Some Hard Facts You Need to Swallow When You Bring Your Car to a Shop

Auto repair rip-offs are becoming more common these days in the auto repair industry. Other than this, repair rates are also getting higher. There are things, however, which you may find hard to accept but are actually acceptable trends that have developed in the said industry over the years. There are also certain truths about rip-offs that may sting, but are worth considering. Take a look at these:

1. When you bring your car to a shop for repair, you don’t actually pay just for the repair. In reality, the total amount that you pay does not cover the labor and parts alone. For one, there’s tax. Added to this, the fact is that a portion of your payment is also for shop tools, another portion is for the operating maintenance of the shop, and so on and so forth.

2. When you pay for a certain task, you don’t pay for the actual number of hours consumed to do the work; you pay for the projected number of hours for that work. This is the case with many shops. For every kind of task, the car manufacturer estimates the number of hours needed to accomplish the said task. And, it is in that on which many mechanics rely. For instance, if the manufacturer of your car says that replacing its alternator can be done for a couple of hours, the mechanic will charge labor for two hours, even if he was able to finish the task in less than that amount of time.

3. If you’ve been ripped off, you’re part of the blame. This may sound cruel, but in most cases this is true—you have a teeny tiny bit of percentage of blame for what happened. In the first place, you should know enough to watch out for things like rip-offs. You should familiarize yourself with your vehicle. And you must shop for a trusted shop. But whatever your mistake here, you can rectify by complaining about the shop who did the rip off. That’s the first step.