I am trying to not service my car to dealer anymore.
But I have no trusted local mechanic. Any idea how to find them?
Should we trust google review? Or any specialised forum / review site about it?
I am in melbourne eastern suburb
I have a feeling that most mechanic try to rip us off when we dont know much about car.
Thanks
Doubt it..money grabbing.
Or maybe you should read your post before putting your index finger to work
Which stealership do you work at?
Too bad you don’t know how to change your oil so you come to me?
No, I can work on my car and have taken it in a few times due to lack of time. Can confirm mechanics are rip off artists and should not be trusted. I'm sure only 0.01% exist that are honest. The jobs they charge for, knowing how long it takes and how much the parts cost is criminal.
It's all hit and miss really. Just because X mechanic provided a good service to someone doesn't mean you will have the same feeling. Also vice versa, just because someone complained about a mechanic's service, doesn't mean you would too. People tend to be far more vocal when unhappy in reviews.
Pick a reputable local one with street presence and on balance decent reviews. They'll always have some detractor so balance it out. Maybe a place that specialises in your specific make/model.
I don't believe most mechanics are trying to rip people off.
yea i reckon same its a kinda a hit and miss,
have experienced a few from groupon, and only followed up with genuine ones, ditched the scummy ones.
Even stuff like RAA wont do much, (not in our case)
I come from a family of mechanics they're like everyone, sometimes they screw up, sometimes they don't diagnose the problem properly, they treat different people differently (my grandpa could rebuild a ford with his eyes closed, but being an old racist rarely touched a Japanese car), sometimes they'll do unnecessary work because it's a quiet week and it'll all need doing eventually
Upselling is a thing in every industry, it's just that with cars a lot of people don't even understand what they're being upsold. I'm sure JB hifi employees aren't out to rip people off but they'll still sell an overpriced HDMI cable. If a mechanic goes "we should change the air filters/spark plugs/etc" and you say yes, that's on you, not them.
Important part is to get quotes, trust your instincts and get second opinions and know enough about cars to question why they charged you for blinker fluid.
you say yes, that's on you, not them.
But that’s the whole point in someone looking for a mechanic that they can trust.
Unlike you, who I am sure because of your immediate environment would know some basics about an engine, so you are equipped to have some educated scepticism towards what a mechanic might tell you.
A lot of people like me, we don’t.
Btw there are some genuinely ethical people in the industry who might charge more for a basic oil change/servicing etc than the average joint but they would never recommend you things that you don’t need.
And I promise you, places like these don’t really have ‘slow weeks’. Because they are able to retain their customers and grow via word of mouth.
You apparently don't know anything about cars yet know a lot about mechanics?
I referred to the fact that good ethical mechanic shops are able to retain their customers and generally do well. This wasn’t mean as an absolute but a generalised statement.
If you want to use exceptions to prove/disprove a rule, okay 🤷♂️.
don't get how there are ethical people charging too much
I said they charge ‘more’, you are now implying ‘too much’ to make it sound more extreme and dramatic.
Why do you feel the need to do that ? This is a discussion, not an argument.
And to respond to your point, maybe they do that to offset the lack of all that unnecessary ‘upselling’ that you were alluding to earlier.
I'm not talking recommending you replace the engine because the flux capacitor is low, but regular maintenance that has to be done anyway, i.e.
Good point but what my mechanic used to do in situations like that was : He would tell me that a part needs replacing within the next 2000-3000 kms or something. And he would just honestly lay all my options out there rather than just telling me that there’s ‘important stuff’ that needs replacing right now/today and the only two options I have is to say yes/no.
Btw I wasn’t challenging your viewpoints or anything. You probably know more on this subject than I do. I was only sharing my personal viewpoints on it.
So chill out.
No way - "that's on you" is ethical business practise; that's kind of like the elder pensioners paying for a $250 HDMI cable which was sold to them as a"must have". It would go as far as being dishonest…
What about treating people how you would like to be treated? Imagine your dentist having the same sentiment?
Why should the "slow week" cause a customer to pay more? Perhaps the noted attitude and practices are the reason for a lack of customers?
Shitty thinking…
If a mechanic goes "we should change the air filters/spark plugs/etc" and you say yes, that's on you, not them.
