What is your biggest problem as a car owner?

[Derick]

Let me start with my personal issue when it comes to car repair or maintenance. There is no one place that has combination of all three criteria: Best + Cheapest + Fast.

• Dealership are the best but not the fast and cheapest.
• Small shops are fast and cheapest but they are not the best.
• Medium level specialist are moderately best in quality and fast too but not the cheapest.
• Fuel station just OK for oil change and nothing else.

Some car workshop should come up with all three combination and also offer god-damn fix price like a rock. As soon as I find some good workshop that offer almost three criteria in my next visit there prices go through the roof. 

Carrefour - do you have any plan to enter into a car workshop business? Please consider.

Share your biggest car problem now!

[sertac]

Jeep parts are very expensive when i compare with US.

People who doing scrap business are horrible to deal. 

[desertdude]

Oh I bet Barry is going to have something to say about this.

[Rahimdad]

Best thing to do is understand your car and some knowledge of the problem you are facing. Second is to source a specialist in this problematic field, so electrician or mechanic or suspension & tire specialist, etc. Get a quote upfront. Consult here on Carnity if in doubt. Save time, money and high blood pressure.

[treks]

10 hours ago, desertdude said:

Oh I bet Barry is going to have something to say about this.

If I were still active in the car repair industry I would have had something to say about this, too. But I am not, so I won't. 

What I will say though, is that I am glad I know enough about cars so no mechanic can f^&%k with me when I take my cars in to have something done.  

[Frederic]

This here is the main reason why people use Carnity: to get more detailed information and knowledge about their cars to we can all try to balance the impossible. Because this really IS impossible to have the best of all worlds. And that goes for nearly all services in life. (And please don’t get me started on Carrefour...)

The only thing you can do is preparing yourself for what cost is coming, getting quotes and consulting car forums like Carnity, and trying sufficient workshops until you find the one that suits you personally. And like @Rahimdad correctly mentions, go and consult a professional for the specific task at hand. After all you don’t go and see a neurosurgeon for a grown-in toe nail.

Try to realize also that everyone needs to make money, so that workshop that looks clean, professional, and has excellent staff who can solve your problem fast, will have higher overhead costs than a mechanic in a tiny shop without staff. 

Personally I have a pretty good intuition, so I work on a basis of trust and transparency, and don’t see my mechanic as someone who is trying to rip me off from the start, but rather as a person who has the balls to run his own business with the risks involved. When my trust gets a dent, i discuss this with him and tell him to do better next time, or I move on to another shop. It’s a hard business and we all need to be the best in what we do to survive. 

 

[Barry]

On 8/29/2019 at 4:53 PM, Derick said:

Let me start with my personal issue when it comes to car repair or maintenance. There is no one place that has combination of all three criteria: Best + Cheapest + Fast.

• Dealership are the best but not the fast and cheapest.
• Small shops are fast and cheapest but they are not the best.
• Medium level specialist are moderately best in quality and fast too but not the cheapest.
• Fuel station just OK for oil change and nothing else.

Some car workshop should come up with all three combination and also offer god-damn fix price like a rock. As soon as I find some good workshop that offer almost three criteria in my next visit there prices go through the roof. 

Carrefour - do you have any plan to enter into a car workshop business? Please consider.

Share your biggest car problem now!

I disagree with most of these points. I know a few small garages in Al Quoz who receive cars from the main dealers on a regular basis because the main dealers can’t repair them. When you go to the main dealer, you are paying extra for the upkeep of their fancy showroom and clean garage. Main dealer isn’t the best option. I’m not going to name any of the dealers because of UAE defamation laws but I will say it is some high end European brands.

There are plenty of garages who do work cheap and do it properly. The market here is so cut throat that small garages end up basically working for next to nothing just to get work to keep the employees busy. Just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s bad. Not to say cheap can’t be bad.

Petrol station oil changes I totally agree with. If you take you car to a petrol station for an oil change, you must hate your car. Who knows what kind of oil they are putting in? See my 3k, 5k, 10k oil change scam thread. 

 

 

But back to the original question, my biggest problem as a car owner. Other people on the road. So many people drive with no consideration for their fellow humans. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been cut off or tailgated this week. The person in the other car is also a living breathing person so you should show them some consideration. Cutting someone off and nearly running them into a barrier to save yourself 4 seconds on your journey isn’t cool. These are the type of people who get involved in stupid accidents. Karma is a bitch.

