To visit a car service, you need to prepare. Wash the car, especially carefully in the places of the planned repair. Remove everything superfluous from it. Turn off the alarm and unscrew the secret bolts, putting them in a conspicuous place. Cover the seats with old covers, a clean rag or polyethylene. Some drivers leave a bottle of mineral water in a conspicuous place, thereby showing respect for the people who will take care of your car. Try your best to make future work easier. If the car has additional electrical equipment (power windows, additions to the ignition system, etc.), leave the schemes or warn about their presence.
Be prepared to clearly describe the damage that needs to be repaired, and ask you to check the operation of the parts that need to be repaired in front of you. Do not make a diagnosis yourself, and even more so do not give categorical recommendations. If you say, for example: «Tension the timing belt», you just pull it, and after a few days the tension roller bearing will collapse and, for example, the entire cylinder head will fail. Ask the master to listen to the engine (see pendant) and decide together which parts need to be replaced and which parts need to be repaired. Agree on a list of replacement items and specify who purchases them. If the service takes responsibility for the quality of the parts (especially difficult), it is better to entrust their purchases to him, even if this slightly increases the cost of repairs. When buying parts yourself, choose the best of what is available. Do not save on trifles - nuts, caps, covers, «rubber bands» and in general all disposable parts. Their replacement not only improves the quality of the repair, but also greatly simplifies it, and at the same time cheers up those who directly repair it. If you have no idea how this or that malfunction is fixed, do not be too lazy to open the instructions or repair manual and at least in general terms get to the bottom of the matter. This will give you credibility in the eyes of the mechanic, make him work more carefully, and allow you to control the progress of the work. If you have the opportunity and desire, be present during the repair, or at least regularly inquire about its progress. In the process of work, many small questions arise: do not do, change do not change. It is better if they are solved immediately. In addition, defects are revealed, which will then be very difficult to eliminate, but at the moment it is possible. For example, when a fender or rear panel is changed, an unsightly picture of corrosion of surrounding elements opens up (for vehicles previously subjected to body repair), it is easy to eliminate it along the way, but it must be agreed with the customer, since this requires additional costs on his part. Observe the work unobtrusively, do not stand over your soul. Finding and eliminating many «individual» problems happen by trial and error, and no one wants anyone to see that he is wrong. At the same time, be prepared to answer questions that arise or explain something to the master. In addition, only you know what kind of oil is poured into the engine and what kind of polish was used to process the body.
Try to control the quality of work in stages. A minor body defect, not specified in the initial calculation, is much easier to eliminate before priming than after painting.
Specify immediately the warranty period, the procedure for filing claims. Especially many questions arise about the quality of painting. For example, GOST allows light shagreen for this type of work, the presence of small weeds, but does not allow paint streaks. Our advice is don't demand a very smooth surface. It is easy to get by putting a thin layer of paint. In addition, in this case, there will be no streaks, while light shagreen, indicating a thick layer, can be polished, and the presence of a small streak even in an inconspicuous place will significantly reduce the cost of work.
Nothing lasts forever, but you probably won’t be satisfied if, say, the paint peels off immediately after the warranty period has expired. It will be better if you buy (consulting with those who will work) consumables and some specific tools that may not be in the mid-level workshop. For example, if you have ever used silicone polish on your car, purchase a special product to remove it. Some polishes containing Teflon are not removed by anything, so it is necessary to remove all the paint with a special remover. Purchase only the best quality anti-corrosion primers, preferably two-component epoxy primers known to pass the salt spray test satisfactorily.
When visiting the workshop for the first time, think about the fact that a visit here will probably not be the last. Therefore, make sure that the next repair delivers less inconvenience to mechanics: ask the master to treat threaded and other connections with silicone grease before final assembly. Her, like the universal penetrating liquid (type WD-40), it is best to always have in the trunk.
Do not bargain after you have been called the final price, but first ask for a detailed calculation for certain types of work. Here it makes sense to discuss it in more detail in order to eliminate double payment for the same work. So, if it is necessary to replace the brake pads and the brake cylinder, the prices for these works cannot be automatically summed up, since to replace the cylinder it is already necessary to remove the wheel and, for example, the brake drum.
When carrying out a large, technically complex and expensive repair, offer to conclude a written contract. The repair contract must specify the procedure for filing claims and the warranty period for the operations performed. In this case, the conditions must comply with the normative act «Rules for the provision of services for the maintenance and repair of motor vehicles», approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 11, 2001 No. 290, and not contradict Art. 730–739 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on household contracts. All this should be in the hands of the client with a copy of the order or invoice. Do not forget to specify the number of the license or certificate of registration indicating the exact legal address of the car service.
In case of low-quality repairs, you can make a claim to the company in accordance with the law «On consumer protection». If the warranty period is not specified, a claim in writing is accepted within 6 months, and if it is not satisfied within 10 days, feel free to sue. If it is not possible to verbally agree with the service and the administration refuses to accept the claim (the document must be in two copies; on the second, remaining with the client, they must sign for receipt of a written claim), send it by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt and description of the attachment. If this service refuses to eliminate the deficiencies, it is possible to carry out repairs elsewhere, and include the cost of the work in the claim for damages with the attachment of financial documents and an examination certificate with the obligatory indication that the cause of the breakdown or malfunction is a low-quality repair. Well, for litigation, the participation of a lawyer and an independent expert on your part is desirable.
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