I, uncle jim, am an ‘in-the-shop’ working and managing partner in an automotive specialty repair shop. I am commenting here on this my blog as an addendum, if you will, to a series of posts at http://adorotedevote.blogspot.com/ by the writer of that blog. You may go to that site and read the whole piece.
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Myth #1 -
Women get "taken" every time they go to a shop because they don't know anything about cars, and the shops know this so they take advantage.
IF the individual shop is one who tries to take advantage of people, they will TRY to take advantage no matter whether it is a man or a woman. IF there are more women who are less knowledgeable or are less able to project an air of self-confidence in the conversation than men, then more women will be taken advantage of than men.
Myth #2 –
If a man handles a dispute with the insurance company or repair shop, it will be resolved.
Myth #3 –
Insurance companies are out to screw everybody.
Myth #4 –
Repair shops are out to screw everybody.
Also read item #3 above. Additionally, where I work, we do sometimes see and hear horror stories about issues customers have with another repair facility. We can only give our opinion as to the needed repairs and our pricing, and have often times saved the people a bundle of money over what the other guy diagnosed and quoted. Sometimes, there are those who try to take advantage … see #3 above. Word of mouth referrals go a long way. Ask a friend who they trust. Most of our first time customers come by word-of-mouth referrals.
Myth #5 –
Men have no respect for the capacity of women to understand mechanical things
If my car has a warranty, I have to get it fixed at the dealership.
Myth #7 –
What about aftermarket parts? Used parts? Remanufactured parts?
MY VIEW of the reality - [which concurs greatly with Adoro – see her post of
Additionally, there are actually some aftermarket parts that exceed the quality of the OEM part. Some specific parts become known in the repair industry as being deficient in design. The result is that some aftermarket company then ‘builds a better mousetrap’. Savvy repair shops use these parts whenever they can.
I will continue to follow additional posts on these topics at Adoro Te Devote’s blog and I will comment appropriately when I can.
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1 comment:
Uncle Jim, we are SO on the same page. Thanks for your clarifications and some of the issues you brought up....like the warranty contracts.
One thing I'm going to have to bring up, too, is the issue of "estimates". 5 people can look at the same car and write 5 different sheets.
Another post for another day...
:-)
You'd be great to work with.
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