Comments on: Local Mechanics Slowly Disappearing

By: rachid

rachid — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:39 +0000

hello actualy i’m a special worker on wheels cars and i work at a garage of Balance wheels in the same place i work as a mechanic as well ,i have been worked and i learned and experienced very good for a long time as i’m sure i don’t find any problem on what i do i can repair any kind of wheels ( normal car and pick up and truck ) by machine or even by my hands too as i know everything about the car’s pieces i try only to tell you that i good worker i have found this site accidently but before i was really looking for a job so but i have not found a place to work yet i think i’m so far away and as i’m wondering that i have a big problem to get there to work with you because it is a long distance between here and there anyway all i what i have is e’mails
rachid_yasini2@hotmail.com , rachid_yasini@yahoo.com
hometown is ,,neighbourhood is Lalla lyakout , N° 261 . TOWN IS Khemisset in Morocco
home , phone is ,, +21237550502

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:36:00 +0000

Hi Ern, my husband just purchased 18 Bend Pak hoists for his dealership in Melbourne. Great hoists with loads of safety features. Are you sure this was a Bend Pak? They are made in USA. We even saw the factory over there last year when we went to SEMA.

By: Ern

Ern — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 05:47:38 +0000

All the small workshops who have purchased Chinese Hoists will soon be dead anyway! How in hell do these tin cans get passed adr, and how did they get all those quality certifications.
They are dangerous crap. I have just seen an “American Bendpak” made in China rated at 4 tonne that struggled to pick up a Commodore sedan. It had safety issues all over it, and I would not stand under it for any money.
Wake up, this is not engineering, this is design by price. Within 3 years you will have to pay people to take these piles of crap away!

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 14:07:55 +0000

Excellent suggestion, local mechanics moving into specialising can offer customers an alternative to manufacturers franchised service departments. Not sure that warranty work could be carried out and reimbursed by the manufacturer I would suggest that the vehicle would have to then go back to the dealer so that it was approved. Here’s a suggestion. If you prefer to service with your local mechanic, perhaps you should ask him or her if they are capable of carrying out diagnostics and or repairs on the model you will be buying. Also ask the dealer how your warranty could be affected by choosing not to service your vehicle with them (even so much as the incorrect additives and lubricants used can result in the maufacturer declining a warranty approval). I do hope that local mechanics can continue to survive. Techicians must evolve at the same rate as new models are developed and manufacturers will always have the advantage with they’re franchised service outlets due to they’re latest tooling and technology. Does this make Dealers thieves ..?

By: Bavarian Missile /

Bavarian Missile / — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:43:34 +0000

Axe,not sure if its bashing but dealers command top prices to service your vehicle. One would expect them to not leave bolts undone,install parts correctly,to diagnose problems correctly and not just throw parts at it,not to get lip from smart arse service managers.Also to have the most up to date diagnostic equipment available . Yes we have changed dealers when we were not happy with the warrenty service from one ,but had another and another . Last one refused to work on the car again after we posted their stuff up on Ford Forums. Yes small mechanic workshops will fix cars under manufacturers warranty,but the manufacturers wont pay the small mechanics normal hourly rate .There are only so many dealers you can use,then you run out! Only thing we found dealer trained mechanics were good for in our workshop was changing wiper fluid,tyre black the tyres and waisting bloody time!

By: Axe

Axe — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:46:39 +0000

Yep as usual more dealer bashing.

If one dealer is a “rip-off”, then don’t use them any more. Dealership service centres are far better now then they have ever been. Yes they do also make mistakes, but don’t we all in our own jobs?
We the consumers demand more safety, more gadgets, better economy, more power, so what else should we expect? There is no way the local mechanic will be able to keep up. We ourselves drive the technology and complexity in cars, not dealers.

By: David

David — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 00:24:01 +0000

I’m just wondering about the title… the ‘local mechanic’s’ what? is ’slowly disappearing’?

Or maybe someone put an apostrophe in the word ‘mechanics’ that really shouldn’t be there..

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 06 May 2007 05:59:51 +0000

^ have to agree with you lisa and steane, dealers are terrible, ive even heard of instances where people have gotten the car back worse than when it went in.having a 98 seat theyre meant to be serviced by VW but have heard of some bad stories with them so i steer clear. i either work on my cars myself or get my mates trusted workshop to do it. being a young uni student its works out cheaper too!

By: Lisa Preston

Lisa Preston — Sun, 06 May 2007 05:09:29 +0000

Dealers are over rated,before Hubby and I went in to manufacturing overseas ,we had a work shop for 15 years.Hubby bought a state of the Diagnosis machine that none of the dealerships had. When they couldn’t fix it they bought it to us. Un be-known to the poor sole who owned the car. We would charge the dealer then they would charge the customer with their bit on top of it .Something they still do now.

