Is there a web resource to find good mechanic/Auto Repair shop?
No.
The internet is the reincarnation of the Wild West. There’s no way to tell if the information on an internet Web Site is accurate or not. Or biased or not. What you are thinking are customer’s comments might be the owner of the business. Or the owner of a competing business. There’s no way to tell.
You are much better off asking friends, coworkers, relatives, fellow church goers, anyone you have an ongoing personal relationship with, ask them who they use. From those, try to choose a shop that specializes in working on the brand of car you own. Then tell the shop who it was that recommended you to them.
Well, around here, a lot of mechanics do frequent napa
One of the reasons is quite simple . . . napa tends to stock a lot of the hard to find, oddball parts, like door hinge bushings, pigtails, heater hose connectors,
Around here (NH and Northern MA) we have a few local chains (Robinsn Sanel and Towers). The carry quality parts and have a very large inventory of parts. Some of their stores have machine shops. The NAPA dealer near me is very small and rarely deals with mechanics. One of the local chains have 5+ delivery vehicles that delivers the pats to the garage.
The NAPA store here is pretty solid and unlike AutoZone or O’Reillys, all of their counter help consists of older guys who have been in the parts business for decades; some of them going on 40 years.
My biggest complaint about AutoZone is the short attention span that seems to prevail there.
AZ - Hi, how can I help you?
Me - I need an outer tie rod end for a 2000 Mitsubishi Galant.
AZ - What year?
Me - 2000.
AZ _ What kind of car…
And so it goes every stinking time.
The next biggest complaint is the Magic Ink that disappears from their receipts over time; effectively rendering null and void that Lifetime warranty part.
he NAPA store here is pretty solid and unlike AutoZone or O'Reillys, all of their counter help consists of older guys who have been in the parts business for decades; some of them going on 40 years.
That’s like the local chains we have her in NH. Most of the counter help are in their 40s to 50’s. Been working there for 20+ years.
I don’t use NAPA except as my second choice. The “Bumper to Bumper” guys/gals, seem to be pretty knowledgeable…and so are the NAPA guys and gals.
Both deliver to the local shops with multiple delivery vehicles.
I’ve been with the B to B shop long before they were a chain store and I stick with those I know and remember my name and such. Eight employee’s, all over 40…except one young guy and one young gal, but both know what they’re doing.
Hardware stores are the same way.
I remember going into a hardware store once. I needed a piece of brass to make a choke lever for an old tractor that you couldn’t get parts for.
The young guys reply…“We don’t carry any tractor parts”.
Dumb as a box of rocks.
That sounds like one of the guys in AutoZone I got crossways with some years ago. I needed a 12" piece of 15/32 A/C refrigerant hose to replace a split line on a Ford. I had purchased stuff like that from them before off the roll.
The guy kept insisting I give him a year, make, and model although it was totally irrelevant. Given the info he then tells me the line is not available. No kidding; now do you have the roll hose or not…
Finally, I threw my hands up in disgust after more back and forth with the guy wanting to know if I wanted to special order something close and make it work and headed to O’Reillys where they coughed it up in 2 minutes time.
Finally, I threw my hands up in disgust after more back and forth with the guy wanting to know if I wanted to special order something close and make it work and headed to O'Reillys where they coughed it up in 2 minutes time.
O’Reilly’s bought the auto parts division of VIP here in NH a few years ago. They aren’t near me yet. I’ll have to try them out if the ever build a store near me.
Xerox the thermal printed receipts.
I get that all the time. I have a Subway in my wallet now, scanned and copied with real ink untill I get my cookie !
I copy all of those that need to be saved long term…PLUS I save the original faded one in case they say ‘‘but we have to have the original.’’
That's weird. Most service managers I know are NOT mechanics. Most wouldn't even be able to do something as simple as an oil change.
He seems very competent and inexpensive using since 100k miles on our 2005 Legacy turbo wagon. He does anything from changing a throw out bearing for $350(5hrs labor), changing timing belt($350) to pulling the engine unfortunately for a burned valve and yes a simple oil change.
I have 190k miles and likely would have dumped this car I like long ago if I were still using the dealership. The burned valve repair estimate at dealer was twice what he charged because they wanted to throw all a new short block in when it was fine. Took forever(weeks) to fix though.
The question really pulls up the roots of everything, doesn’t it. In particular, I didn’t hear anyone point out: finding a good mechanic means taking a risk, taking your car out and trying it. You can sit on your rear end for days reading endless internet things, or go out into the world, confront yourself, ask yourself questions… shell out cash and lots of it.
I post praise when I can. I think it is worth paying good money for good work and building a relationship. If you want a transaction, you’ll get that - but that’s not a relationship.
Try going for an oil change. Ask questions. Listen to what they say. Call them up - do they help over the phone? Take in some parts you need help with - do they help?
Also look for long term results - is it worth it? Do they stand behind their work?
@db4690 that’s fine - I’ll fill in by saying the suggestions I made here helped me make my own decisions pertinent to the Big Question of this thread in my own searches. Might help, might not. Might be important or not. I’m not making any big claims that I’m aware of.
Thanks for new dimension. I did work with mechanic by supplying my own parts. It was for power window repair. I supplied him window regulator. I bought in on-line. He charged for labor.
He moved to different location, so I lost him. He was a reliable mechanic.
I am not sure, whether supplying my own parts work for major repair work. If multiple parts involved, getting matching/right parts could a big challenge.
I’m a fleet mechanic. Sometimes I do sidejobs out of my garage
When I am doing a sidejob, I dictate all terms of the repair. I choose and buy the parts myself.
I would venture to guess that well over 90% of repair shops do not let customers supply their own parts
“How did you address this challenge?”
You’re creating problems where none exist. It’s simple. Your car has a problem. You bring it to a shop and pay for them to diagnose and repair it. That includes finding and buying the parts.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but when the customer supplies his own parts, he’s just messing up the normal way of doing repairs, and doing business, for that matter
it’s the shop’s job to diagnose the customer’s complaint, determine the correct part for your car, locate, purchase and install the parts. And then they verify the repair. That’s what you’re paying them for. Let them do the worrying
If a customer were to supply his own parts, the shop could not offer a warranty on the part, only the labor. If you let the shop supply the parts . . . which you should be doing, anyways . . . they can generally offer a 1 year warranty on parts and labor. That’s not always the case, but it’s quite common
Again, no offense intended, but your way of thinking positively baffles me