6 Steps to Finding a Good Mechanic

A good mechanic is worth more than gold. Finding someone you can trust who also knows what they are doing and at a reasonable rate is very rare.
We would like to suggest you consider the following when your looking for a good mechanic.

1) Find one before you NEED one.

It may sound obvious, but the amount of people that break down and then just go to the nearest garage is frightening.  Without a doubt, your best option is to find your mechanic BEFORE you need them. That way you can take your time, talk to others, try them out for yourself on a small matter like a basic service and then decide for yourself.

2) Find someone you can talk too.

Mechanics, like you and me are people, and as people they all have different personalities. When your looking for a new mechanic, you need to find someone you can talk openly with. Someone who doesnt talk down to you, and definately someone that isnt always trying to sell you something. 

3) Someone who does what they say.

This ones is important on a number of levels. Firstly, if they say they are going to "check your brakes", then you want to be sure they actually did. Secondly, if you book your car in for a service on X Date and three days later its still sitting in the carport and they havnt looked at it, then thats also not ideal. There are plenty of silver tongue mechanics out there that will just tell you what they think you want to hear.

4) How is the workshop presented ?.

Turn up the the workshop unannounced and review the workshop. Is it relatively clean and organised ?  Do they have a number of clean, well presented hoists ?, Are they wearing a uniform and present themselves reasonably well ? Is the owner hands on ? (You want to be able to talk to someone that is actually doing the work and understands whats involved)

5) Are they Licensed and Insured ?

At least in Australia this one is relatively easy. You can search online and see who is approved, but basically if they are approved to do Rego Checks, then you know they are approved to do mechanical works and service works to maintain your cars warranty status.

6) Are they too busy ?

While its usually good to see a workshop busy, its hard to compare one mechanic to another. For example, a 6 hoist workshop with 5 employees is always going to look busy. They need to turn over enough to keep 5 people employed. The other problem is if the workshop is so busy, even if they are a good mechanic, they will never have the time to treat you and your car with the care your looking for.