How did you find/pick your mechanic?

dogememe

dogememe

Joined
Apr 15, 2017
Messages
4,514
Location
Napa, CA.
Excluding those of you that work at/own a shop/dealer, how did you find/pick your mechanic?

When it comes time to do work on the vehicle you can't do in your garage/driveway/the parking lot of the nearest auto parts store, or don't have the time/resources/tool/energy/interest to do yourself, what do you do?

Take it to the dealer? A local independent shop? The nearest chain shop? Do you have a trusted mobile mechanic you call? Or a combination of those?

And if so, how did you decide that? Do you just go to the same local shops your parents did? Or just go on Yelp and find one with good reviews that seemed legit?

I'm curious because it seems so many people I talk to on a daily basis find their mechanics on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace and I find this totally nuts. Although I think overall most people just go to the dealership by default especially with newer cars as it's just "easier".
 
GSCJR said:
This and it worked out very well for me. I called in advance with all the details regarding what I needed and that I had already bought the part.
Click to expand...

Do you find this works for you? Most shops that I know of aren't very receptive to this kind of stuff, especially for new customers that they don't have a relationship with. I think the shop supplying the part is a win-win for both the shop and the customer. For the shop, they get to make a few bucks off the parts markup, for the customer, if the part is wrong/defective/fails under warranty, it's the shop's fault and they have to do the job again for free. In that case the shop can make a labor claim to their supplier.
 
Look at the shop; is it busy? Clean? Tool quality? Are the tools put away? Talk to boss and mechanics; ask about what parts, etc. Are they willing to discuss the work required?

Do the customers look happy? There's a shop near here that I use. I checked them out while having a smog done next door over. Not cheap and always busy. I took my friend's Corolla with a super stuck composite oil filter. Dave backed it onto a lift, jerked it up, grabbed the filter tool and a long 1/2" Snap-On ratchet. Popped it off, put on the new cast metal one I brought and said, "Get outta here." I replied, "No! What am I supposed to do next time I get into trouble?" And plunked down $50 and said, "Buy your team pizza."
 
Sadly the Mechanic that I used Retired, he referred me to another but not feeling it with this guy. :unsure:
 
I do most of my own stuff, but when strapped for time or I need a transmission the guy I use was recommended by word of mouth
 
Like the old guy with bladder issues, it all Depends.

For tires and suspension, including alignments, I go to a Ford dealer that has Hunter equipment, even though none of my cars are Fords

For most other things, BMW or Corvette I go to the BMW or Chevy dealer. For the Corvette, I go to a dealer with a Corvette certified mechanic.

For the Lexus, the closest Lexus dealer is 85 miles away. So I go to a Toyota dealer 20 miles away for simple scheduled maintenance. A Lexus is just a fancy Toyota.
 
Neighbor's recommendations.
Two local men have great businesses.
One was the mechanic who tended the truck I bought from a fellow in town.
This fellow townsman gets around and knows the region well and would be the guy to ask about tradesmen.

NOTE: His shop is next to a fairly large beauty parlor.
Come 4:30, when people begin arriving to pay their bill and take their vehicles, a gal pops over from the beauty parlor to man the desk.
It's nice to see the involvement. A pretty gal, not a bimbo, is a welcome sight at any garage.
It's also nice to see the guys continuing to work instead of processing payments.
Good stuff.

Funny thing about tires is that I had two guys I'd use and recommend.
One of them sold his business to an angry oaf who hires drugged out, cell phone fiddling scarecrow children.
The other took a special order from my brother (I told him my brother would be calling) and when bro arrived he said he didn't need tires. The >$700 worth of tires he had delivered was no problem.
"You might need tires by the end of the Summer", he said. I know good people.
 
Other than tire and alignment work (I don't have the equipment or space for said equipment), I typically do most work myself.

If I have to have work done, I usually go by word of mouth or how long a business has been around. Most businesses don't last very long of they're crooks or have no diag skills. For myself, it's pretty easy to gauge if the place is legit or not. Ask questions but don't ask questions you don't know the answers to. You can tell right away by the answers you get.

Mechanics are like doctors. If you find a good one, why continue to shop around?
 
I asked the neighbors when I moved into my house 20 years ago. They didn't have anything good to say about anyone. I went with the closest one and they've been good. They often downsell me and tell me the tires that I want are too expensive for what you're getting and they have these other tires that are just as good for less money. I took my old RAV4 there with squeaky brakes after I replaced the pads. They said it's not a safety issue. No charge for the inspection. They still squeaked but at least they didn't charge me.
 
Unless there is specialty equipment required, alignments/tires/specific software or is beyond my patience/expertise/tools (automatic transmissions) I do it myself. In my experience there are close to zero percent competent and honest mechanics out there. If the SMA dude lived around here I would use him. I also like the dude from Detroit and his Mopar expertise. A few others come to mind but they aren't around here. Most of them are clowns in person and on thee net. Not qualified to add air to a tire much less anything else.
 
Malo83 said:
Sadly the Mechanic that I used Retired, he referred me to another but not feeling it with this guy. :unsure:
Click to expand...
A lot of these referenced mechanics will not touch my 83 Silverado, my CEL will light up during an extended idle but given a little gas it goes out, truck runs great, word of mouth hasn't found me any mechanic to look at it. Where is Master AutoMechanic.???
:D
 
My next door neighbor is a mechanic and we’ve used him for years when he owned his own shop. He sold his shop last year and went to a local shop just down the road.

Decided I wanted something different so I went on Apple Maps on my phone and found another local shop rated good (Yelp) and I’ve been using them. Couldn’t be happier, they go above and beyond. Honest work and they don’t upsell at all.
 
Malo83 said:
A lot of these referenced mechanics will not touch my 83 Silverado, my CEL will light up during an extended idle but given a little gas it goes out, truck runs great, word of mouth hasn't found me any mechanic to look at it. Where is Master AutoMechanic.???
:D
Click to expand...
He is probably buying more tools :)
 
I found my current mechanic prone under a red 1970s' Alfa Romeo Round Tail Spider. That was about 12 years ago. A neighbor had recommended him.
 
Last edited:
I have a local shop that I have been dealing with for over 20 years. I use them for the things I am not interested in doing. They only screwed up once in 20 years so I suppose that is not too bad. I correctly diagnosed a bad alternator on my pickup. Took it to them and plainly told them to replace the alternator. When I picked it up they said it was a bad battery and they replaced such. I was not happy. Back two days later with a bad alternator.
 
Lowest rates coupled to excellent work. Both cases are one man show who is slow to respond to appointment inquiry and only uses phone end of day or if vehicle in shop.

Very busy places.
 
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