We all know someone who puts off car repairs until the last
minute, but ignoring the warning lights on your car dashboard or drowning out
loud grinding and scratching sounds by turning up the radio certainly isn’t
sensible. Alongside being dangerous, this habit could cost you. A 2018 study
found that a huge 47% of car repairs
could have been cheaper
if they’d been checked by a qualified mechanic earlier!
Wherever you’re based in the UK, finding a trusted car garage
to take care of your vehicle repairs is essential. A great team of mechanics
will keep your car running smoothly without taking up more of your time than
necessary. To help you find the best car repair services near you, check out
our top tips.
Why are car repairs
so important?
Before we offer our expert advice for sourcing reliable and
reputable car repair solutions in your local area, let’s first ask the
question: why is getting your vehicle repaired and maintained so important?
Cost isn’t the only factor you need to consider, although it
makes sense that regularly inspecting your car and booking in for vehicle servicing
could extend its lifespan greatly.
In addition to saving the pennies, you need to think about the safety of you,
your passengers, pedestrians and of course, fellow motorists.
There are now more than 40 million cars and
vans registered in the UK
- so we truly are a nation of drivers! However, with more people than
ever on the roads, it is becoming increasingly important for every motorist to
do their bit to keep themselves and others safe. Making sure your vehicle is
roadworthy is one of the most effective ways to achieve this.
When you have your car repaired by experts, you can reduce the risk of running
into potentially dangerous issues. For instance, by having your tyres inspected
and changed once they no longer meet minimum safety standards, you can minimise
the chances of your car skidding in periods of poor weather.
Of course, getting your car repaired by professionals you can
trust is crucial. With this in mind, follow our top tips for finding mechanics
who will offer the highest quality services at all times.
How to find the best
car repair services in your local area
Ask your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues
for recommendations
Word of mouth is one of the most powerful yet underrated
tools when it comes to finding reputable car mechanics. The chances are that
most of your friends, family members, colleagues and neighbours own and drive
vehicles regularly, and will likely have used the services of various car
garages in your local area. By asking for their recommendations, you can
quickly find out exactly which garages to trust and which to avoid! By
collecting recommendations from people whose opinions you trust, you might be
able to cut your research time in half.
Of course, it still pays to conduct your own research to make
sure you’re happy with the price, wait time and customer service offered!
Everyone’s needs are different, so spend time finding the right company for
you.
Search for car
garages online
Simply typing ‘car repair near me’ into your chosen search
engine will pull up a list of the garages operating in your local area.
Instantly, you’ll have company names, addresses and contact details to help
with your search!
Once you’ve found a couple you like the look of, take time to
read through each company’s website. Here, you should be able to find most of
the information you need about their car repair services and browse to see
which other services they offer.
It’s helpful to find one garage to take care of everything from brake repairs
to your annual MOT, as you’ll be able to develop a positive relationship over
the years. Bear this in mind when looking at the list of services each garage
provides.
Look for reviews and
testimonials
Reading a company’s reviews and testimonials is one of the
quickest and easiest ways to decide whether you should trust them. If a client
has a long list of negative reviews citing poor customer service, long waiting
times and unsafe practices, you’ll know straight away to look elsewhere!
Of course, you may expect most garages to have a couple of
less than positive reviews. This is common for any company that has been
operating for a long time and doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll receive
substandard service.
However, you ideally want to choose a car repair company with
a long history of satisfying customers in your local area!
Make sure your
chosen garage offers the specific service you need
If you need a highly specialised service, such as repairs for
an old-fashioned car or MOT services for an HGV, make sure you look
specifically for companies who offer this. It might sound obvious, but it’s
best not to assume that every garage offers the specific service you need.
The last thing you want is to book your vehicle in for
repairs or maintenance with a garage that doesn’t specialise in the exact
service you require, as they may cause more damage to your vehicle.
A reputable garage will be very honest about what they are
and aren’t equipped to handle, so it’s always worth picking up the phone to
check.
Find a qualified and
accredited garage
Making sure your chosen mechanics are qualified to take care
of vehicle maintenance is essential to finding the best car repair services in
your local area. There’s no room for guesswork when it comes to inspecting and
repairing a vehicle, so you should only ever work with a reputable garage.
To find out whether a company has fully trained its
mechanics, why not call or email to check? It’s a positive sign if the garage
can speak confidently about the skills of its technicians!
Well-trained technicians are great, but you also want to work
with people who have years of first-hand experience in dealing with all aspects
of vehicle maintenance. Try to find out a little more about your chosen
company’s experience to make sure they’re firmly established and ready to
handle any issue you might be having.
Call the garage to
gauge the quality of customer service you can expect
We’ve suggested calling your chosen garage a couple of times
so far, and there’s a great reason for this! When you work with any company,
you should expect only the highest standard of customer service - but this is
especially important when it comes to car repairs.
Cars can be difficult to understand if you aren’t a trained
mechanic, so it can help to work with a garage that takes the time to explain
exactly which repairs are needed in a way that makes sense to you. You may also
need to visit the garage a couple of times to drop off and pick up your car,
and working with polite, friendly and professional mechanics will make your
experience much more enjoyable.
So, before you book your car in for repairs, why not call the
companies you’ve shortlisted? Even a quick conversation will give you a feel
for their customer service.
Compare quotes to
find reasonable prices
When searching for the best car repair services near you, you
will also need to consider pricing. Of course, when it comes to vehicle
maintenance, your safety should always come before anything else. You don’t
want to hire an inexperienced mechanic to handle your car repairs in the
interest of saving a few pounds.
Nevertheless, we recognise that finding a competitive deal
can be helpful for drivers! Our top tip is to compare quotes from 2-3 local car
garages, as this will help you to distinguish between reasonable and
extortionate rates.
Remember - if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is! There are
plenty of experienced, reliable and trustworthy car garages offering reasonable
prices (we’re one of them!), but if a price looks unrealistically low, think
about what you’re paying for.
Acorn Tyres and
Servicing: Aylesbury’s leading car service garage offering MOTs, exhaust
repair, tyre replacements and more
Looking for efficient and affordable car repair services in
the Aylesbury area? Acorn Tyres and Servicing is here for you! Our
highly-trained mechanics specialise in everything from exhaust maintenance and
car brake repair services to MOT testing and tyre-fitting, so we’re well-placed
to handle any vehicle maintenance solution you need.
To learn more about the experience of our
qualified technicians, or for a free initial quote, please don’t hesitate to
contact
us today. We understand the importance of
finding a car garage you can trust, so we’ll be pleased to answer any questions
you may have!
