What Is The Difference Between a Good Mechanic and a Bad Mechanic?
Posted March 25, 2014 by Ken Kupchik
Mechanic Advisor is a resource for people to find good mechanics, and be able to weed out bad ones. Car issues are bad enough, and made exponentially worse by dealing with a bad mechanic. While we believe that a few bad apples tend to make a bad impression on the whole industry, we wanted to compare and contrast the good mechanics vs. the bad, so we came up with the following list.
A Good Mechanic will take his/her time to properly explain to you what is wrong with your vehicle and what needs to be done to repair it and why. They want you to be comfortable with the process and take their profession seriously.
A Bad Mechanic will just give you a price without taking the time to explain what needs to be done and why. They will also get mad if you start asking any questions and try to rush you out of the shop or off the phone as quickly as possible. A bad mechanic approaches every situation defensively instead of giving you the benefit of the doubt.
A Good Mechanic honors timelines and will let you know if a job is going to take longer than originally estimated. He or she communicates with their customers and keeps them up to date on what's happening with their car so that they feel comfortable they're in good hands.
A Bad Mechanic promises something will be done by a certain time or day and doesn't honor their promise. A bad mechanic will keep your car long past when they promised it would be done and have excuses for you. If a good mechanic realizes that a job will take longer than expected, he will let you know and keep you updated. A bad mechanic will ignore your calls and finish the job when he feels like it.
A Good Mechanic honors his work through warranties and will acknowledge if he or she has made any mistakes and take responsibility for them.
A Bad Mechanic wants nothing to do with you once the job is done. Anything that happens after you've paid your bill is no longer their responsibility and is your problem to deal with. A bad mechanic will always pass the bucks and shirk any responsibility for mistakes made.
A Good Mechanic looks to build a relationship with you and realizes that he or she is in it for the long term. They realize that customer referrals are the most powerful source of business and want to make sure that you would recommend them to your friends and family. A good mechanic will treat you the way they would want themselves and their family to be treated.
A Bad Mechanic is in it for the quick buck and couldn't care less whether you come back or not. A bad mechanic believes that if you have a problem with them, then it's your problem, not theirs. They don't care whether or not you refer anyone to their shop since they're only thinking about the short term. They can't empathize with your problems and don't think about how they would want to be treated themselves since there's a potential customer out there born every minute.
Thank you to Brunswick Automotive Professionals in North Brunswick, NJ for helping us come up with this list.
