What are we like? And how to behave correctly so as not to be a loser in every sense?
View from the car service
Workshop workers characterize the most typical customers and express their attitude towards them in different ways. The overall picture looks like this.
Client-"dude". Arrives in a car hung with various "lotions" And "bells and whistles": additional headlights, brake lights, spoilers, active antennas, etc. It seems that the main components of his car are not the engine and gearbox, but a tape recorder with speakers. Masters of such clients do not like. As a rule, they are not able to appreciate all the work spent on repairing the object of their desire, but they are ready to find fault with a trifling scratch that allegedly did not exist before.
The complete opposite of dudes - "hard workers". These are people for whom a car is not just a mechanism for transportation, but a means of subsistence. These basically turn to the services of the service to perform those jobs that they cannot do themselves due to the lack of a special tool or capabilities. They do not pay attention to minor defects such as the creaking of new ball joints, but they are quite capable of making a real scandal if it turns out that, say, white silicone sealant was used to seal the head cover, and not red high-temperature one.
"Innovators". Their cars are equipped with additional filters, electronic correctors, gasoline magnetizers, electrical systems for protecting the body from corrosion, "fancy" candles. Turning to the services of a service with a knocking engine requiring major repairs, such customers are sincere. they are surprised that, it turns out, despite all the aspect modifiers that they regularly poured into the engine, the oil still needed to be changed. Masters don't respect them.
Very difficult cars to repair "riders", accustomed to the car only ride. Treating a visit to a car service as a visit to a dentist (go when it's too tight), they trigger minor illnesses to the point where it's easier to throw the car away than to treat it all. On such machines, it is easier not to unscrew the nuts, but to cut them off immediately "grinder". These will learn with interest that a torn CV joint boot in a month leads to the replacement of the entire assembly.
In early spring in the workshops appear "careless snowdrops", a variation of the same "riders". In their eyes, a silent question: "Why, last fall, the car ran briskly, and now it creaks like an unlubricated cart, the speeds do not switch, and the engine does not start well?" They cannot understand that if the car is not preserved, then many parts of its suspension, engine, and even the body itself deteriorate more from long-term parking under the snow than from daily trips.
A special category is female drivers. On their cars, as a rule, all maintenance work is regularly performed, the engine is clean, the cars are well-groomed. It is difficult for women to assess the real danger of some kind of creak or knock, and they turn to workshops for every reason. Sometimes for nothing like replacing a blown fuse. Their machines do not give mechanics much trouble, but real masters look down on them.
In general, as you might guess, car service workers treat almost all of their customers (in my heart for sure!) arrogant and disdainfully condescending. And not only with us. This is explained, apparently, by the psychology of perception: "They ride, and we carry them sleds". There is even a saying: "Driver - only gasket between the steering wheel and the seat, which should be changed first". Rich and not so, dummies" And "know-it-alls", quick-tempered as gunpowder and calm as tanks - we are all beyond the love and deep respect of those who turn the screws on us. Then who, if not loved, then at least respected by the craftsmen, who do they repair with the highest quality and diligence?
Most successfully, judging by our observations, the craftsmen develop relationships with those who know the specifics of car repair and represent, at least in general terms, what and how to do. At the same time, such a person does not have to be able to "turn nuts", but his knowledge and ideas are quite enough to understand why he had to do one thing and not another, what caused the deviation from the rule and the accepted canon, and, most importantly, it is difficult for an emu to rub glasses. He can always forgive an oversight or mistake, but he is able to strictly demand for hack work. He always knows what he wants and knows how to get it. Well, if there are no such skills, as there is no desire (strength, time) delve into the specifics of the repair, believing that the car was not bought for that? Then you need to choose such a branded car service, where the quality is guaranteed by its high reputation and strict control by the management. But we are not talking about that now.
How to behave
The following tips will help you avoid typical mistakes that affect the quality of work and their price.
1. To visit a car service, you need to prepare. Wash your car. Especially in places of planned renovation. Remove everything superfluous from it. Turn off the alarm and unscrew the secret nuts, putting them in a conspicuous place. Cover the seats with old covers, a clean rag or polyethylene. Some leave a bottle of mineral water in a conspicuous place. By doing this, you show respect for the people who will deal with your car.
Try your best to make future work easier. If the car has additional electrical equipment (electric lifts, additions to the ignition system, etc.), leave their schemes or warn about their presence.
