If you’re not trained in car mechanics, you may find it to be a puzzling thing to know exactly when the noise or rattle or smell coming from your car is just a fluke or something serious that you should pay attention to. It’s kind of like knowing when to go to the doctor. Do you go get checked out for that abdominal pain, or do you say to yourself, “It’s nothing, it’ll pass”? Making the wrong judgment call when it’s appendicitis is a hugely different thing than when you have a bit of gas or bloating.
We’ve seen the same gamut of personality types when it comes to dealing with a vehicle that needs fixing. Here are a couple of the different profiles that we’ve seen for people’s approach to discovering what’s wrong with the vehicle.
You take your car in for every little sniffle
This person is someone who takes note of every tiny new sound, rattle, or vibration that the car makes, and brings it to the mechanic to check out what’s wrong. While it’s true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, this can be a great opportunity for a disreputable vehicle repair shop to “find” something wrong with the car whether or not there is any problem, and, of course, charge you money for it. If this is your style, you need an honest repair shop who will not try to sell you a repair you don’t need. Can you imagine how refreshing it is to ask your auto mechanic if you need a part replaced and hear them tell you, “No, you don’t”? While there might be some people in the world who can just pay for their vehicle repair no matter how many times their shop tells them they need it, most people simply don’t have that kind of money. No, not even in Vegas.
You go a few days and maybe try to DIY it before you see a mechanic
This is a decent approach for many vehicle owners, and in many cases, it can work well to save you money if your problem or rattle or squeal goes away and your car continues to run just fine. If you keep your vehicle regularly maintained with oil changes and other recommended updates on schedule, it will probably last you a long time and need minimal repairs. Also, depending on your mechanical inclinations, you may be able to effectively DIY some simple tasks. What we’d recommend if you’re in this group is this: Become familiar with the things that you should NEVER wait or go a few days to get them checked out. Here are just a few:
- Y/contact have steam, water vapor, smoke, or flames coming from your vehicle.
You drive your car into the ground and never get it checked
Here at Asian Imports Plus, we don’t recommend this strategy. You might be able to keep your vehicle running longer and save money in the long run by becoming more in tune with what your vehicle is telling you and getting regular maintenance and timely repairs.
No matter what your style of vehicle maintenance, here at Asian Imports Plus, we have you covered with honest, reputable, and skilled auto repair for both foreign and domestic vehicles. Give us a call today.
