How to Find a Trustable Mechanic

This past week has been a back and forth experience dealing with car repairs, and I’ve had to put a few mechanics in check that thought they could pull a fast one on me. Just because I write for Dish TV and most of my background is in the electronic wonderland of satellite TVs and dishes, I’m pretty savvy when it comes to cars.

For the most part I have a local mechanic that can handle most anything thrown at him, but there’s times where he doesn’t have the right tools for handling and dealing with diagnostics for European vehicles, and when those moments occur I find myself trying to go to import repair shops a little closer into the metro area where I live. Forget about the dealership doing repairs. They all believe they can charge ridiculous rates to handle even the most mundane jobs, and my money comes way too hard to just pad their pockets with some extra spending cash simply because they represent the manufacturer. Nope, I’ll go with the import repair shops every time, but the secret is to make them think you’re clueless about something as simple as pulling a sensor loose, and see if they admit that it’s a loose sensor, or if they recommend a major repair. I’ve done this in the past when having regular maintenance done that isn’t very expensive just to see if they’re honest, and you would be shocked how many will come back with an estimate that runs into the 4 digit figures. I have however found a couple shops that said it was a loose sensor which they pushed back into place at no charge, and it’s those guys that earn my loyalty.

This might seem like a sneaky way to filter out the dishonest mechanics, but when you consider how expensive car repairs can be when you’re outside of your warranty, then you have to be sure that your mechanic is not going to try and stick it to you for unneeded repairs.