Test Driving Before and After an Auto Repair

When you bring your car into a shop for repair, there are instances when test driving is crucial before and after the repair. Why?

If a problem that you’re experiencing in your drive only occurs in certain conditions when you drive, such as the occurrence of abnormal noise when cornering, and you cannot specifically describe the problem, it is better that you test drive your car with the mechanic present so that he himself can experience and observe the problem. This is crucial to easily diagnose the problem and to promptly provide the needed fix.

You need to pay proper attention to your car, sound and feel, when doing the test drive to get accuracy in the results of your observation,

After a repair, you might also need to test drive your vehicle to see whether the problem is already gone. This is especially important if you have the occurrence of a problem like mentioned above. Test driving is crucial to ensure that the symptom (like a noise) is already gone. Test driving is also especially important if you have a suspension job done. Only by test driving can you determine whether the job done is correct and whether there is no strange feel in your drive. You must also see to it that there is no problem with handling and steering—these are very crucial aspects of your drive and a problem with these systems could mean danger.

Most shops will allow you to do a test drive after the repair. You may have the mechanic accompany you so that you can discuss remaining problems should anything else occur. Other than test driving, there are still other after-repair inspection guidelines that you need to follow to ensure that all will be well with your newly repaired car. We’ll discuss these in one of the posts next week.