I do not agree with this at all, as the professional you depend on their "professional" opinion
If they tell you you need new air filters and spark plugs or etc, then they are making practical decision on your behalf, if they are lying to you, then they are scamming you pure and simple.
You shouldn't need to be a mechanic yourself to be able to spot when the mechanic is trying to screw you over. In any other industry you would lose your license and not be able to practice if you did this, there is simply very little oversight in the industry.
If a mechanic goes "we should change the air filters/spark plugs/etc" and you say yes, that's on you, not them.
This is literally why we need to find reputable and trustworthy mechanics. No offence but “coming from a family of mechanics”, the attitude and view in this post only strengthens the point of the OP that it’s hard to find honest mechanics.
Should we trust google review?
The number reviews imo should be > 100, to give it some weight imo.
Not if they threaten your 1 star review!
You have to start somewhere, so why not Google reviews and a numbers game
I think looking for a consistently busy but clean workshop shows return clientele and respect for workplace which leads me to believe a level of professionalism
It’s what I would like in a mechanic
positive google reviews for 5$ a pop on airtasker.
Yeah. Having > 100 reviews would make me suss. Would have to be a long running very large shop to have 100 reviews.
Word of mouth is good.
As mentioned Google reviews can be accurate too if there are plenty of reviews.
What car do you wish to service and perhaps I can give you a place on where to start looking?
In any case, always get a quote before you book it in and then confirm via email.
It’s not just the number of reviews that I look at, it’s the people leaving the reviews.
If there’s a lot of reviewers with 1 review, I’ll tend to call BS on a lot of them.
But I have no trusted local mechanic. Any idea how to find them?
Ask your local facebook community group for recommendations…
Best idea! I joined my car brand Australia group. The community is really helpful.
Search: brand name Owner Australia, "brand name & model name" on Facebook Groups.
As an example:
BMW Owner Australia
X3 Owner Australia
I am in melbourne eastern suburb
Which suburb?
Eastern - it's at the top of Doncaster road
Dafuq ?
Should we trust google review?
If you've been keeping up with the latest buzz on forums I would say NO.
Looks like RHC solicitors has been paying for fake bots to give them 5 star reviews, check their recent history, a bunch of accounts with only 1 review all in the past 5 hours
Hit and miss but you need to go through a few to find a good one.
Bring your car in for a normal service - but also mention when you drive you hear a weird squeaking noise when you break even though your brakes are fine, if they test it and say they can't find anything wrong - trustworthy.
If they say you need new brakes or some kind of brake service - dodgy.
Ingenious
I’d hate for an honest mechanic get caught out on this when they are just trying to be helpful in trying to diagnose it. They might see an issue (or a potential for one) that they wouldn’t have mentioned, but in trying to be helpful to a customer, think that must be the cause of said squeaking.
Edit: I never had luck with finding a good mechanic. So much so I learnt do all my own servicing for about 10 years ago. Cars are expensive but I have saved a small fortune by buying a good used car and working on it myself. I started by doing oil changes and just a few weeks ago replaced the turbocharger.
A few years ago I was super proud of myself when I replaced a starter motor which was in a quite tricky position. Torqued everything to spec. A couple of months later some muppet ran a red and wrote it off!!! Grrr.
I approach google reviews with caution. They are quite easy to manipulate (buying positives, threatening negative reviews etc)
I much prefer word of mouth, preferably from a trusted friend, the sort of friend that knows a bit about cars is a good guide. Just got to be careful about know it all friends.
100% this, I've heard of plenty of examples of people going to local mechanics that had very high google reviews only to realise that they offer 10/20% off the next service if you give them a positive review and threaten legal action for negative ones.
Honestly a honest mechanic doesn’t exist.
Wrong. These guys are hugely honest and reliable.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=autotech+…
You know anyone in Vic ?
I don't unfortunately.
Your opinion, But then your prison tats probably scare give them the nod your are a criminal and they treat you as one.
There is, you. If only they have the hoist/lift renting service like in the US in Sydney.
Honestly a honest mechanic doesn’t exist.
Oh but they do, in the world of oxymorons
ask friends and family about it, that's how i found one.
