The latest survey from AAA suggests that two-thirds of US drivers don’t trust their auto repair shop.
They feel that they recommend unnecessary services, overcharge for them, and deliver a bad experience and shoddy work. All of which leads to a lack of confidence.
The survey also showed that 64% of drivers were singling out a particular auto repair shop that they didn’t trust, which would suggest that they value finding a trustworthy mechanic in an industry that comes with a lack of trust.
It can be stressful to have your vehicle repaired and maintained and the best way to reduce this stress is to find a repair shop that you can really trust. Unfortunately around a third of American drivers don’t have a repair facility that they can trust and are left in the cold if something goes wrong.
Given how much data on vehicle health the modern car collects it’s never been so important to have a trusted repair facility. These “connected cars” that come with technology built in that can diagnose and alert drivers to problems give repair shops the information they need to quickly correct a problem. As a result people are concerned about their data security and so they would like to leave their vehicle data with a repair shop that they can really trust.
There were some other interesting finds in the survey including:
- Older drivers trust auto-repair shops more than their younger counterparts
- Baby Boomers are up to twice as likely to trust their auto repair shop than younger generations; one-fifth of Boomers said that they had complete trust in the auto-repair industry
- 76% of Baby Boomers had an auto repair shop that they trusted compared to 55% of Millennials and 56% of Gen-Xers.
AAA had the following advice for anyone trying to find a trustworthy auto repair shop:
- Find a repair shop before you need one
- Do some research on the repair shops around you and find out more about how long they’ve been around. Lasting a long time is an indication of quality. You should also look at how they handle complaints. Find out more about any repair shop through the Better Business Bureau, the State Department of Consumer Affairs, or the office of the attorney general.
- Take your car into the repair shop for a small job first, such as changing the oil or rotating the tires. While you wait have a look around and talk to the staff. Find out about any credentials, amenities, and warranty for parts and labour. If you’re pleased with the service then you can stay with the auto-repair shop. When you choose a repair shop you want to build up a relationship with your technician to give them an understanding of yourself and your vehicle.