How to interpret what your mechanic is really telling you
No car owner ever looks forward to that call — you know the one. It comes after you’ve dropped off your vehicle at your service garage for just about anything from an oil change, to a checkengine light diagnosis, to finding the cause for that new noise.
It’s the repair estimate call, the one you might need an aspirin or something stronger for. It may be stressful, but if you listen carefully to what your service consultant is saying and ask the right questions, you might just save yourself some money and time.
There are many drivers who have spent years building great relationships with their techs in the shop. These are the types who seldom ask for an estimate, and if they do, they simply give their authorization with few if any questions, knowing that their garage has their best interests in mind in terms of vehicle safety and function. But for those just starting out in their driving careers, or with a shop they’ve never used before, knowing the lingo of the service counter can be of great help.
‘SHOULD HAVE’ OR ‘COULD USE’ OR ‘COULD STAND’
Any recommendation that a service rep starts with these words usually means preventive maintenance, not necessarily an immediately needed repair. It can range from brake cleaning, to fuel injection pressure purging, to coolant flushing and more. What you need to ask is why the tech is recommending any of these services and what the risk is in leaving them uncompleted.
For example, cleaning and lubricating disc brake slider systems may extend the life of the brake linings and rotors, but if your shop wants to charge you $110 per axle to do this and replacing the linings and rotors only costs, say, $300 (on a basic entry-level car), then unless you’re going to see a very extended lifespan (or if the brakes have a serious problem), you’re not likely to get much value for your money. If your ride has substantially more expensive brakes, and the cleaning rate is cheaper, you might want to approve this type of maintenance.
‘WE NEED TO START WITH …’
This phrase should set off alarm bells in your wallet. If you brought your auto in for an electronic diagnosis for a checkengine light for example, or for a strange noise, these words might mean another phone call with a new estimate for further work. In some cases it’s entirely justified. If your wheels had a loud suspension noise and the tech found a collapsed strut, then it’s possible that after the repairs a final road-test may reveal another sound that was originally masked by the loud strut failure. Or if it was towed in for a nostart condition and the battery was discharged and damaged by freezing, it’s possible that once a good (and needed) battery was installed, the remainder of the charging system test might reveal a bad alternator. If you hear this phrase from your service adviser, the next question you should ask is, “What might it end with?”
‘CAN YOU DROP OFF YOUR CAR?’
Sounds like a simple request, right? What it really means is the shop would rather not have you waiting for that repair, but instead leaving it for the day so they can fit it in according to their schedule.
Few general repair shops have the capability to book a lot of waiting customers at the same time, especially for work that might take more than an hour or so to complete. Things that you might think are relatively simple such as diagnosing a checkengine light, or repairing a leaking exhaust usually fall into this category.