I have been researching auto repair estimates as I prepare for our class about to start. I’ve noticed a lot of articles pop up advising people how to negotiate with repair shops. I am not sure who these people are, but their advice it not very good in my opinion. I’ve read articles informing readers not to trust the repair shops and do not tell them anything. Anything you tell them is going to trap the customer into buying more un-needed repairs. I’ve also read that the customer needs to question the shop about every repair item to determine if the repair really needs to made or if it can wait. The articles go on to say to wait on every repair until absolutely needed. It goes on and on about how shady repair shops are and how you can not trust them.

Here is my input. If this was your life….let’s say a heart bypass, how would you handle this? Would you not tell the doctor anything in fear that you may be charged more? Or would you tell him or her everything in hopes that they find the problem and properly diagnose you so you can recover from the operation safely and healthy? I’m thinking that you want to recover from the operation. We need to think of our vehicle the same way. We need to communicate with the repair shop so they have all of the necessary information to properly repair your vehicle. You may be thinking “why is he comparing my life to a car? We all know the life of a human is more important than a car.” That is my point, according to the US Federal Government National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as stated on caraccidents.com in 2005 there were nearly 6,440,000 auto accidents with a financial cost of more than 230 billion dollars. More importantly, 2.9 million people were injured and 42,636 people were killed. That averages 115 people who die per day, which is one every 13 minutes. My point; I don’t think that many people die going to the doctor everyday. Not only does an unsafe vehicle put the driver at risk, you’re also putting other people at risk too. No one else is going to die because you picked the cheapest surgeon or did not give them enough information to make a proper diagnosis.

Therefore, I suggest selecting shops that have a good reputation and allow them to do what they do best, which is repair your car. This is my perspective of of vehicle repairs and I encourage you not to listen to these folks out there trying to give advice about shady repair shops. You need to see us for the professionals that we are…..literally, your life is in our hands.