How you can avoid car repair rip-off

Gone are the days when the only decision women made about their cars was which colour to choose.
Currently, many women have purchased cars and some are growing in confidence to make decisions.
They have learnt to deal with certain specifics such as repairs, which previously had been a reserve for the mechanics.
Many motorists are always bleak when it comes to simple mechanic issues thus spend large sums even where they don’t have to.
Some mechanics make it habit to always “find” a fault on a car, even where there is none.
This gets worse when it gets to new drivers majority of which are women.
A female friend recently had her brake pads replaced but it so happened they were left loose.
And she noted this later after she had sought out another mechanic who had checked why the brakes were making an irritating and loud metal-to-metal noise.
However, the mechanic had more for her as he told her that “the timing belt was the problem”.
But how does the timing belt connect to brake pads? That would be the question for anyone reading article.
Such is how many unsuspecting drivers, especially women, are cheated because they have not gone an extra mile to learn a thing or two about their cars. It is important that you familiarise yourself with your car to avoid rip-off.
Although most garages have honest mechanics, it only takes one bad experience to severe customer relationship.
Therefore, it is important that as a driver, you acquaint yourself with knowledge that will save you from such episodes, which might include:

Find a good garage, mechanic
Ideally, you should find a good garage before you trust any mechanic with your car and establish a good relationship with it.
Virtually, fake repairs will certainly contain mechanics who charge you for work that was never done or overpriced repairs.
Therefore, always bring along a checklist of what your car needs (and why) whenever you go to the garage.

Use two garages
Avoid instructing mechanics to “do whatever they need to do”. If it possible have your car checked in another garage before you take it for repairs in another garage,” says Ivan Kyeyune, a car mechanic on Rubaga Road.
“Talk to the mechanic who will be working on your car,” he adds.

Test drive
According to JB Kabanda, a driving instructor, it doesn’t not harm to go for a test drive before you can clearly explain to the mechanic what you want to be worked on.
“Get a second opinion if you feel uncomfortable with the diagnosis. It is important you to be certain of what is going to be worked on. It is perfectly acceptable to take your car to another garage for second opinion,” he says.

Be involved
It is not unusual that you will be asked to replace a certain part at a particular period of time.
However, according to Kyeyune, you must be shown which part needs to be replaced.
“This helps you to understand your car so that the next you have to fix it you how and why you have to,” he says.

Ask questions
Mechanics will always have different suggestions, however, a good mechanic provides a diagnosis and will explain to you what you need and how you can correct it.
“Of course certain problems are a bit complex, however any good mechanic will try to explain however, vague it might be,” Kyeyune says.
However, the most important thing boils down to trust and how the garage or mechanic you use does their work.

“Has your car been rightly worked on and are the charges fair. Should be the parametres on which you build trust,” says Kabanda.
Not all mechanics, according to Kabanda, are out to rob you. Some are crafty yet most of them do an honest and good job.
“Try to understand your car or get a second opinion. In that way you will be saved from falling prey to rip off,” he says.

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