How confident or careful should motorists be when they take their car to a workshop for service or repair? There are plenty of “bad experience” stories about mistakes, rip-offs and even sabotage. --Several readers
First, we are lucky to have so many places to have a vehicle serviced or fixed. They are everywhere and range from a single person with a bag of tools to large and elaborate high-tech corporate workshops.
There are plenty of private corner garages, fuel station pits and jua-kali sheds in between, and then “specialists” dealing exclusively with turbochargers or transmissions or diesel injectors etc.
And of course, they vary (just as widely but separately) in the core elements of equipment, technical competence, diligence, business model, and integrity. As do their customers’ vehicles… and the required tasks and parts.
What we all wish to be “confident” of is that a fault (and its cause!) will be correctly diagnosed, the proposed remedy will be well-informed by knowledge and experience, appropriate tools and parts will be used, the work will be competently and diligently undertaken, and the time and cost will be reasonable.
That, with quite a bit of elbow room around the strictest standards, is what you generally get…at all the levels on many jobs.
However, there is no formula which guarantees that level of work all the time. Mistakes will be made and the scope for that is huge, ranging from clumsiness to forgetfulness or incorrect diagnosis or faulty process.
Even when the fix is done correctly, the underlying cause of the fault will often not be investigated and attended to.
While there is a connection between formal training and technical competence, some certified mechanics know a lot less than they think they do and some self-taught roughnecks have all-day, every day and life-long experience, with excellent diagnostic antennae and fix-it ingenuity.
In counterpoint, their (and their customers’) imperative likely is to “get the car going again”, not long-term restoration and reliability.
Inspection pits, hoists and specialised equipment can be a major benefit to the fixer (and hence the customer), but the human element can waste that advantage or compensate for its absence.
While outright sabotage is probably very rare (because it could ultimately be disastrous for business), there is plenty of opportunity – and therefore a likelihood – of, um, sharp practices.
These can range from overprescribing a remedy to increase labour and/or parts profits to fitting an expensive new part when the original could be readily restored, to charging for a concealed part that was not replaced, to fitting a used or bandit part and charging for a genuine new part, to swapping out a good component (that has nothing to do with the repair at hand) for a well-worn one, and so on. The business ethos matters, as does the quality of supervision.
In all these contexts, “confidence” is not based on the actual quality of the work, but on the quality, you can reasonably expect from the type of workshop you have chosen.
It is up to you to balance your expectations and your budget, and it is up to the top-priced agents to deliver a concomitant level of excellence and assurance. And, where appropriate, pay for their own mistakes.
So, some level of self “care” will always be necessary and important. How effectively you can protect your interests will depend to some extent on your mechanical/technical knowledge, but I can offer one measure that can give anyone and everyone a better chance.
Whenever you have your car serviced or repaired, try to “be there”. In a position to watch the work being done. Your vigilance will almost certainly encourage diligence, even if nothing else.
How effectively you can protect your interests will depend to some extent on your mechanical/technical knowledge.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
You don’t have to be a maestro to ensure the old oil is drained while the engine is still hot, that enough grease is pumped into the nipples so all the old gunk is forced out, that the levels and condition of gear and diff oils is checked and the plugs are refitted, that the new oil is the grade you specified (or provided), that the air-cleaner is not tapped out or blown out in a manner that tears the filter fabric.
That the new oil filter is charged and oiled before being screwed in, that any leaks of anything are identified, explained and addressed, that split pins are replaced when castellated nuts are refitted, that cables and wires and tubes are not left dangling where they can be snagged or chaffed.
That all the under bonnet (radiator, battery, brakes, clutch and power steering fluids) checks are conducted, that there are no tears in grease boots, no undue play in bushes and mountings and ball-joints, no cuts or bulges in tyre walls, and the wheel nuts are tightened (not overtightened using an extension bar) in diagonal opposites (not in sequence), and so on.
You don’t have to be a pest, but you should demand the right to observe, and only intervene if you see something wrong happening, or something necessary not happening. You always have the right to ask what, how and why.
