What options do you have for finding a mechanic? You can spend long hours browsing through a thick stack of white pages. You can go by “word-of-mouth” referrals. You can also go out and track down your local mechanics on foot! However, the most efficient way to find a mechanic is to find a mechanic online. Free websites such as craigslist.org, mechlance.com, and repairpal.com have done an extraordinary job to provide customers with great information and people. Collectively these sites offer: contact information for mobile mechanics, local locations of quality repair mechanics, mechanic ratings, and most importantly estimates/bids.
Craigslist is a great place to find a listing of shops in your area, of mechanics who are eager to find customers, and whom are open for term discussions. Craigslist will also offer more variety than the white pages, simply because not every business chooses to be listed in the books—but they’ll post an ad on craigslist. So while we are on the topic of “listing things” let’s list what you get when you work with craigslist. 1. New businesses strongly enthused to build a loyal client base and 2. Established businesses in search for new customers, and willing to negotiate.
Mechlance allows you to go direct to the mechanic instead of using a shop. The auto repair revolution starts here. When you post a project up on Mechlance the mobile mechanics will be instantly notified once you sign up as a buyer on the website. In addition to that, they allow multiple mechanics to bid on fixing your problems; sites like Mechance.com are entirely free and beneficial for interested customers. Mechanics are going to try and win, by giving the best price possible, while keeping quality in mind, because Mechlance is secured by a rating system. Therefore, good bids will stand out from bad quotes given by money hungry mechanics you are trying to stay away from. Competition encourages all contestants to put their best foot forward and mechanic ratings will allow you to really determine, and narrow down who is a best fit for you.
RepairPal goes above and beyond to provide comfort to their customers. They rate top shops with Net Promoter Scores before adding them to their large listing. Their process continues into an analysis for the cost of parts and labor for repairs and zip codes where shops are located. Expert technicians and data analysts spend efficient time to gather this information and then the data is handed over to the RepairPrice Estimator, which calculates estimated price ranges. To follow up with this superb performance RepairPal conducts background checks, annually reassessments, and an 84-questionair assessment on potential shops. To ensure that your money has been put in the right hands they throw in a mandatory parts and labor warranty of 12 months or 12,000 miles for their customers.
All of the above mentioned benefits are advantages you can only receive when looking for a mechanic online. The success of finding mechanic online revolves around comfort and convenience. The internet allows us to quickly compare two businesses in the most time efficient way available. This simplicity that increases options overwhelms us with credibility. At a glance we are able to see customer experiences, and we are exposed to the systems and procedures that helped to show us how trustworthy a shop may be. Information is power, and the ingenious internet is the number one source for information—moreover customer satisfaction.