How do I find a good independent mechanic? | Auto Expert John Cadogan

How do you find a decent independent mechanic who can work on your brand of car? And how about the brand-specific electronic hardware he might need to get the job done?

“I’m not particularly impressed with my local Kia service centres. However, I’m not sure how to find a reliable alternative mechanic with whatever electronic equipment might be required (don’t know how much electronic servicing/testing needs to be done). Do you know of any good Perth mechanics with experience of Kia? (I have a 2016 Sportage.) Hope you can help with this.” - Sarah S

I’m in Sydney, and Sarah’s in Perth. That’s just under 4000 kilometres away, a mere 42-hour drive. (Roughly the same as driving from New York to LA.) So there’s that.

The reality is that most servicing is just inspection (of things like essential fluid levels, and components that wear out, like brakes and dampers) plus basic jobs like changing the engine oil.

I’m not trying to denigrate good mechanics by saying this - being a mechanic a hugely under-rated, highly skilled occupation. There’s a great deal of finesse involved, and you can’t be a dummy because of the significant cognitive demands of problem solving. Good mechanic: Weight in gold.

But 95 per cent of servicing is pretty basic. And even the complex jobs in servicing - like timing belt replacement - are a bit paint-by-numbers. (You don’t want to leave anything untightened, but still…)

Happily this skill set (of good mechanic-ness) is fairly portable between brands of car - especially the mainstream brands comprising most of the cars on the road.

Therefore, I’d suggest, finding a good general mechanic is more important than finding a good independent Kia specialist. The way to start here (or 42 hours’ drive away, or anywhere else in the developed world) is to ask your friends or associates.

Word of mouth is the best way to find a good local mechanic. Car dealers piss a lot of people off in the service department - there are a great many divorces, and everyone who breaks up in this way ends up hooking up with an independent mechanic. So a lot of these people have already done the research for you. Just ask around.

There’s a couple of really good reasons to be unfaithful in this way, too: A) The service department at the dealership is a business unit. A profit centre. Not that there’s anything wrong with profit. But the local independent guy: Servicing is his core business. He’s fundamentally there to do a good job and save you money by not ripping you off.

And B) You actually get to talk to him afterwards. He can say: The brakes are a bit low - come back in three months and we’ll change them out. It’ll be about $400. The dealer’s just going to give you a call and change them out now. Here’s your big bill. It’s how they roll.

And C) the local guy can find you some high-quality aftermarket parts that’ll save you money over the genuine parts the dealer uses, which are often extortionate.

Realise that this does not affect your warranty. It would be illegal to deny a warranty claim on that basis (in Australia, at least).

Speaking of warranty, the dealership is still the place for warranty claims. If you divorce your dealer, any authorised dealer, even the one you divorce, is required to handle warranty claims.

Also, once a year, ring up you local ex-dealer with the VIN code (it’s on the rego papers). Ask if there are any outstanding service campaigns or recalls on your car. Do not feel guilty about hitting up your ex-dealer for this (or warranty claims): They do all this work for you for free, but they send the parent carmaker a bill for their trouble. They are absolutely getting paid for any time or effort solving these issues for you.

At the risk of sounding like your mother, get every service done on time - this preserves your warranty and entitles you to full consumer law protection. It’s the time or distance, whichever comes first.

On this alleged specialist electronic equipment: Nearly all mainstream cars use the OBDII protocol (onboard diagnostics, Mk II). It’s a plug-in port under the dash for diagnostics, and an established industry communications protocol.

Plenty of general 3rd party scan tools will plug into a Kia and integrate for diagnostic purposes. So, your local guy can easily reset the oil dilution calibration for the engine control ECU after an oil change, or clear any fault codes for you, or reset the service due indicator - whatever.

This electronic stuff is easier than it seems.