When purchasing a new vehicle, one of the major questions involved with this decision is where you intend to bring the vehicle to have routine maintenance and repairs performed. For those few who take these endeavors upon themselves to handle, this is not a concern. However, this can be daunting for someone who is new to cars and the automotive world.
With all the talk of dishonesty and faulty repairs in the car business, you want to be sure you hand the keys over to someone you trust to service and repair your vehicle affordably, effectively, and honestly. When it comes down to it, you have three major types of shops to pick from; dealerships that sell your specific make of vehicle, independent repair shops, and corporate chain shop. All three have their advantages and disadvantages, and the decision really lies, as stated, with who you feel the most comfortable signing your vehicle over to for the next few hours or even days.
If you purchased your vehicle from a dealership, then they more than likely walked you through their service center, showing off all the shiny lifts and equipment and boasting about the expertise of the technicians. The dealership indeed seems like an excellent place to bring your vehicle. After all, they have all manufacturer information, tools, and resources at their fingertips as well as factory trained technicians available to service your vehicle. When other repair shops shrug their shoulders at an issue, it ends up at the dealership for final diagnosis and repair. These are excellent attributes to a repair facility, however the main concerns that many customers have about bringing their car to the dealership are pricing and honesty.
Remember that shiny garage with all the fancy lifts and highly trained techs? It’s common knowledge that the dealership is typically more expensive than other options for the same work. In addition, many folks feel like they’ve been ripped off or used after they leave, because dealerships seem to be notorious for hitting you with a list of service and repair items that they recommend on the vehicle that you did not originally come in for. This gives many the impression that they are simply trying to get every cent out of you that they can. This leaves the dealership at an excellent choice for repair work if you aren’t particularly tight on cash and have a positive relationship with your service advisor.
The next option that customers typically default to if they do not prefer the dealership is the local independent garage. These are typically run by just a few people and are more low-key than a dealership or chain facility. The independent repair shop is where the relationship with the people you do business with makes all the difference. These shops typically lack all the flashy equipment and resources that the dealership has, so it is important to trust in the skills and knowledge of the specific person working on your car.
These businesses rely heavily on business by word of mouth, so talk to some friends or coworkers and which shops that they have had consistently positive experiences with. Finding an independent repair shop that consistently produces quality work and high customer satisfaction can be a real gem.
Building a strong relationship with that shop can instill confidence that your vehicle will be serviced and repaired correctly and with care every time. This would be an ideal situation, but unfortunately as many have found, not all of these shops measure up to that standard.
The third major category of repair facilities to choose from is the corporate chain shop. This type of repair facility has emerged mainly in the last few decades and has the dealerships and independent shops on their toes. The major trends seen with these types of shops is that customer s go to them for maintenance services and tires. Chain shops are attractive for these items because they are almost always able to offer them to the customer at a significantly better price than the dealership or independent shops. For many people, that is all that needs to be said for them to give a chain shop or try, but it will most certainly lack the professionalism of the dealership and the strong relationships developed at independent shops.
As far as work goes, the major shortcoming of chain repair facilities seems to be in depth diagnostic and repair work. Many people seem to have less than satisfactory experiences when it comes to finding the source of a problem and fixing it. This typically seems to narrow down to the inexperience of the technician working on the vehicle, and can be hit or miss depending on what you came in for and which technician is assigned to your vehicle. This leaves the chain repair shop a good choice for those who are on a budget and need to keep their vehicle is driving condition.
The choice may still seem unclear at first, but each different type of repair facility has its perks and drawbacks. The dealership may be the best choice if your budget is flexible and you want to keep your vehicle in pristine running condition for years to come. An independent repair shop however may be the best choice if you have a strong relationship with the staff and have heard many reports of positive experiences with them.
And of course for those on a budget and looking to keep their vehicle on the road and reliable, the chain shop may be the best choice in a pinch or for quick routine maintenance. In a long term sense, all of these types of repair facilities have the potential to deliver consistent, quality, and honest work time after time. The trick is finding which of these establishments you can build trust and a strong relationship with to take the worry out vehicle repair and maintenance and keep you motoring down the road with confidence.
