I have had many friends tell me that they have been burned when it comes to auto repair. There are a lot of honest people out
there, but there are also some who will take advantage of you if they think you have no idea about what might be wrong with
your vehicle. If they sense you don’t know a carburetor from a spark plug, they may try to take advantage of you, and you may
never know the difference. This is why you need to find a good shop for auto repair and then use them every time something is
wrong with your vehicle.
I am lucky because I have a cousin who owns a garage. I know he is going to be honest with me, and he even gives me a break
on some of my repair bills. Not everyone is this lucky, however, and if you have no idea what is going on under the hood of
your car, you have no idea if you are being ripped off, or if someone is telling you that you need repairs that you don’t
really need.
If you have no idea, and truly feel like a dunderhead, ask friends and relatives where they go and who they trust. Unless you
live in the middle of a large city, chances are good that almost everyone you know uses a car or a truck. They may be very
happy to recommend someone for auto repair who they trust and go to every time they need something. You might also ask around
at work, and if your company has it’s own fleet of automobiles, you can use the same company for auto repair that they do.
If you still don’t know what to do, and something goes wrong with your car, take it in and ask for an estimate. Tell them to
give you a price on auto repair, but don’t let them do anything until you
have been told what is wrong, and how much it might cost. An estimate should be close to what you will be billed. If you are
happy with what you hear, tell them to go ahead with the auto repair, but tell them they can only do what they have told you
in the estimate. If something else pops up, they should call you before they touch it. If they do it on their own, you have
every right to be suspicious.