My momma told me ya better shop around
So how do you make sure you're getting the best possible price for a repair job? A lazy car owner might end up paying an unnecessarily high price for a job if all he does is leave his car with the first clean garage he finds. You've got to do the footwork. Again, don't just toss the mechanic your keys. Get an estimate on a job and then hit the pavement. Take the estimate away with you and call around to or visit other garages. Get a second opinion, and see if you can get the job done more cheaply somewhere else. But don't stop there. Take your new estimate back to the first guy and see if he'll either match the new price or go even lower.
This is a good policy when shopping for anything, by the way, not just car repairs. Keep in mind, though, that cheapest isn't always best. Use your judgment. If the shop is offering you a rock-bottom price, but you don't trust the look or feel of the place, it may be better to pay a little more for some peace of mind.
It's a tough call: sometimes a mechanic is actually looking out for your best interests, which might include trying to save you money. We're selfless that way... and we'd love to have you come back to our place again, so we want to make sure you're satisfied. But you have to think things through, as well.
The benefit of shopping around
Say you need a timing belt, but on your car the timing belt also drives the water pump. Your mechanic might recommend that you change the water pump and the oil seals along with the belt. You might feel that's unnecessary, mainly because you don't want to pay all that money right now. Think about it, though, because your mechanic just might be right. If all you fix is the belt, and then six months later the water pump goes, you'll end up having the whole job done all over again, which will cost you more in the end. In certain cases it might seem like we're scamming you by trying to get you to fix something that ain't broke. But we might really be trying to save you trouble down the road.
It's sometimes smarter to do a whole job while you're there at the garage, especially if it's only a question of paying for the part, with the bulk of the labor already being done.
Grouping repairs together saves on labor. But you can also try bargaining with your mechanic. Mechanics in some small independent places will do it. If you have a lot of repairs, or a big job, see what happens if you ask for a discount on the parts (mark-up value). You could try to bargain on the labor, too, but start with the parts.
