How to avoid being cheated at a car service?

Sooner or later, every driver faces a more or less serious car malfunction that can only be fixed by a specialist. A visit to a repair shop can hit your wallet pretty hard, especially if the repair contractor decides to deal with us unfairly and tries to make more money from you than they should. How can you protect yourself and your money from such situations?

Preparing a list of works

Before a specialist starts repairing a car, it is necessary to accurately diagnose the problem – connect a diagnostic computer to read data from the internal systems of the car, “look under the hood” and find out the exact “diagnosis”. Even if you are absolutely sure that something is wrong with your car, the mechanic must personally confirm our hypothesis. The next step is to conclude an agreement between the customer and the contractor, i.e. you and the workshop performing the repair. The role of such a document is usually performed by a repair order, which contains information about the scope of the necessary manipulations, the expected total cost of service and the date of completion of the order.

To prevent any misunderstandings, you cannot leave the car in the workshop without receiving a document confirming its acceptance for repair. The order is also a kind of guarantee, according to which you can demand the correction of poorly rendered services.

Cost of repairs

As already mentioned, the repair costs must be calculated by the mechanic and recorded in the repair order before you leave the car in the service. Of course, there are unforeseen situations that can lead to an increase in costs – for example, problems with purchasing spare parts at a fixed price may arise and you will have to buy them more expensively. Remember that you must be informed of any such change and the costs must be increased only if you have expressed your consent.

Damage to the car during repairs

It may happen that when you accept the car, you notice new damage on the car – for example, scratches or dents. This is a rather unpleasant situation, because in practice it is difficult to prove that this damage was not there when we left the car at the service. To prevent such situations, you can insist on drawing up a report on the condition of the car before the repair, the protocol of which will take into account all visible defects. A few photos of the car taken at the time of concluding the contract for the work will not hurt either.

Test drive

Before paying for repairs, you must make sure that the service has fulfilled the contract. To do this, you should take a test drive with a mechanic. Only after confirming that the car is working properly, pay the repair bill.

Use the services of authorized services

Many drivers avoid authorized car services because the repair costs there are significantly higher than in regular workshops. However, behind the high price there is also good quality and a high level of customer service. This is because in order to receive brand authorization, their services must meet strict requirements for service quality and reliability.