Recommendations for auto service center

Would you not want to be told if there was something wrong with your car? Is there no other reason for a “needs repair” list than an attempt to scam you? Perhaps, just perhaps your car really does need the extra work.

Try visiting some parts vendors in your city and ask the counter guys for some recommendations. They will have dealt with the local repair shops and may have had their vehicles repaired by some of them. The parts vendors in the city where I repaired cars for a living used to have their delivery vehicles repaired and maintained by the local shops. They would pretty much let everyone in town have a crack at working on their delivery vehicles, probably to gauge the shop’s ability to do a good job so they could recommend them to customers in good conscience. In the time I was repairing cars for a living, I did a brake job on a CarQuest delivery truck and did some brake and chassis work on the personal vehicle of the manager of one of the Advance Auto Parts stores in my city. In both cases, they said they were pleased and would recommend us to their customers.

Well, that’s what I am confused about. The last time I brought my car to the Mazda dealership for just an oil change, I ended up paying over $1700 for maintenance work that they said I needed. I am absolutely unknowledgeable when it comes to cars and I had no idea if I really needed all that work or they were just scamming me. I consider myself an intelligent enough person when it comes to most things and I have a pretty good feel when it comes to a person being honest or not. But when it comes to cars and mechanics, I am completely clueless.