Finding
a Transmission Shop
by Austin Davis of TrustMyMechanic.com
Reader
Question: I
am having trouble finding a transmission shop, what
should I be looking for?
Dear
concerned car owner,
My
answer is very simple, ask questions, ask questions!
In the transmission business, there is a lot of room
for the shop to, well... be dishonest. Some transmission
shops in my area are trustworthy and very good at what
they do. Now let's define what is good, and what is
bad.
Just
as I've stressed throughout my eBook, you need to find
someone you can trust and believe. You will probably
only set foot in the transmission shop once during the
life of your car. Thank God for that. Most car transmissions
are made to last the life of the vehicle if properly
maintained and serviced regularly. Most automatic transmissions
have a filter that should be replaced, and the fluid
changed periodically. Check the owner's manual for service
interval, but a good rule of thumb is to change the
filter and the fluid every 25,000 miles under normal
conditions.
What
are normal conditions you ask? The owners manual will
usually list what they feel is normal and severe driving
conditions in the scheduled maintenance section of the
manual. I have found that the term "severe driving
condition" usually refers to having the air conditioning
on while the engine is running. If this was the case,
it might suggest that you service the transmission every
30 days to avoid premature wear and internal damage.
The
manufacturers do a great job at protecting their rears
from lawsuits, and will sometimes be a little too protective,
so also ask your mechanic for his opinion. If you are
in need of transmission work, you should ask your regular
repair shop if they do transmission repairs in house
or subcontract the work to another shop. If your regular
repair shop is willing to send the car to their transmission
shop, let them do it for you.
My
shop does not do automatic transmission repairs inhouse.
We have used the same transmission shop for 25 years,
and for the most part have had good experience. We mark
up the price of the transmission work just enough to
cover the cost of handling and the overall hassle we
go through to get transmission repairs for our good
customers. Trust me, we do not make a great deal of
profit doing this.
We
do this for our good customers. The customer who has
been down the transmission shop road before knows he/she
does not want the hassle. As I write this portion of
the book, I think of the three cars that we have at
the transmission shop right now that were supposed to
have been ready two days ago. Who does the customer
call/complain to? Not the transmission shop. My shop
is also the one you bring the car back to for any warranty
problems that you might have with your transmission.
It is nice to know that the shop that you regularly
do your repair business with is the middleman for you.
Our
transmission shop will always back us in a questionable
warranty situation, and we have much more pull than
you would as a one-time customer. If you are calling
around for price quotes on transmission work, I wish
you luck. I have called around my area to check out
what the competition is doing, and even I cannot figure
out what these guys are doing. Especially when it comes
to transmission work- do not go on price alone.
Not
until your car is in the transmission shop and your
transmission is on the floor and torn apart in many
pieces will they give you the exact total. I can tell
you, after many phone calls in my area, there is a big
difference in price, almost double in some shops! Once
these guys get your transmission on the floor and you
signed that work order we talked about earlier, you
are at their mercy. I really liked talking to the transmission
shops that were honest and up front about their pricing,
and what they would probably find inside the transmission
of my 80,000 mile car that had never been serviced and
had been making this strange noise for the last couple
of weeks.
If
it is going to cost $1,400 dollars, tell me now. Do
not sway me in at $800 dollars and work me up to $1,600
dollars later. This is what usually happens. If you
need transmission work, get the worst-case scenario
up frontso you will not be disappointed in the end.
Things to look for at a transmission shop: Look in the
parking lot for vehicles that appear to be abandoned.
I always wonder how many of these cars came in on those
inexpensive loss-leader ads, and the final bill ended
up being so much that the owner had to forfeit ownership
of the car-or just left it rather than pay.
What
is the average age of vehicle in the parking lot? If
most of the cars are 10 to 15 years old, they might
not be qualified to work on your newer model. I want
my mechanic to be experienced with cars just like mine.
Do you see any company vehicles that you recognize?
Companies that are well established usually have a fleet
manager who is in charge of maintaining the company's
vehicles. Do those companies have a good reputation
in the community?
Most
fleet managers go by price first and warranty second,
and overall quality is not as important as getting the
cars back on the road fast and cheap. The fleet manager
wants to keep his/her budget under control, and keep
the vehicles on the road. Government or city vehicles
in the parking lot tell me that the shop was the low
bidder, and will probably do the least amount of work
just to get those vehicles back on the road. My best
advice to you when it comes to transmissions is to maintain
your transmission and service it as needed to hopefully
avoid having to deal with transmission shops
Sincerely,
Austin
C Davis