But I have no trusted local mechanic. Any idea how to find them?
Usually its a relationship that you build. You just cant find one ready made. I am quite sure many other might not trust the mechanic that I trust. It helps if you mention the car manufacturer/ model?
Also if you know bits of technical stuff about the car, it would help.
I can totally relate with you on that…
Unless you know your way around an engine and some basic mechanics, one really needs a professional that they can trust.
I had a guy like that, based in Endeavour Hills. Unfortunately the man broke his wrist real bad and doesn’t really work anymore.
Your only sure fire way is to learn the craft yourself. If that's not something you want to do - I certainly don't - I would suggest starting with word of mouth and then trying to judge the person based on interactions, personally I try to avoid larger chains and look for "mom and pop" type places as you get the same person/people working on the car which can be a plus if you find they do good work.
I want to add that almost all Mycar in my area get a good google review. 4.5++ from 100+reviews. But, should I trust them?
I think they should be ok.They are part of a large chain store so in some way you should have more comeback in case of problems than a backyard Joe, biggest issue might be turnover of staff. Do you have a particular brand of car as I usually ask on Facebook forums for a recommended specialist in that brand.
They were Kmart tyre and auto. They were well known for upselling and doing repairs that weren’t required - part of the reason they rebranded. Their reputation wasn’t flash.
Had an issue with KTAS on a logbook service item where the wrong oil was used, the Area Manager told me that they didn't replace the oil as part of the service - I told him I paid for a logbook service and that was clearly a service item, he told me that they can't be held responsible on being up to date on all manufacturer logbook services.
That's obviously how the can come in cheaper on the price, don't do half the logbook service items but tick them off on the logbook anyway.
That's obviously how the can come in cheaper on the price
They're not that cheap though these days, sticking to 6-months maintenance schedule even if the manufacturer states 12 months.
Yes, the price of single visit might be cheaper, but if you do that 2x that's way more than the dealer's.
I got stung by them for that exact reason in my naive young years. Spent over $2000 on shit I obviously didn't need.
After a week of them working on it, I pickup my car, drive 1km down the road and my car dies. Get it towed back and the guy is smirking and says yeah, there's a big hole in your engine. They found every other problem with the car except the main issue.
Wanted to hurl a brick through their front window. Still do after all these years.
Do not trust mycar unless you're just there for windscreen wipers and globe changes. They did a very poor job on my car and it cost me $2k to get it fixed somewhere else. And they lied about it. Mistakes happen, good businesses stand by their work and make it right.
KTAS completely mis-aligned my front wheels (they were aligned fine in the first place). I also watched them slam a jack handle into the door of some poor sods car in the carpark, while changing a tyre in said carpark. Never again!
What kind of car you got?
You don't want to take Ferrari to mycar.
we dont know much about car.
there's the problem, read up or pay the price
The only surefire way to find an honest mechanic is to love and marry one.
Try Brunsburg Autos in Brunswick. It's a bit of a hike from the East but he's great and fairly priced. Not sure what car you drive though.
Alan Beks Motors, in Camberwell
He has been there for about 20 years.
Honest pricing, he is very busy and can be booked out a few months in advance for any non urgent matters.
Autoguru.com.au.
Least you know what you’re paying before
Become a mechanic and be the first honest one! :)
The honest and good mechanics are the ones who charge dealer prices but includes all the procedures and replacements. Bargain on service, not prices.
AAA automotive in Mont Albert is an old-school shop with an experienced and trustworthy mechanic.
Maybe ask people that have decent older cars.
There are good mechanics around and WOM is not a bad way.
Also, perhaps do a bit of a wander around your suburb, or near your workplace and look a few places over.
Go and talk to them and ask them the cost of a specified service for your car, the oils and filters they use. If they seem pretty reasonable folk it’s a good start. (Grab the service list for your next service so you don’t seem vague and dumb)
If they talk down to you, are non communicative or you just don’t get a good vibe keep walking.
I'm a member of a Facebook group for my local community.
I often see that same question asked there and people give their reccomendations.
Seems to work.
I have a good mechanic, but I just stumbled on him because he was just up the road from where I lived.
