become extremely sophisticated and naturally the time taken and expertise needed has increased at the same rate. For instance you may think that four and a half thousand dollars is ridiculous for a top-end overhaul after an over-heat on a late-ish model Mitsubishi Triton V6. Believe it though, that was a bill that I had to give a customer shortly before closing our shop. The exact year model of the Triton escapes me, but I do know it had the three-and-a-half litre V6 that is in thousands of Mitsubishi’s roaming our roads. The bill consisted of roughly two thousand dollars to overhaul the cylinder heads and supply a VRS gasket set and by the time you add a new waterpump, timing belt, top and bottom radiator hoses, fanbelts, coollant etc and many hours labour it soon gets out of hand. That was when we were charging fifty dollars an hour labour, which is cheap compared to today’s rates. Have a look at any other industry or service and it’s the same across the board, everything is getting dearer.
Now over to the side of the consumer. There is a very fine line between doing what is needed to keep your vehicle in good condition and doing whatever the mechanic can find to increase their bottom line. Obviously workshop owners are in business for one reason - to make money but blatantly going out of their way to squeeze every last cent out of every job is what gives us mechanics a bad name. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for running a successful business but let’s be realistic about what is reasonable and what is basically profiting from people that don’t have an understanding of what is involved in vehicle repair. If you are on the look-out for a good mechanic try to get recommendations from family or friends. Word of mouth is by far the best form of advertising, but do somebody wrong and it’s twice as effective!
There are a few marketing ploys used by workshops that you should be wary of. One of these is to offer ‘Free brake inspection’ or ‘Free safety check’. Have you ever heard the saying ‘There is no such thing as a free lunch’? This is especially true in this situation. Yeah sure they will do an inspection for free. The piece of paper with all the crosses on it and a four-figure sum at the bottom is where they get you. “Yes sir, I would strongly advise you have these repairs done immediatly as your vehicle is unsafe the way it is”, does that sound familiar? Seriously though, these types of ‘free offers’ are a goldmine for repairers if carried out to their potential.
Another scheme I have seen at work is to offer bonuses to the mechanics on the amount of extra work they can conjure up on each job. Used properly I don’t have an issue with these types of incentives, but usually no-one is there to monitor what work does legitimately need doing. Once again it is not my intention to paint all mechanics with the same brush but these things do go on and the consumer needs to be aware of it.
As I said, I’m probably stepping on a few toes here, but by being careful and not falling for any hype or promises of this and that, there is no reason why you cannot find a mechanic that does a good job at a fair price. Admittedly it make take a few ordinary experiences to find them but they are out there, that I can guarantee. The key to being satisfied with your mechanic is to keep the lines of communication open, ask for an estimate and don’t settle for being left in the dark until you come to pick up your car and get presented with a huge bill. Try to arm yourself with as much information as you can about the work being carried out on your vehicle. Do a search on the internet if you have to. Any information you can find yourself will help you make an informed decision when that “It needs this and it needs that” phone call comes through.
One other thing to keep in mind is that us mechanics are only human and sometimes we don’t get it right first time and we deserve the right to have another go, even if it is just to save some pride!
Take care and be safe on the roads.
Craig