2. Prepare to clearly explain the defects that must be eliminated, and ask you to check the operation of those components that need to be repaired in front of you. Do not make a diagnosis yourself, and even more so do not give categorical recommendations. If you say, for example "pull the chain", having heard that she is making noise, they will simply stretch her to you. And after a few days, the damper will collapse and, for example, the entire cylinder head will fail. Ask the master to listen to the engine (see pendant) and decide together which parts need to be replaced and which need to be repaired.
Coordinate here the list of replaced elements and stipulate who purchases them. If the service takes responsibility for quality (especially complex) parts, it is better to entrust their purchases to him, even if this slightly increases the cost of repairs. When buying parts yourself, choose the best of what is available. Do not save on trifles - nuts, pistons, anthers, "rubber bands" and in general all disposable parts. Their replacement not only improves the quality of the repair, but also greatly simplifies it, and at the same time cheers up those who directly repair it.
3. If you have no idea how this or that malfunction is fixed, do not be lazy, open the instruction or repair manual and, at least in general terms, understand the essence of the matter. This will give you credibility in the eyes of the mechanic, make him work more carefully, and you will control the progress of the work.
4. If you have the opportunity and desire, be present during the repair, or at least regularly inquire about its progress. In the process of work, many small questions arise: do - do not do, change - do not change. It is better if they are solved immediately. In addition, defects are revealed, which will then be very difficult to eliminate, but at the moment it is possible. For example, when a fender or rear panel is changed, an unsightly picture of corrosion of the elements surrounding them opens up (even new cars), it is easy to eliminate it along the way, but it needs to be agreed with the customer, since it requires additional costs on his part.
Observe the work unobtrusively, do not stand over your soul. Finding and eliminating many "individual" problems happen by trial and error, and no one wants anyone to see that he is wrong. At the same time, be prepared to answer questions that arise or explain something to the master. He knows the car in general, and you - the behavior and background of this instance. In addition, only you know what type of oil is poured into the engine and what kind of polish was used.
Try to control the quality of work in stages. A minor body defect, not specified in the initial calculation, is much easier to eliminate before priming than after painting.
5. Specify immediately the warranty period, the procedure for filing complaints. Especially many questions arise on the quality of coloring. GOST for this type of work allows light shagreen, the presence of small weeds, but does not allow paint streaks. Our advice - do not require a very smooth surface. It is easy to get by putting the thinnest layer of paint. In addition, in this case there will be no drips, while a light shagreen, indicating a thick layer, can be polished, and the presence of a small drip even in an inconspicuous place will significantly reduce the amount of payment for the work.
6. Nothing lasts forever, but you certainly will not be satisfied if, say, the paint peels off immediately after the expiration of this warranty. Therefore, it is better if you yourself buy consumables and some specific tools that may not be available in a mid-level workshop (consulting with those who will work with them). For example, if silicone polish has ever been used on your car, purchase special products to remove it. Some polishes containing Teflon cannot be removed by anything, and it is necessary to remove all the paint with a special remover. Purchase only the best quality anti-corrosion primers, preferably two-component epoxy primers known to withstand the salt spray test. The price difference of 50-70 thousand rubles per liter will pay off many times over and very quickly (do not confuse only them with paint primers!). On the bank, at least it should be written that they are used for pure metal and have anti-corrosion properties.
7. Turning to the workshop for the first time, think about the fact that the visit here will certainly not be the last. Therefore, make sure that the next repair delivers even less inconvenience to mechanics: ask the master to spray threaded and other connections with some kind of silicone spray lubricant before final assembly. It, like a universal liquid such as VD-40, is better to have in the trunk.
8. Do not bargain after you have been given the final price, but before that ask for a detailed estimate with the types of individual work and their cost. Here it makes sense to discuss it in detail in order to eliminate double payment for the same work. For example, if you need to replace the brake pads and the brake cylinder, you cannot automatically add up the prices of these works, since the replacement of the cylinder already requires the removal of the wheel, brake drum, etc.
9. And the last. Do not try to slip a tip in gratitude to the master, and even more so - a bottle of vodka. So it was customary when his salary was 5-6 percent of what you paid to the cashier. Today, his earnings, along with bonuses and other payments, are more than half of the amount you paid. Find other ways to show him your respect and appreciation. For example, give an exclusive souvenir, an expensive book, a unique key, or something like that.