By: alan

alan — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:53:18 +0000

everyone seems to be a mechanic when it comes to car problems i own a mobile mechanical business in perth i am a qualified mechanic with over 20 yrs experience in uk and australia. i have worked at quite a few dealers and franchise garages around the perth area and have found that majority of these dealers and franchises are either owned or run by people who have never been mechanics or have no mechanical experience they like to charge the earth even if they cant find the fault with your car.many garages around perth employ unqualified mechanics apprentices or just trade assistants who know less than my dog.it seems that all the decent qualified mechanics have gone to the mines because of the minning boom here in wa.i get quite a few calls from cheased of people who have had bad experiences with main dealers and the franchise garages and i have fixed many cars that others could not and alot of the time have been easy to diagnose if they used some common sense.at the moment wa is in the process of licencing all people who work on cars and charge people for work they do so hopefully in the next 2 years some of the so called mechanics will be out of bussiness.one thing i would like to point out that even i am not perfect but if i work on a car and i cant fix the fault myself i do not charge for my time hense alot of my work is from recomendation from many happy clients that i have helped (and also quite a few garages as well)alot of franchise garages seem to be sprouting everywhere but remember to ask to see there mechanics qualifications before you think of investing you money in their socalled expertise also remember just because they washed you car cleaned your wheels and put amagic treeon your rear view mirror thats all they might of done just to keep you happy .as a mechanic i dont wash or clean cars because im too busy fixing cars correctly or fixing other peoples stuff ups

By: Russell

Russell — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 08:27:37 +0000

Specialist repairers like automatic transmission guys will only become stronger with the change in technology as dealers that provided transmission services are shutting down that section of business left right and centre,And now they are sending all there work to a specialised repairer even warranty work!

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:27:12 +0000

Lol nice analogy mate but wrong. A more appropriate one is would you go to a cancer specialist if you didnt know what was wrong with you? No…. you go to a doctor first! So why go to a auto electrician when for starters most people dont know whats wrong with their car and it could be mechanical AND mechanics can deal with most electrical issues as well anyway!!!

By: joe

joe — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:03:58 +0000

after reading the article and following comments,you
guys havn’t got an idea what you are talking about.all
the systems you have mentioned are not to be fixed by
motor mechanics ,even if they are trained by dealerships.automotive electricians are the people who
are trained to solve problems.they can investigate faults in vehicles much better than motor mechanics.
everything today in modern motor vehicles is electically controlled.the people trained in these systems have to also have an extensive knowledge of the mechanical system they are controlling.so next time you have a fault in a vehicle seek the service of a qualified auto elec first.most have all the programing machines required.don’t think they just fix lights and replace batteries.over the years i have had some weird things go wrong with my various vehicles and been ripped off dealers and various mechanics.i now found a good mechanic,but i always go to my auto elect first and he steers me in the right direction.would you go to a doctor if you had a tooth was sore?

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 22:44:15 +0000

I dunno if they are disappearing, Im sure everyone thought they wouldnt last when say ABS came out or vvt or powersteering etc lol. It takes time, but these new technologies aernt coming in that quick on your avg car, so mechanics have time to adapt.

By: Ben Chen

Ben Chen — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:09:53 +0000

HI, I would like to suggest something, seeing that the car mechanic is worried. In a lot of people’s opinion, a car mechanics job is not as highly regarded as an IT industry job, yet, as we can see, in ten, fifteen yers time, the mechanics and the means of controls of the car would be vastly different. This means two things: ONE, IT and software/programming knowledge would be a major part of a car mechanic’s knowledge bank, and TWO: a major direction change in the education of a car mechanic is required. I would hate to see our car mechanics disappear. I don’t know much about cars and I depend on them, and if only some of them are left, then we are all buggered with prices. What I suggest is a two prong solution: ONE, TAFE should open courses for car mechanics and start offering their students some basic knowledge of the computer programming that is used in the car of today, and TWO, University courses should begin to educate a new cadre of computer-literate car mechanics, because the car mechanic’s job would be so specialised. A whole new educational system is required, to move the car mechanic from a skilled labour to a profession, with a standard of operation that is beyond what is available today. Only by reinventing itself can the car mechanic survive, albeit in a slightly different role, possibly in a job similar to IT technician.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:52:48 +0000

Of course, if all car manufacturers decided to use standard interfaces to the computer systems, then the local dealer could still easily stay competitive, and you could feel confident taking your car where YOU choose for a service.. and of course, politicians could become honest, and global poverty come to an end.. But it’s a commercial world, so while it would be great if they decided on flexible standards to allow access to common electronic params in autos, it will probably never happen. It’s not in the interests of manufacturers to allow others to mess with their cars. They couldn’t charge a fortune to fix them then ;)

By: alborz

alborz — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 02:33:50 +0000

Thats good to hear steane
thats what I was saying in the article, that local car workshops will need to branch into specific types of cars, that is the best way to stay alive,
generic mechanics are going to have a hard time fixing modern cars in 10 years time!

By: steane

steane — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 02:28:19 +0000

Sorry guys but dealers are thieves. I stopped taking my car to a dealer many years ago after a number of bad experiences.

I have friends who are mechanics and have worked at dealers and they have horror stories to tell.

I don’t even like going to dealers for warranty work, it makes my skin crawl trying to get any sense from those idiots. They are like politicians in that you never get a straight answer just a bill or a new tax.

I have never heard a good thing said about a dealer. They are a place to buy a car but not a place to have one fixed if you can possibly help it.

There are plenty of non-dealer specialists out there and with the exception of electrical / body control module type problems or errors most problems can be fixed.

I friend of mine has an independent Porsche workshop and he is flat out working on some of the most complex cars ever made, with very few issues. In fact he even gets work from the dealers when they cant fix something…

Hopefully the independent doesn’t become technologically extinct…

By: alborz

alborz — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 00:03:32 +0000

I agree, It will work out cheaper if the problem is correctly diagnosed and fixed the first time.

By: Igor

Igor — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:49:02 +0000

From personal experience I can say that even though dealers do charge more for repairs, they can at least diagnose the fault more accurately and it can work out cheaper in the long run if your local mechanics guessing ability is not up to scratch.