5 Things You Should Never Say To A Car Mechanic

Car mechanics are trained professionals who, at the end of the day, are just trying to help you. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who unknowingly slow down or altogether prevent a successful visit to the car mechanic because they don’t realize that there are certain things you’re not supposed to bother them with. 

Sometimes it’s hard. With the internet making information, both helpful and misleading, so readily available, plenty of people can devote hours to YouTube tutorials and blog articles about how to fix their cars and end up thinking they know more than the experts. Well, unless you actually want to make a career pivot and become a car mechanic, it’s just best to leave it to the professionals. 

We’ll take a look at some of the most crucial things you should avoid saying to your car mechanic.

It’s easy enough to purchase replacement parts for your car online. However, the actual easiness of the process doesn’t guarantee you’ll receive quality parts. Sometimes the parts you end up purchasing only serve to put your car in that much worse of a place than where it was. If a replacement part jumps out at you when you’re browsing around online because it’s so unbelievably cheap, you should be suspicious. 

Then, if you actually go ahead with purchasing your own replacement parts, not every mechanic will be on board with fitting the parts you purchased. Most mechanics prefer to do the shopping around for the necessary replacement parts themselves. At the very least, make sure you check in with your mechanic to avoid wasting any extra money. 

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Trying to YouTube tutorial your way into becoming a self-taught car mechanic is comparable to trying to WebMD your way into becoming a “knowledgable” yet unlicensed doctor. It just doesn’t work out. Yes, you can learn some helpful stuff, and it can even end up being a fun hobby. However, there’s an ocean of a difference between being well versed in car mechanic DIY videos and actually being a professional car mechanic. And the last thing you want to ever do is to disregard your car mechanic’s advice, and instead trust something that you saw on a viral YouTube clip.

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Just because you can purchase the necessary car part online or in a store, doesn’t mean that you’d have any realistic shot at being able to fit that part onto your car. In fact, you might even end up putting yourself in harm’s way if you tried. There will always be a necessary and entirely reasonable installation fee whenever your car mechanic has to spend the extra time and resources to ensure that any parts you purchased are properly installed onto your car.

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Even if you aren’t out hitting the road for big trips, your car will wear down over time. Then, you've got to remember that there may come a day when you want to trade in or sell your car. So, if you failed to get your car into the shop for anything remotely close to regular maintenance, your car is only going to go down in value. 

Or, as a worst-case scenario you could end up with a useless piece of junk that just takes up space in front of your home.

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Oh boy, just as backseat driving can drive someone insane, so too can being a helicopter customer. Think of it in this way. You and plenty of other people out there don’t enjoy being micromanaged while trying to do your jobs. So, can you imagine someone coming into your office and hovering over you to offer you advice, while they’ve never actually worked a day in your shoes? Yeah, not an ideal situation at all. Leave your car mechanic be, and don’t stress them out or irritate them.

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