It is inevitable that the warranty you get with your brand new car eventually runs out and then you need to get your car serviced. This is usually followed by the decision of where to get it done from, and most people believe that the safest option is an ‘authorized’ dealership garage, such as a Hyundai Service Center.
But if you have the option of getting a good mechanic, who would do a much efficient job, and at the same time help you save a lot of money, would you still prefer an ‘authorized’ service centre near you?
As exposed recently, a Maruti Baleno at an Authorised Maruti Suzuki Service Center, got only a car wash and nothing else in the name of repair and full servicing. It is not possible for a car owner to be present in the garage at all times and they take advantage of the customers’ trust and reliability.
As observed through several incidents, authorized service stations often work with zero transparency using unethical means to deceit customers, including component replacement without customer’s consent, forgery in the diagnostics sheet to increase the services needed and much more. Several harassment complaints have been filed against these big centres for mishandling cars and manipulating customers.
Both might have certain pros and cons, but going into the details, it is clear that the decision of choosing a garage for car service and repair is a no-brainer.
For a start, here is how they operate on a daily basis.
Authorised Service Centers
Dealership units work on hundreds of vehicles each month and they specialize in repairing and maintaining one particular car brand only.
Under dealership, if your car is under a warranty, the manufacturer covers the cost of most of the repairs, only in the warranty period.
Independent Garage
These are comparatively smaller garages, where proper attention and care is given to your car with multiple brands under consideration.
This way, the customers can meet directly with their mechanic and provide them with inputs regarding the problems and custom repair in their vehicles, at a cheaper rate.
Some independent repair centres also honour third-party warranties. Independent mechanics are obviously ranked higher than dealership servicing for their customer satisfaction, price, quality, courteousness and on-time repairs.
As communication is a vital part of getting your requirements processed, it can be easier to build a personal relationship with the independent garages, as you speak directly with the mechanics. You can even ask them beforehand and request a quote for your enquiry in any domain, be it AC cooling, denting or gearbox repair or even if you are not sure what is wrong with your car. Independent garages answer to you and put your preferences as the top priority as they have no loyalty to the manufacturers.
The only advantage with authorised dealership departments is that they can offer you manufacturer-backed extended warranties. This also means you’ll be paying higher prices for their services.
These service centres are mandated strictly to use factory-made equipment and parts from the manufacturer. Definitely, this ensures high quality, but if a part is out of stock, the shipping times can be long and the prices higher. Corporate relationships weigh more than customer satisfaction for them.
From jacking up the bills to the unsatisfactory customer feedback to an increased propensity to delivering shoddy work, there are a lot of major issues with your service centres for which they should be abandoned.
On the other hand, independent centres offer you personalised and cheap service at the same time. With technological assistance, and car servicing portals such as GoMechanic, you can get your car serviced for you absolutely effortlessly.
We at GoMechanic offer high-quality car services such as scheduled maintenance, dry cleaning, polishing etc. at a cost-benefit of up to 40% over Authorised Service Centers.
GoMechanic has 50+ workshops across Delhi-NCR and services 3500+ cars every month and is even the “Preferred Car Care Partner” for Uber.
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Read Next: 5 Ways Authorised Car Service Centres Are Cheating You!
[…] Also Read: Choose GoMechanic Over Authorised Service Centres […]
Thanks for Great Article, for sharing content and such nice information for me. I hope you will share some more content about. Please keep sharing!
“As exposed recently, a Maruti Baleno at an Authorised Maruti Suzuki Service Center, got only a car wash and nothing else in the name of repair and full servicing. It is not possible for a car owner to be present in the garage at all times and they take advantage of the customers’ trust and reliability.”
How does GoMechanic ensure that the actual treatment has been done properly, because we are still not present at the workshop during the servicing?
When you book your car service With GoMechanic, you can be assured of 100% transparency and accountability. You (and your car) will be assigned a dedicated Service Buddy who will be providing you timely updates with photographs of the service progress and any parts (if replaced). Your dedicated Service Buddy is always at your service and you can reach them anytime any day. Hope this helped 🙂