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SALT LAKE CITY — Car repairs can dent your wallet, but they're a must. The U.S. Census Bureau says 86 percent of Americans rely on a car to get to work.
Car owners have two basic choices for repair: a dealership or an independent garage. Many car owners say they are happier going with the mom-and-pop option, according to one report.
The Great Recession may have officially ended years ago, but Americans are driving older cars in record numbers. The side effect is repairs and lots of them.
So, Consumer Reports asked the owners of over 120,000 repaired cars about their mechanics.
The magazine's editors found drivers are generally more happy with mom-and-pop shops compared to dealers. With few exceptions, independent garages outscored their dealer counterparts in all categories including price, quality, staff friendliness and timeliness of repairs.
The biggest gripe among car owners was price, it was reported.
Consumer Reports says because many mom-and-pop shops do not have the same overhead as their dealer counterparts, they often offer better prices and better focus on customers.
But whether you take your car to a mechanic at an independent garage or to the dealer, there's one thing you can do to save money: haggle. Most car owners who negotiated for a price break say they got one: usually around $100, according to the magazine.
One car maker outscored all the other dealers and mom-and-pop shops: Tesla. Consumer Reports attributes some of that to Tesla being new, with a relatively small number of drivers to keep happy.
