Top Tips for Finding a Trustworthy Garage
Ellie Dyer-Brown, 2 months ago
5 min read
- Car ownership
- Repairs
- Maintenance
WhoCanFixMyCar offers advice about how to find a trustworthy garage.
For every bad garage, there are many other brilliant ones with honest mechanics trying to get your car back on the road.
At WhoCanFixMyCar, we believe that the best garages deserve more work, and we want to help you find them - this guide contains our top tips.
Contents
2. Check accreditations and awards
1. Read customer reviews
Reading customer reviews is one of the best ways to get a feel for a garage's trustworthiness and reliability, and we'd always recommend doing it before booking.
Many mechanics rely on reputation and word of mouth to generate business. If somebody you trust tells you to avoid a garage, you probably will. Likewise, if you see many drivers leaving negative reviews, this is a bad sign. You can also see how garages communicate with customers by reading any replies they have left.
2. Check accreditations and awards
There are many accreditations garages can get to demonstrate their reliability and the quality of their work. Examples include the Good Garage Scheme and the RAC Approved Garage Network. Mechanics often display these accreditations on their website and in the workshop, giving customers extra confidence.
In addition to checking for accreditations, you could also look for garages that have won awards. The WhoCanFixMyCar Garage Awards, for instance, celebrate high-performing garages and mechanics across the country.
3. Research average prices
Before you contact a garage or request a quote, spend some time researching how much you can expect to pay for the type of job you think needs doing. WhoCanFixMyCar has plenty of price guides to help you understand the costs involved in car repairs and maintenance.
Once you've got a rough idea of the price for a particular repair, you can use this information to work out whether a garage quote is reasonable.
However, if you get a quote that you think is too high, it's worth asking the mechanic who provided it for a price break down. It might turn out that the required work is slightly different to what you thought or the problem might be more complex. It's up to you to judge whether you think the explanation is reasonable.
4. Follow your instincts
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Follow your gut feeling - if a mechanic tells you they can do a clutch replacement for £200 even though the average price for this type of job is usually much higher, there's probably something dodgy going on.
Saving money is important, but at the end of the day, you also want your car to be in safe hands and the work to be done correctly.
5. Ask questions
When you take your car to a mechanic, it’s vital that you understand what's included in the repair. Make sure to ask plenty of questions so you know how long it should take and what costs will be involved.
The more you understand about the work a mechanic does, the more comfortable you’ll be, and if the mechanic is willing to discuss everything, you can probably trust them to do an honest job.
6. Find out which parts they’re using
When your car needs a replacement part, the mechanic may use an original equipment component recommended by the manufacturer or a different brand entirely, which can alter the repair's overall price. It's worth asking the mechanic what spare parts they tend to use and whether there are other options you could consider.
7. Use WhoCanFixMyCar
WhoCanFixMyCar allows you to compare garages based on price, location and reviews. You can request quotes without ever having to pick up the phone, and if you have questions, you can chat to mechanics online using our messaging service.
Keep an eye out for garages with special badges reflecting their commitment to excellent customer service.
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Written by Ellie
Ellie is WhoCanFixMyCar’s Content Writer. She has a BA in English literature from Durham University, a master’s degree in creative writing, and three years of experience writing in the automotive industry. She currently drives a Suzuki Swift.