[Barry]

19 hours ago, desertdude said:

Oh I bet Barry is going to have something to say about this.

Only valid points as usual ✌️

[Gaurav]

My personal problem is the lack of honesty from mechanic's here. I don't mind paying mechanic or workshop premium for honesty as far they exactly do what it should be. Some mechanic's are dishonest and others are uneducated resulting same for car owners to keep hit an trial until the actual problem get fixed. What's the point of spending 3000 dhs for the cause of 100 dhs problem and if someone can charge 100+100 premium for fancy workshop or honesty Im fine, as I will still save 2800 in end.

I have been too close to several mechanic in past and when  you see them ripping layman your heart cries.

• Guy came with wobbling complaint in front of me and that mechanic advise him to leave the car and come in evening and in 500 dhs he will fix the problem. Once owner left he showed me that one of rear tire lug (nut) was missing and he need to replace that for 20 dhs. If he would have done that in front of customer he will only get 50 dhs in place of 500. Damn after seeing such nice trade secret, I left that mechanic.
• Another mechanic friend charged 1000 dhs for computer (ECU) reprogramming by changing 4 spark plugs that was acting funny.
• Another mechanic changed 10 parts in place of 1 knock sensor, as he will make ton of labor and commission on parts money before changing the actual faulty knock sensor - some are genuinely not technically capable and others are pure evil. And this was evil as they were 20 years experience in maintaining Land Rover's only and cannot scan the error code first before changing 10 unwanted parts.....?
• Changing most consumable items are the pet for fake mechanics - be it changing oil, tires, brake pads, brake disc, belts, hoses, fluids etc. As none of them has a set life that normal owner can easily identify - its mostly depending on mechanics judgement.
• Another is the scare tactics, you go for small job and then that mechanic point another area of concern if left unattended your car will explode in million pieces "right now" and make you believe that thank god that mechanic spotted that issue in time and you should fix it right now. After all It's all in the mind and people make you fool in jiffy to make their living - its no less than a conman does.

[Barry]

19 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

My personal problem is the lack of honesty from mechanic's here. I don't mind paying mechanic or workshop premium for honesty as far they exactly do what it should be. Some mechanic's are dishonest and others are uneducated resulting same for car owners to keep hit an trial until the actual problem get fixed. What's the point of spending 3000 dhs for the cause of 100 dhs problem and if someone can charge 100+100 premium for fancy workshop or honesty Im fine, as I will still save 2800 in end.

I have been too close to several mechanic in past and when  you see them ripping layman your heart cries.

• Guy came with wobbling complaint in front of me and that mechanic advise him to leave the car and come in evening and in 500 dhs he will fix the problem. Once owner left he showed me that one of rear tire lug (nut) was missing and he need to replace that for 20 dhs. If he would have done that in front of customer he will only get 50 dhs in place of 500. Damn after seeing such nice trade secret, I left that mechanic.
• Another mechanic friend charged 1000 dhs for computer (ECU) reprogramming by changing 4 spark plugs that was acting funny.
• Another mechanic changed 10 parts in place of 1 knock sensor, as he will make ton of labor and commission on parts money before changing the actual faulty knock sensor - some are genuinely not technically capable and others are pure evil. And this was evil as they were 20 years experience in maintaining Land Rover's only and cannot scan the error code first before changing 10 unwanted parts.....?
• Changing most consumable items are the pet for fake mechanics - be it changing oil, tires, brake pads, brake disc, belts, hoses, fluids etc. As none of them has a set life that normal owner can easily identify - its mostly depending on mechanics judgement.
• Another is the scare tactics, you go for small job and then that mechanic point another area of concern if left unattended your car will explode in million pieces "right now" and make you believe that thank god that mechanic spotted that issue in time and you should fix it right now. After all It's all in the mind and people make you fool in jiffy to make their living - its no less than a conman does.

Don’t blame the mechanic. Blame the manager who pushes the mechanic to find non existent faults to increase profits. 

This is an ideal opportunity to open a carnity owned garage where the customer will get a proper diagnosis, they will get charged a proper labour rate and they won’t get ripped off. 

Carnity garage could be a big thing