It just happened that he is above average.
(Off topic)
He has moved locations 3 times and is getting further away each time, but I'm sticking with him.
Trial & error, your local community Facebook groups are a good starting point. For work over a certain amount get 3 quotes.
Really hard to these days, as generally a lot of them can and will say whatever rubbish they want and most people dont know enough about cars to say otherwise. I have been cheated a few times, But one mechanic did so many dodgy stuff to my car that it was life threatening. To the point where both my insurance company repairers and Toyota dealer told me to take the mechanic to court. He basically intentionally gave me 2nd hand used up no name brakes within 2% or less of its life (when you paid for brand new bendix brakes) which ended up causing 2 accidents over a few months.
I realised though that if you do to take them to court as i looked into it, that all they have to say is , you may have taken it to someone else or changed things youself and you cant really prove no-one else looked at the car or made changes after the mechanic.
The mechanic is Payless brakes, tyres and repairs on cosgrove road strathfield south. They did my car servicing till this came to light.
Wayne from Dandenong diesel. Been with him for many years now, and very happy with him and won't look elsewhere.
Another alternative is to call up Blue Toro and find who services your particular area. They have excellent mechanics who will come to your residence to service the car.
Good, honest or local. Pick two.
I'll pick good and honest.
They must be local to somebody
Look, I’m not a fan of paying for simple work at all, however I’ll jump in and “defend” mechanics here. Independent mechanics will rarely (deliberately) over charge. If anything they will absorb a lot of increased costs, particularly labour (eg a bolt that should come out is stubborn and takes an hour to get out, they usually don’t charge for that).
It’s bad for business if your shop gets a reputation for shoddy work or overcharging/ripping off.
Dealerships are a different animal. They simply don’t care about quality or reputation. And they are expensive, and will charge for every second extra they spend on it.
My unusually humble advice is give an independent mechanic a go. If you’re not happy, try another. You will be surprised just how helpful they can be, and more so as your relationship grows.
Oddly enough, I have had a really good experience with express lube (literally the closest mechanic to my house). They have been wonderful and the manager just understands me, but chains like this are exceptionally hit and miss. My vote still lies with the indies.
Join the "Your suburb - Community" group on facebook and ask for recommendations there, whatever one is praised the most roll the dice with them.
I've found it depends what you are after. I'm not willing to drive further than I have to so I try the mechanic closest to home everytime I've moved. Luckily had decent mechanics each time - they had different styles though.
2 seviced to high standard and always recommended something to do either in the service or next service based on how close it was and would tell me the cost to either approve now or budget for later. Car would always come back washed.
1 did only basic service for a low price, it was ~60% the price of the other 2 for the service itself and he'd upsell me on nothing and would let things run right to end of life - I turned up at his shop between service once - he warned me for a squeak around the drive belt that he'd need xhrs for diagnosis and the cost of repair may exceed the value of the car.
I feel all 3 were fairly honest - I just think their customer bases were different and they worked to the general expectation and charged appropriately.
I have had a positive experience with the Repco franchised automotive workshops that I have dealt with (Northern NSW). They have ready access to the Repco parts (Often not genuine but OK) and have a full set of diagnostic equipment on hand for use as required.
The ones I have patronised normally have computer access to the full set of shop manuals for most popular makes and models of vehicles.
get the workshop manual for your car and DIY. take your time and you should be able to complete most things to a high standard.
No clue, I already have a good one and don't know how we found him.
Charges us barely anything, sometimes nothing if it's just something minor. I also do IT/support work for him to help him out for cost of parts only including remote support that I set up as he's a bit of an older dude. Dude tries to give me cash for doing simple stuff with his PC, obviously I don't take it but it's still funny to me.
If you have a particular problem with your car, it's best to research it as much as possible before speaking to a mechanic about it, that way you will be able to determine their respective level of understanding to the problem pertaining EXACTLY to your car and model.
Alot of mechanics might "specialise" in say Ford or Subaru, but what separates an average mech from the best is the attention to detail (and experience) they have with regards to the exact model you have.
ones with a lot of positive google reviews is a start
Try Abundant auto Mitcham. My cousin used to work there & they're honest
I go to my local Autobahn here in Balcatta WA. Have done for years. Same owner. After the first dealer service on the new car we go to Autobahn thereafter. Pricing and service is great. Logbook servicing is fine.
