Get Educated and Save on Car Repairs
January 16, 2007 by Karen Weideman
Filed under automotive, money saving idea, self-help
When it comes to car repairs I am fortunate because my husband was a mechanic for many years. That doesn’t mean that he knows everything about cars, but he understands how they work and he is good at finding a reliable mechanic that won’t take advantage of us.
If you or your husband don’t understand the terminology that mechanics use, then you won’t know if you really need the repairs they suggest. I remember a few years ago we took our van to a a local dealership and they suggested all sorts of repairs for our van. It was going to cost somewhere around $800! After some research, my husband found out that many of the things they suggested weren’t necessary and we got our van fixed for less than $200.
The good news is that there are resources out there to help consumers become more educated about cars. One of these is familycar.com. The site contains a lot of good information about car troubles in simple English. You want to know what symptoms the car is having and then the site will tell you what you need to do.
Make sure you know what the car needs before you agree to have the work done. You should also shop around BEFORE something goes wrong with your car. If something goes wrong and you haven’t shopped around, then you’ll be more likely to try anyone that’s available to fix your car, or you may not have the time to do your homework.
Good tips, our community school here in town had a class about auto maintenance taught at a local garage. For $4 you’d get four hours of basic instruction plus pizza. It was fabulously informative.
$4 sounds like a good price for all that.
It’s so sad that people would take advantage of you just because you don’t understand something – I HATE car problems for that very reason! It’s all about the $$ and not about helping out someone else… *sigh*
Thanks for the link!
Brianne: Unfortunately mechanics do take advantage of people just because they don’t understand. And unfortunately, this same issue happens in a lot of fields. I’m sure there are many doctors and dentists out there that are taking advantage of their patients and the insurance that they have. Oh, the stories I could tell!
My husband used to work for a well-known muffler/mechanic chain. They were very honest. They would have customers come in for a second opinion and inform them they didn’t need the $500 worth of repairs that someone else told them they needed. Many times he could just turn the rotors and replace the brake pads.
So, how are things with the baby? Good to hear from you.
A good test to see if a mechanic is likley to pull a fast one… get a new air filter- very inexpensive and you just pop it right in, too easy.
If the mechanic tells you you need a new air filter…enough said.