Negosentro.com | 5 Easy Ways to Avoid Being Robbed By a Car Mechanic | No matter how advanced they become with each passing year, cars are, in their essence, nothing more than complex mechanisms that wear down and break as time goes by. And, as every car owner knows, waiting for these problems to kick in doesn’t have to be all that long. So, most of us tend to look at car maintenance costs as a fact of life.
What we shouldn’t accept as a fact of life, on the other hand, are outrageous costs we are asked to pay whenever some of these problems, smaller or bigger, occur. Let’s see what we can do in this regard.
Ask for referrals
Car mechanics are no strangers to ripping off inexperienced car owners. Of course, these predators are always revealed at some point and customers tend to move on to some more trustworthy and honest professionals. But this long and painful trial and error can cost you a small fortune. So be sure to ask your friends and family for a recommendation. The chances are that someone in your inner circle knows a mechanic that suits your specific needs. Other sources of info you can resort to are forums and social media platforms.
Do your own diagnostic and small repairs
Yeah, knowing how to perform a couple of common small fixes like replacing the air filters and recharging the battery can save you a lot of money in the long run. But even if you are not too keen on getting your hands dirty and meddling with the vehicle, you will still do a lot for your family budget if you at least learn basic car diagnostics. The other option is to install an OBD (on-board diagnostics) device into your vehicle and get all the relevant info directly to the screen of your device.
Shop car parts online
It is not that big of a secret that most car repair shops offer inflated car parts prices. This is somewhat understandable: shops need to make some profit on the goods they are buying. But that doesn’t mean you can’t simply eliminate all these middlemen and get the parts from the source. So, for instance, if you are driving the latest Subaru, you can easily find a bunch of affordable Subaru genuine parts with nothing more than just a couple of clicks. This way, the price of the very repair you will be asked to pay for in the shop will be considerably lower.
Pay attention to regular maintenance
All mechanical systems are interconnected within a vehicle. Because of that, a little negligence in one area can cause major breakdowns in others. The positive side of this coin is that putting some effort into regular maintenance, like the proper management of essential car fluids (brake fluid, motor oil, coolants, etc.) can keep much more complex and expensive malfunctions at bay. Furthermore, these basic maintenance duties are very simple, so you won’t even have to pay the mechanic to perform them.
Leverage warranties and discounts
For every repair you get, a reputable car repair shop should issue a warranty that gives you peace of mind for a couple of years. The thing is that when something breaks down, we are in such a rush to fix it that we forget about these warranties altogether. So, try to keep some sort of track record of when you have got these repairs and make some use of warranties. The other thing you should pay attention to is discounts. Car repair shops are competitive, just like all other small businesses. There is some room for negotiation you can use here.
We hope these few tips will help you keep your car maintenance costs at the bare minimum. Sure, sooner or later, you will have to take your car to a mechanic. But even when this inevitable moment comes, you should not allow getting ripped-off.