I used autoguru to start with, tested a few mechanics and found a good one. I suggest you start there. (no affiliations etc, just impressed with the mechanic I found.)
I’ve always had great experiences with dealer servicing. Current experience is I dropped my car off at the dealer to solve electrical gremlin that an auto electrician could not solve. This was around 3 July. So I have been cruising around in their new 6 series loaner. Free tolls (so I hope haha). I’m in no rush.
I’ll vouch for Bromspec in Brookvale, NSW. The guys there are car nuts (they sponsor and race competitively). Accurate pricing quotes over phone and reliable. Never upsold unnecessarily (and always busy and very friendly to everyone).
recommend Lube Mobile. The Mechanics come to your house. All fees are quoted. If there is an additional fee, they will ask you first.
If you are in the Ringwood area checkout HTP Automotive. Friend recommended them to me and they have been great. I checked out their online reviews as well before going which there were positive.
Isn't "honest mechanic" an oxymoron? Similar to "reliable tradie" and "honest politician".
Word of mouth!
Google reviews (if there is enough)
Word of mouth is always best. You can try things like Google reviews but they aren't always reliable.
I got threatened with defamation action after posting one negative review about a company so know some put pressure on anyone not posting good reviews.
I live in a smallish suburb with one mechanic workshop. He's very good and always takes time to explain everything he's doing. Prices are reasonable.
I wouldn't go anywhere else, as he wouldn't last long in the area if he wasn't good and honest and he's been here a long time.
If done outside the network, definitely find a good specialist for your make/model, especially if your car isn't very common. Depending on the area where you live, they may not even be local.
From my experience, as someone who does alot of work on their cars and has a good idea of the work involved.
A good honest mechanic is not necessarily the one many people recommend or have good reviews about. I find people generally seem to recommend mechanics who gets the required job done for a value price. I.e. service book minimum with minimal upsell and busy high turnover of customers. If this is what you want, word of mouth is great and these shops know it.
That said there are good honest mechanics out there that spend that extra time with the experience to diagnose problems normal drivers will not notice which pre-emptively fixing will save you money in the long run (e.g. oil leaks) or avoid a catastrophic event (e.g. worn/leaking brake lines). They sometimes get misunderstood as fleecing when they are actually doing a better job overall.
Personally, I find most mechanics are honest especially if they have been int he business a long time as they recognise the importance of return customers etc. Some jobs are complex and car manufacturers sometimes make questionable engineering decisions based on efficiency than practicality when replacing parts. I am more concerned about mechanics with shoddy work nowadays than honesty… but they are human and the routine stuff often get handed to apprentices (can be hit or miss).
Sorry, that is probably less than helpful. So some more helpful information:
Drive to your nearest dealer, if you are maintaining a service book ask them to quote for the service that is next up. Otherwise, just ask them to quote for a service for your car (ball park figure). Either way, ask them not to do anything extra without ringing you.
Then when the service is done ask them how your brakes are and if they found anything that should be watched.
IMO a generic service from a local mechanic should be $200 plus the cost of anything non-standard.
We have a fantastic mechanic. Very honest. Has done small jobs for free. We buy him chocolates and scratches for Christmas every year. Not in Melbourne though.
A genuinely good mechanic will have reasonable (but not especially cheap) pricing & either wont be taking new customers or you will have to book weeks in advance.
I have to plan my service a month out at least because my mechanic is so heavily booked.
Trying to keep this thread alive since people always ask for a good car mechanic like myself right now.
Google reviews are a hit & miss, I brought my expensive motor scooter to two different mechanics and they disappointed be by being both unprofessional and deceptive like (just to mention one) not using the prescribed engine oil because they always use the same one they got in stock for every two wheel vehicles.
My car has a very low market value but it takes me where I want to so I prefer to have it serviced by an honest mechanic.
For honest I mean someone who doesn't change parts that are OK or change the windscreen wipes without first asking me.
askbargain on 22/08/2022 - 13:59 Comment score below threshold.
