What Questions Help You Find the Right Repair Shop?
I doubt I’m making a bold statement when I suggest that finding a repair shop for your vehicle can be challenging. Some places are far too pricey for the work they perform, while others don’t appreciate customers who see vehicles as more than just mere transportation. This holds true for a classic car, a vintage truck, or even for a cherished daily driver, and readers of this website certainly care to this extent, and want someone who will treat them with the respect they deserve.
Unfortunately we ourselves can’t fix everything that fails on classic and modern vehicles. Finding a shop that we can trust for repairs is paramount. It’s an easier task when we know the right questions to ask—those that will separate the wheat from the chaff. So let’s ask the Hagerty Community how they find someone who can do quality work, perform it at a fair price, and be reasonably accommodating to your schedule. I will add one question to start things off:
Can I buy my own parts?
This is a delicate question for any repair shop for two reasons. The first is the notion that mark up on replacement parts is a significant source of revenue, so someone who brings in their own bits is not the ideal customer. And asking this question can therefore quickly eliminate potential repair shops from your list.
The other, less nefarious reason this question is a concern is because the shop must then trust the customer’s judgment. That’s not easy, as the customer must provide items that both fit, and are good quality. Just because you can get something for cheap at Rock Auto, Amazon, eBay, etc. doesn’t mean it’s the right part for your vehicle. (And you must know that a running production change can affect what parts fit on your specific vehicle.) Mistakes are inevitable, but brands with poor reputations often lead to poor quality parts that fail after a few months on the road.
But if you know what you’re doing, you make the shop’s job easier: they can focus on fixing cars and not waiting for parts. This is especially true if your vehicle is notoriously hard to procure replacement parts, and therefore makes this a win-win for both parties.
Personally speaking, I can find New-Old-Stock parts for my fleet of oddball Lincolns at a fraction of the original asking price on places like eBay. I know what to look for and rarely give my preferred repair shop bad parts and incorrect guidance. But even if I didn’t have this experience (or I am too busy to hunt for bits) the mere fact my shop is receptive to my needs adds a level of trust you cannot have with a shop that refuses to accept parts from the customer.
If the shop and the customer are a good match, the mutual satisfaction of both parties might lead to a loyal customer that refers valuable people to the business in the future. But this is only one of many questions to ask, so now let’s hear from the Hagerty Community:
What questions do you ask to find the right repair shop for your vehicle?
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“Is it attached to my house?”
Here is the problem if you supply the parts. Most people Screw It Up. They often get a wrong part or a poor quality part and most shops don’t have time to play games with a car apart on the rack because the new parts are wrong and it is not their fault. It is a money loser for them.
Second they will charge you more as some will give labor breaks and make it up on list price of the parts. You do not save a thing in the end at they will charge you more labor.
Only in the case of a rare or NA part that you may have saved NOS in the box does it make sense for a shop to use your parts.
I get calls all the time where someone will say order a clutch or such and find they ordered the wrong one. The shop then charges them for their car sitting on a rack waiting for the correct parts. Often the customer has to pay Over night charges to get the part faster.
The best way for a bad relationship with a business is to bring your own parts and not get them right.
I think that this might actually be how you (expensively!) learn that your shop is a good one. If you bring them parts which are incorrect, do they kindly and timely let you know of your mistake and offer a straight forward and reasonable resolution? Or are they jerks about it?
Definitely not an ideal situation for either party, but often the strongest positive emotions about a product or service come from first having a disappointment.
The deal is if you screw up you can cost them money tying up equipment. Even if you order a part on the web and it is wrong as often happens on E may.
They have every right to dock you something.
This is often why most shops rely on their own parts.
Also based on quality fit and warranty. They make the call so if it goes south they take responsibility for it. This leads to better relations vs telling the customer his parts were crap and it is his fault.
Generally you are not going to save much money. Even with your parts they will add labor cost since they are not making money on parts.
Now if this was a restoration shop they may cut you a break. With my shop it is a Friend and he know I will get the right part and I get them cheaper than he dose. But if it is not a performance part I just let him put the parts on he has and not play any games.
Showing up at a national retail shop is also like going to Lonestar Steak and bringing your own T bone. Not a classy move.
Where I used to work often we would have people come in with cars apart as they got in over their head. We finished a few of these jobs but too often the parts were missing, broken bolts and they did not want to pay the true labor to do the work to fix it. So we just got to where if the job was started we passed. We had other jobs to do that we could make more money on and get done vs cleaning up a mess that a guy was not happy with the price on it.
The best way to find a good shop is word of mouth in the auto community. I had to find a good local Body Shop this winter of wifes car. I did not want to work with a nation chain.
Many local shops were bought up by national chains and they are rush it in and out type of shops that make insurance companies happy. [Sorry}.
But with some research I found a shop here that is independent and has been around for 60 years. They had the latest equipment and the work space was like a clean room.
They also were a reasonable price.
I have one shop I use for my play cars. He is getting older and I use him for side jobs for me but I now have a shop I feel I can rely on for quality work.
I asked a couple people at work and they were ex body shop guys who I could trust and they filled in the blank.
Is the person who owns the shop playing a large role in the day to day operations of the shop? Are they a mechanic or at least the person you directly interact with on the phone and in person? This seems to narrow down any service job to a small group where I’ve had good success hiring out work, for my cars and otherwise in life.
Yep, one family since 1935.I have been a customer since the mid 70’s
My favorite shops are ones who will let me pay them for diagnostics and do the repair myself. The photo of the tie rods and drag link above are from when I took my Corvair to the alignment shop before a 2000-mile road trip. The tech called me before lunch saying it wasn’t worth aligning because there was a lot of play, which I could totally believe. He had no problem with me picking the car up that afternoon, doing the work, and scheduling an appointment for the alignment in a week or two. Honest and respectful. All around a great business.
Word-of-mouth and public reviews are usually the best.
Why? Because it’s only the Customers whose opinions matter.
Even though I’d believed I had trustworthy shops, I twice had to part ways, (one deserved legal proceeding.)
“Once bitten, twice shy; twice bitten, just afraid.”
Today, I still don’t have a shop that I feel I can trust entirely.
It’s like having a nail salon treat a shoulder problem.
My experience comes largely from where to buy the right parts. There is no right place to buy parts, only the right person behind the counter on any given day.
If you are linked in with the car community (and maybe especially with those folks who have cars similar to yours), you have the best reference material available. Yes, someone needed to be first to try a shop out, but unless your taste in autos run towards brand new stuff, it’s likely that there are plenty of others out there who have “been there – done that” and will share their experiences with you. I have found that my circle of friends and acquaintances know just about every local business and have some input on whether or not to use them. One just needs to ask around!