Why our advice might be different from others, and what to do if it is.
“The Internet says I don’t need that!”
“My uncle was a mechanic and he said you’re wrong!”
“The Brake Place says my pads need to be replaced RIGHT NOW!”
“I just had it at the Dealers’, and they didn’t mention it at all!”
“I can get the same part for half the price on Ebay!”
“The other shop said they could do it for half what you guys told me!”
Believe us, we’ve heard it all. No matter what advice we give, there is someone, somewhere, who can disagree with us, occasionally resulting in a confused or angry call from a client. You know what? We aren’t perfect, so they may even be right! Auto Repair is an art as well as a science, so there’s room for judgement calls and gray areas. Should you replace the one ignition coil that’s broken or all four preventatively? Does that oil seep need to be fixed before your cross-country trip? Should you do an expensive repair or sell the vehicle? Just because two (or more) sources disagree doesn’t mean one (or more) is lying. It’s very possible (even common!) for even honest, qualified Technicians to disagree about how to service a vehicle. How do you know whose advice to go with? There’s not always a right answer, but there are always guideposts to go by.
Where our service advice comes from
We have a “Service Advisor Magic 8-Ball” in the lobby but it plays virtually no role in our service recommendations. Instead, we’ve built our business to ensure we’re giving the best advice for your long-term interests as a vehicle owner. Here are the key points…
- Our Service Advisors are NOT ON COMMISSION. This is almost unique in the auto repair industry, but the folks at the desk have no monetary incentive AT ALL to sell you anything you don’t need.
- Our Service Advisors sole directive is to give you the same advice they’d give family and friends.
- Unlike most shops our TECHNICIANS, not our Service Advisors, decide what services your vehicle needs. Our Service Advisors are there to explain the recommendations and prioritize them according to your budget, schedule, and ownership goals.
- We don’t do Menu Service (standard 30-, 60-, 90,000-mile Menus). These industry-standard Service Menus are useful guides, but they don’t take individual driver habits, environmental conditions, or other factors into account. We do our Comprehensive Inspection, a rigorous, individual, thorough inspection of your vehicle, to determine its actual condition. If your vehicle needs a service we recommend it, if it doesn’t we don’t, no matter what the Menu says.
- Our Technicians are almost all ASE-Certified or ASE-Master-Certified. This requires years of training and continued testing as technology changes. The few we have who aren’t currently Certified are required to be studying for their Certifications. They’re the most qualified team available so when they make a recommendation, they know what they’re talking about.
- Our Technicians are paid by the hour, not the industry-standard Flat Rate. This encourages attention to detail and consciousness of your vehicle as a whole instead of concentration on isolated components. (For a longer article on how Flat Rate pay affects your Technician’s motivation, click here)
- Our Technicians are backed by state-of-the-art diagnostic and repair equipment so they don’t have to guess about the cause of a problem… they track it down.
- Everything we do comes with a full 24/24 Warranty so if our advice is wrong, we pay the price.
Just a few reasons you might get other advice elsewhere
Just because someone disagrees with us about vehicle service doesn’t mean we (or they!) are lying, incompetent, or even necessarily wrong. As we said, there’s room for judgement and gray areas in auto repair. BUT! When you get different advice (and you certainly will at some point), here’s some reasons that don’t include (much!) dishonesty at all.
“The Internet says I don’t need that!”
The Internet can’t see your vehicle. Our advice comes only from thorough inspection; we don’t guess based on verbal or written descriptions, or even the diagnosis of another shop. When we say “you need this”, it’s because we’ve examined your vehicle, isolated the problem and eliminated the alternatives.
“The Brake Place says my pads need to be replaced RIGHT NOW!”
The Brake Place (or Lube place, or Muffler place, or Tire place, or Transmission place) specializes in selling one type of part/service for your vehicle. Their Advisors are almost certainly paid on commission, so if they don’t sell you their specialty they don’t eat, and the pressure to upsell in these places can be very high. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re wrong, but that kind pressure can affect even the most honest people. They’re very likely to see their particular component as ready-for-replacement even if it has life left in it. If something’s a safety or breakdown risk we’ll tell you, but if it doesn’t need replacement we’ll tell you that too.
“My uncle was a mechanic and he said you’re wrong!”
Your uncle worked on cars twenty, thirty years ago… maybe more. He may be offering his best advice with the best intent, but his mechanical knowledge may just be out of date. Good advice for a carbureted 1970’s pickup truck is probably not relevant to a 2020’s computer-driven fuel-injection hybrid. Technology changes, and our Technicians stay up on the latest technology so they can give you the up-to-date advice you need.
“I just had it at the Dealers’ and they didn’t mention it at all!”
Is your vehicle under warranty? When a Dealer does a warranty repair they get paid much less by the manufacturer and they have to give you the parts for free. Some Dealers FORBID their Service Advisors from telling customers about repairs that would be covered under warranty, and wait for the customer to bring it up as a problem themselves! Dealers have a strong incentive to wait for something to fail rather than fix it under warranty.
“I can get the same part for half the price from Ebay!”
Probably not. You may get a part that says it’s the same widget we’re recommending but it’s almost certainly different. We use only Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts, or better parts if they’re available. These perform better and last longer than the cheaper ‘equivalent’ parts consumers can get, and it’s just one of the reasons we don’t install user-supplied parts.
“The other shop said they could do it for half what you guys told me!”
Tom Dwyer Automotive Services’ prices on parts and labor are generally mid-range for quality shops here in the Portland market, so while we might be higher (or lower) than any particular shop for any particular repair, we’re generally in the same ballpark for apples-to-apples estimates. However, other shops could easily quote different prices for many reasons.
Is it really an apples-to-apples comparison? Shops may offer subtly different services under the same name, and a ‘head gasket job’ is a classic example. Some shops will take the top part of the engine off, replace the gasket, seal it up, and call it good. Most shops will resurface the heads for a better fit and possibly replace some worn internal components. When we take the top off we send the heads out to be machined for proper fit, replace all the valves and internal components, and then rebuild it to last for the long term. All three of those are legitimately ‘head jobs’ but as you can imagine, the estimates would differ drastically.
There are other possible reasons as well. When business is slow a shop may charge less to bring in jobs just to stay busy… is the price a one-off because the other shop was empty? Some shops offer a lowball number and plan to call for ‘extras’ once the job is in progress… is the other shop’s quote for a job complete-out-the-door?
What to do if you get different advice
This just scratches the surface of why people might disagree with us, but you can bet they will. What should you do when you get advice that differs from ours? CALL US AND ASK US ABOUT IT! Our Service Advisors’ job is more than just smiling and taking your money, they’re here to answer all your questions as clearly and completely as they can. We want you to understand what we’re advising, but more importantly WHY WE’RE ADVISING IT. And if the other folks’ advice really is a better idea, or if the other shop’s price really is a screaming deal, we’ll tell you that too.
Giving good advice based on inspection, in your interest, according to your priorities, respecting your budget, and without the complication of commissioned sales is the best way we can think of to build a trusting service relationship. We can’t always be right, but we’ll always give you advice intended to keep you as a valued client for years to come.
