Auto Repair Customer Do’s and Dont’s

After writing my last article, I had some thoughts on some other things that the everyday dealership customer should know. When you bring your car into a dealership for repair, their goal is to make you happy. Fixing your car properly, being friendly towards you, and just making your experience there a pleasant one. Everyone at the dealership is there to service the customer. What you should be thinking as a customer, is really the same thing towards the dealership and it’s employees.

A great guideline to go by is “Arrive happy, and leave happy”. The service personnel should greet you and be willing to hear what problems you’re having with your vehicle. The best way to get great service is to be just as nice as they are to you, to them. That will make the service visit go a lot smoother! I know there are times where you’ve had to bring the car back for a repeat problem, or something else when wrong with your car. That does frustrate, but try to realize that the service department does want to help you and make you happy.

Another thing that works wonders, and almost always guarantees a superb repair to your vehicle, is to actually talk to the mechanic. Treat the mechanic right, and he will certainly treat your vehicle right. One of the worst things you can do, is come into the shop being a complainer, or angry, and take that out on the technician. If you’re extremely picky, or always having the same problems, or tend to yell or get angry about your repairs, you will always be recognized when you come in. That will lead to the mechanics scrambling to get away from anything to do with your vehicle. And the unlucky one that has to end up fixing it will have a bad attitude towards it and you won’t get the best performance out of them.

Have some consideration for that being our job, and when customers make it difficult, no one ends up happy.

Things like brake jobs, tune ups, and fluid flushes are the prime money making jobs techs love to do all day. If you have a problematic car, that always ends up as trouble for the tech, consider patting him on the back. Let him know you appreciate his effort to solve your problems. Even better, throw him a bone by purchasing other recommended services.

Remember, a happy technician will always do a better job on your car!