Imagine waking up one morning with a stomach ache. You pick up the phone, call the doctor’s office and say, “I’ve got a really bad tummy ache. How much will it cost to make me feel better?” Of course, you wouldn’t do that. You know that there could be a lot of reasons for your symptoms and that the doctor will have to examine you, ask some questions, and probably run some tests before she can tell you what’s wrong and give you treatment options.
This same scenario plays every day at auto repair facilities. When the cause of the concern isn’t obvious, the vehicle will need to undergo a diagnostic process. The typical vehicle has about 30,000 parts, including several networked computers and miles of wiring. Finding exactly what is wrong can be very complicated and take some time. The most experienced technicians at the shop are the ones that tackle the difficult diagnostic jobs. Once they have determined the cause of the problem, they can work out the plan for how to fix it and tell you how much it will cost.
When you look at it this way, it makes perfect sense that the Service Advisor cannot provide an estimate before the diagnosis is done. At Petty Motorworks we provide a free courtesy inspection on all vehicles. Consider this equivalent to a nurse checking your vital signs and doing a visual inspection of all your body systems. At this stage, we are able to determine if your car has any glaring issues that may change your decision about future repairs. For example, you wouldn’t want to spend money on an expensive repair if your car is reaching the end of its lifespan. If we see any serious issues we will keep you in the loop. Sometimes we are able to make a diagnosis during the courtesy inspection. Other times, we might have to do more digging. Once the diagnosis is made, we will reach out so you can approve our plan of action.
We know it can be frustrating when something is wrong with your car and you aren’t sure what is going to be involved in getting it fixed. We’ll do everything we can to help you through the process; communicating with you at each step along the way. We have highly trained diagnostic technicians and state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment to uncover the cause of your problems. We use quality replacement parts to help make sure you stay on the road after the repair is done. That’s our prescription for automotive peace of mind.
