I found the repair shops reviews to be
dated so long ago. Do you update them periodically?
I guess you are referring to the Mechanics File on the Car Talk web site . It is not updated by Car Talk but posted to by readers of the site. Frankly I think it is worthless but others may disagree. It is obvious that some of the positive reviews may have been posted by the shops themselves.
The local web review sites in your area will give better results.
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Several months back, one of the forum’s moderators conceded that this data was badly outdated.
There is some sort of project to update it, but that will be very time-consuming.
Have you tried using Yelp to look at reviews of local car repair shops?
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Yelp hasn’t always been that up to date on some shops for the same reason.
The reviews on Yelp have the date of posting very clearly stated at the beginning of the review.
If a review is old, it should be fairly obvious, with either site.
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There’s another serious problem with yelp, besides out of date reviews
yelp has allowed business which have gotten bad reviews to gain access to personal information of those people that left bad reviews, even though that information was not supposed to be divulged
The results were predictable
Threats of bodily harm, other forms of intimidation, etc.
Whatever it took to get them to either delete the bad review or change it to a good review
And then yelp was also often “persuaded” to sort the bad reviews, so that they would be on the very last page, buried in the back, so to speak, rather than on the front page, where anybody would quickly read them.
When I want to research something, I want to see ALL the reviews. Good and bad. And I’ll make up my own mind. when multiple bad reviews have patterns, such as they’re all complaining about the same thing, then I start to take a closer look. Maybe the reviewers are expecting too much. Maybe they’ve got a grudge. Maybe they don’t actually know how to use the product. And so forth.
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It helped me find a great shop for my Miata about 22 years ago, so I can’t complain about it. I still use that shop for that same Miata and for my Subaru.
Yes Richard , the Mechanics File helped you years ago . But most of the posts on it now are really old .
Some as much as 10 years or more . I looked at it for my area - 3 were no longer in business - 2 were in an area that I would not leave our vehicle in - 1 is closed because the owner is in jail for charging for repairs that were not done - Only saw 2 that were still listed but no longer had the original owners .
It has been a few years since I looked, OK, a couple of decades…
It’s outdated and one of the shops listed in my area is long gone. The owner was killed in an accident over 20 years ago when he lost control of his truck while pulling a trailer full of tires. His son kept it going for a few more years before shutting it down. It sat empty for a couple of years and for the past dozen years has been an equipment rental company.
To me, reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt. Or a lot of grains…
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@noidea Often the best way to find a good shop is to ask your friends and neighbors about their experiences with local shops.
By asking about their experiences you get a better idea of the good, bad, and indifferent aspects of shops they’ve tried than if you only ask for a recommendation.
Also, many communities have a Facebook community group where people often ask for recommendations to find a plumber, cupcake store, landscaper, where to get rid of old appliances, etc etc etc. As with any other source, keep a healthy degree of skepticism toward any recommendations. But as others have noted, look for patterns in both positive and negative comments of recent time.
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I haven’t looked for a number of years but some of the shops listed here, I’d never heard of. I really don’t pay much attention to these reviews, especially Yelp. People get upset about something and try to punish with bad reviews.
I don’t hire many people but the last three was the son of a neighbor at church, and two others were working in the neighborhood. Hope the guy shows up before the snow flies but if you want cheap, ya gotta wait.
My brother in law’s mechanic goes to the same church that he does. The BIL says he finds more honest people to do business with at church than the general population.
Nextdoor can also be a good place to find Mechanics or other professionals that other’s have had good experiences with in your area. Our favorite shop was pulled out of the yellow pages 27yrs ago.