Mechanics:
1. Hey guys (and ladies), you didn’t want to sit and do ‘boring’ stuff like a book keeper, so keep the customer’s ignorance about driveability, mechanical and electrical issues in perspective; you can’t stay awake long enough to read your entire tax return at one sitting, many people aren’t as passionate about cars as we are.
2. Keep your hands clean when you greet your customer, this is the beginning of mutual respect.
3. If you get a grease spot on the carpet, spend two minutes of your life cleaning it up properly, knowing that the grease spot left behind will never return with that customer.
4. Be honest in your diagnosis. If you aren’t certain, find the right people to assist you in the diagnosis. The last all-knowing, omnipotent mechanic died in 1971. For the rest of us, it does wonders for your reputation when a customer can trust you to find the correct answer by asking some of the right people when we are in a pinch.
5. Driveability issues – many manufacturers offer downloadable forms for the customer to fill out. They ask just about any imaginable question to assist you and your customer in a quick diagnosis.
6. No, the customer isn’t always right when it comes to diagnosing the repair. However, be tactful in this.
Customers:
1. Get to know your mechanic.
2. If you don’t trust your mechanic, find another one. Sometimes, it may be as simple as a personality conflict that sets it off. Love/hate relationships don’t work in this business.
3. Be honest with your mechanic. It is shameful to know just how many times in the past twenty-five years of my career the number of occasions a customer did not tell me what they were doing originally when the issue started. For those that mislead me, they pay the ENTIRE bill.

“Do you want me to do what you want, or do you want me to fix the problem?”

4. Shop supplies and your old parts. Shop supplies are a necessarry evil; however many states and provinces have specific outlines as to what and how much can be charged for. Sometimes, it is a percentage, other times, you must pay for thing in their entirety (like a full can of brake cleaner). Your old parts: if you have doubts about your repair, ask to see the old parts. You bought new ones and the old ones are your property unless you inform the mechanic to throw them out or items have to be returned for core (rebuild at manufacturer).

Check for ASE certification from your mechanic…the more ASE’s the better. Its not a guarantee that he’s going to be a good mechanic, or that he wont screw you over, but its a good indicator that he knows the theory behind your car.

SAE, among other things, helps standardize parts of the industry for the benefit of the mechanic (all manufacturers have to use the same symbols on their schematics so anyone at any shop can read them, and so forth). This is why your oil containers are SAE rated…the SAE standardized exactly what constitutes a 5w30, versus a 0w10 oil, and so forth.

hope ive been some sort of help.

Seems like an honest mistake.

If you’re honestly a concerned consumer, you won’t use this guide. there are a lot of good, honest mechanics out there who have to deal with customers who 1) lack the necessary communication skills to explain the problem fully (like, it only happens during a cold start, or at idle), or 2) “cheap-out” on parts. there are a COUPLE good points you make…but, as customer, i know there are some horrible shops out there, and as a mechanic, i know there are some people out there who are just out to screw a mechanic over.

if you’re in the field, TELL ME that last line isnt true.

Here’s a good tip for everyone that works especially well with motorbikes: if there’s JUST ONE part of the vehicle thats giving you troubles, lets say, the alternator, just take that part out and take that to the mechanic. Of course, that doesn’t really work so much if its a V8 engine or steering column.

Mabye understanding how to fix your mechanical problems is too much beyond you, which is fine. However, learning the basic cause/effect type principles of what makes your car run is a useful base of knowledge to have, and might make a big difference if you break down in a remote area but know enough so that you can hobble it to help.

As an added bonus, your ‘canik won’t have to have another car cluttering up their premesis, gets the job done quicker cutting labour costs, and gives you a bit of their hard earned respect, leading to less attitude and shonkiness (shonkidity, shonkination, shonkophilia, these are all real words).

Jiff
http://www.privacy.de.tc