By Kevin M
If you get a repair estimate of $1000 on your car, do you sense desperation, turn the car over to the mechanic and tell him to do what needs to be done? If you do you could be making a mistake that will cost you hundreds of dollars.
Most of us, I think, are a bit intimidated by car malfunctions, especially major ones. We don’t know a whole lot about cars—especially what makes them tick on the inside—and that makes us vulnerable not only to high charges, but even to repairs that are completely unnecessary.
For those of us who aren’t car experts, the solution may be to play one mechanic shop off against another.
Use several different shops—your own “panel” of car repair experts—and you increase the potential for savings.
We might like the idea of having a single shop to bring the car to when ever there’s a problem, but most repair shops these days are national chains run by business managers who know more about sales than they do about car repairs.
