When you’re new to an area, part of the settling in process is finding new restaurants, shopping, and service providers to keep your life running smoothly. Landscapers, salons, pet groomers, and auto mechanics are some of the top needs in a new place. Googling “mechanic near me” will offer up sponsored ads of local businesses as well as search-assist options like Yelp, TechNet Professional, Better Business Bureau, and Automobile Club of America.
If you’ve got a newer car with everything under warranty, you may only want to find the closest dealership mechanic near me. But if you’re starting from scratch in a brand-new area or your favorite mechanic has moved or gone out of business, it’s going to take a bit more research to find your new mechanic. Here are some search tips to organize and simplify your search.
Tip One: Find a mechanic before you need one
Your car or truck is one of the biggest investments you’ll make so you don’t want to have to settle for just anyone if you need an emergency repair. Do your homework so you’re ready when routine maintenance rolls around or you suddenly need replacement parts or collision repair. You’ll want to be confident your mechanic near me will work with you around acquiring parts and communicating about any repair needs.
Tip Two: Get word-of-mouth referrals from friends
Start with the most obvious source of information—talk to family, friends, new neighbors, and co-workers for recommendations of local mechanics. Most people are happy to share a business they’ve had good service with and even happier to let you know of bad experiences and who you should avoid. If you drive a specialty-type luxury or sports car, talk to owners of your same make and model to find automotive specialists that cater to classic cars, muscle cars, exotic, European, and Asian models.
Tip Three: Check out the business websites
Check out the interesting recommendations online by looking at their websites. You can get a good feel for the services they offer, how they book appointments, contact information, whether they do diagnostic testing, automotive products they carry, whether their technicians are certified, and what specialized equipment they use. Website information alone may eliminate some auto shop options that don’t have all you’re looking for, such as warranties on products and labor, written estimates, free inspections, or if they offer loaner cars for long-term repairs.
Tip Four: Read multiple online reviews
While a website can be informative, as a potential customer you want to know beyond the facts to how actual customers perceive the business. Customer reviews will tell you how well the business performs their promised services and how they stand by their work and their warranty. This goes for auto dealerships as well as independent auto shops. Take note that all dealerships are not created equal and although the same brand of vehicle, the level of service can vary location to location.
Third-party reviewers like Consumer Reports Car Repair Assistant, the Mechanics Files at Cartalk.com, AAA’s Approved Auto Repair (AAR) network, and the Better Business Bureau for accredited garages in your area can be a starting point. Then, getting down to where the rubber really meets the road, check reviews for mechanics near me on Google, Facebook, and Yelp for first-person reviews of actual experiences with local auto shops. And while online reviews are often touted as unreliable, with Google, Facebook, and Yelp the business owner can respond to reviews and report fake, malicious, or inappropriate posts, but they cannot go in and delete or change customer reviews.
· Reviews generally address the quality of work, fair pricing, trustworthiness of the professionals, and level of customer service.
· Read enough reviews to be confident in your decision, including the good, the bad and the ugly reviews. (No business is perfect.)
· Current reviews are better than months- or years-old reviews, so if there are no fresh reviews you might want to question why.
· On average, consumers spend approximately 14 minutes researching and reading at least 10 reviews before trusting a business.
Tip Five: Visit the business location
As a final step, pay a visit to the business to give it a once-over. Evaluate the surroundings. Auto work is dirty and messy, but a shop that is in total disarray and filthy may be a red flag that it’s not up to speed. Is there modern equipment and an air of professionalism? Are the techs courteous to each other and to the customers? Would you feel comfortable leaving your car or truck with them?
You and your “mechanic near me”
Once you’ve found a reliable mechanic, you can relax about your vehicle’s maintenance and repair needs from routine oil changes to collision repair and engine and transmission replacements. Having a ready solution to anything that comes up is half the battle to getting it taken care of. LKQ Online works with hundreds of independent mechanics and auto repair shops, distributing new aftermarket replacement parts, genuine OEM used auto parts, refurbished, and remanufactured auto parts for most makes and models of cars, passenger trucks, and SUVs. LKQ’s OEM used auto parts can save money on repairs without sacrificing quality and reliability. Shop by year, make, and model for guaranteed fit auto parts, shipped directly to you or your mechanic. Trust LKQ Online for quality, industry-leading warranties, best pricing, and fast shipping whenever you need auto repair.