Tips to Find a Reliable Auto Repair Company

We often hear this “Where do I get a good vehicle repair company?” Earlier days, it was word of mouth, which was in fact the best way of finding an auto repair company. But nowadays, it is only a few clicks of mouse or touchscreen taps to find a reliable auto repair company.

The crowdsourced review sites have really simplified the efforts of searching. Here are some tips on how to make use of these sites for finding a good auto repair shop in your area.

Yelp

Yelp is a site, which connects people with reliable and great businesses, whether it is a friendly cleaning service or a new restaurant. And fortunately for the car owners, its the auto repair services reviews. The site has a mobile version and is free plus there are apps for Apple and Android mobile devices. To narrow down your search, you just need to type 'vehicle repair services in South Headland' for example and enter the ZIP code. The results will be filtered based on distance, rates and reviews. Your goal must be to find a company that has a good rating as well as a good number of reviews.

Angie's List

This site takes pride in itself on having a thorough vetting method for its reviews, which usually cover everything from home repair to automotive listings and also wedding planning. It was found in one search that was done for an area that Angie's List listed a number of automotive repair shops nearby but the reviews volume lacked in comparison to Yelp. However, small number of reviews may be a good as well as a bad sign. The chance of falsified reviews drop considerably but simultaneously, its difficult for the customers to get a feel for the shop which has so less feedback. 

Google

The huge database of Google will give the greatest number of search results but they may need a few extra filtering for being useful. You will need to type 'auto repair services in South Hedland' along with the ZIP code into the search box to find repair shops down the page with their address on the right hand side of the listing. However, Google has its own scoring system as well as reviews.

Other Sources

Citysearch.com and Yellowpages.com are two other popular sources. Reviews on these two sites are quite spotty in terms of the quantity. They are useful for those who like researching a shop completely.

Message Boards

Enthusiast message boards that are dedicated to a specific car make as well as model have forum threads quite often. Here the members usually discuss about their independent repair shops and the local dealerships. The forum members give recommendations and share their experiences. To make your choice, you can apply the same filtering that you make with other review sites.

The final tip

No matter how popular these crowdsourced reviews have become, the word of mouth recommendation is still a very effective tool. But remember it must be from someone who you can trust.