How do garages work regarding getting a quote for work?
I have an old car (1988 Escort), I want to keep it for a good while, hopefully maintain / restore it learning as I go along.
Thing is, theres a bit of trouble with the engine and at this stage with no tools and no real experience of working on cars, I cant put a finger on the problem and want to get a qualified mechanic to take a look.
Do I just go to a garage and say what I think the problem is and get them to give me a definate answer to what the problemis and tell me how much it will cost to fix it?
Will this cost me anything, if so, how much?
Because if it turns out the problem is major and is gona cost hundreds then i'll scrap the car and start over.
But I dont want to be charged a load of cash for the mechanic to not do any actual work on the car other than giving it a look and then telling me I'm better off scraping it.
Thanks.
Oh im in Glasgow, Scotland btw incase things work differently around the world.
You take the car to them and tell then exactly what you want them to do and they tell you how much that will cost.
You make sure that if there are any deviations to this that they call you to OK it or not first.
It might cost you to find out a repair cost, it might be easy and they give you a price there and then with only a few seconds look at the car. Depends what the problem is. . Even after doing that and giving you the best indication of the price when they get into a job other things can become apparent that may cost more money.
The rule is if they do physical work on the car of any sort, even just to diagnose a problem, then you pay regardless of whether you like the answer. You would not do work for them without pay so you can hardly expect them to work for free for you now can you?
