service writers??..our customers suck too

[tequilasundae]

1st things 1st we know auto repair is a grudge purchase..you dont want to have to pay for car repair..but these are some cardinal rules,
1) never call me up and tell me what the fix is before the diagnosis...(i.e "my brakes are making noise , 'its just pads'.'I hit a giant pothole, its just an alignment' .hey....um IT"S NEVER JUST PADS..)
2) when its not 'just pads' or 'just an alignment' (and i will SHOW you the problem), dont accuse us of ripping you off , we price match
3) dont 'chickenhawk' the tech....he cant work with you standing there
4) if you dont have the money...dont authorize the repair..
5) and please please please dont waste our time if you have no intention of us doing the repair...its just bad manners, and it pisses us off...this means you drivers of 'dubs, donks etc'

[Rapscallion]

Have to admit I owe a box of chocolates to the repair guys at my local Kwik Fit for them persuading me to stay when my brakes were making a funny noise. I'd been driving like that for a while, and I assumed it was dirt in there.

Pads and shoes were worn down to nothing, and it was leaking brake fluid. Ouch.

Rapscallion

[MrSmiley]

1st things 1st we know auto repair is a grudge purchase..you dont want to have to pay for car repair..but these are some cardinal rules,
1) never call me up and tell me what the fix is before the diagnosis...(i.e "my brakes are making noise , 'its just pads'.'I hit a giant pothole, its just an alignment' .hey....um IT"S NEVER JUST PADS..)
2) when its not 'just pads' or 'just an alignment' (and i will SHOW you the problem), dont accuse us of ripping you off , we price match

sigh... I'm sure my neighbour does this. Claims he knows everything about his truck and what the problem is, but still doesn't do any work on it himself... so when the repair center finds something different than what's in his head, obviously the guy is wrong. Also forgets and rediscovers a lot of "features" on his vehicle, despite him knowing them all.

FYI this neighbour stopped talking to me and only grunts when he sees me. Not sure exactly what I did to piss him off... but am pretty sure it's not important or sensible :P

[thehippie777]

I love mechanics. It's pretty easy to know if the shop you are at is a rip off place. Most of them aren't. Cars are pricey, simple as that. It took me a little while to find places I could trust (some places really try to do a number on me cuz I am a chick), but I found them. I have also become slightly educated on my own car, too. Last time I brought my car into get fixed up it cost $900 (don't ask, it was horribly behind on repairs), but I gladly paid lol

[friendofjimmyk]

1) never call me up and tell me what the fix is before the diagnosis...(i.e "my brakes are making noise , 'its just pads'.'I hit a giant pothole, its just an alignment' .hey....um IT"S NEVER JUST PADS..)

Yes! I don't care what your brother's roommate's sister's fiance's uncle's wife's boss told you - a shop CANNOT gurantee anything without looking at the car!

[Racket_Man]

since I do some repairs on my cars I know just enough to be at least close to diagnosing a problem. when I get a different vehicle I ALWAYS buy the repair guide (very handy for what little I can do as a "shade tree" mechanic esp with all of the complex and computerized system that cars now have).

having said that I know my limitations. getting close to a diagnosis is not the same as "I KNOW the EXACT problem. now here fix it for $XXX and no more because I KNOW WHAT THE EXACT problem is"

the last repair job I had cost a pretty penny. my tranny would not upshift past 2d gear. I was hoping it was the modulator ( a couple hundred dollars) but it turned out to be a metal ring deep in the tranny and cost $1800 for a $50 part. most of the cost was labor (tearing apart the entire tranny for 3 inch ring with a plastic seal that got shredded)

I trust my mechanic to tell me what is wrong and fix it right. I trust his/their years of experience. yes I can come close to a problem but Gods help me if I try and fix it

[Imogene]

my tranny would not upshift past 2d gear

Well, perhaps you just didn't get her the right dress for the occasion?
I always get those two meanings of the word switched around whenever I see them. To me, a tranny is a person (usually, hot, just because they're trans) not a car part.