Some customers will go one place for their tires, somewhere else for their brakes, yet another place for a quick lube or oil change, and then an auto repair shop for a repair.
It would be better and more convenient if they found a service and repair shop they know, like, and trust. That facility should be in charge of that vehicle from the time the customer purchases it until the time they sell it. It’s always less expensive to do it that way. Having a facility that knows the vehicle and a technician that knows their vehicle inside and out will prevent wasted time, energy, and money.
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Most importantly, the technician will know what was done to the car at 30,000, at 60,000 and at 90,000 miles, and will make correct recommendations based on the mileage and the service history.
When you go to a tire store to get your tires replaced, and then you go to a brake store to have your brake pads replaced, and then to a quick lube to have your oil change, there’s no real clear record of what’s been done.
Spreading services across multiple shops takes all of the responsibility of the repairs and places it on the customer to figure out, “What do I need to do and when should I do it?” This often results in finger-pointing and duplicate repairs.
We’ll see cars in our shop all the time with unneeded work done on them. Let’s say we had done a 30,000-mile service to the car, then 5,000 miles later that customer is at a quick lube having an oil change done. That place’s employee tells the customer they need a transmission service, but they had their car serviced two, three or four months ago. They don’t remember if they had the transmission serviced, so they spend another $100-$150 to service it when it was just done.
This is also why it’s so important that the technicians who work on your car have lots of experience and training, and are certified in the area that they repair. Those things are lost when you’re at a quick lube with a 19 to 20-year-old kid changing the oil in your $20,000-$60,000 vehicle. It’s just not something that should happen.
When you go to multiple car shops and have, your vehicle serviced by inexperienced people, you run the risk of paying for duplicate services and repairs. All of that can be avoided by picking one quality repair shop, then having your car serviced there for everything.
