Motor mechanics give pals and pensioners the best price

Big-hearted motor mechanics regularly slash their prices to offer discounts to pensioners, a new survey has revealed.

And what’s more, despite their sometimes dodgy image, mechanics never increase their prices for women or for anyone they suspect knows little about cars, the poll of 500 mechanics by RepairACar.co.uk found.

In fact one per cent of the mechanics surveyed had lowered prices for ladies – charging women drivers less than men for the same job.

And almost one in ten mechanics had cut their prices for senior citizens, with eight per cent saying they liked to offer pensioners a preferential rate.

But the very best rates are reserved for friends and family, with 18 per cent of mechanics happy to do a job for free for a mate or relative, and 82 per cent saying they’d repair a friend’s car for a much cheaper rate.

None of the mechanics surveyed would admit to ever increasing their prices for any driver, although some said they had been tempted on occasions when faced with tricky customers.

Ross Edwards from RepairACar.co.uk, said: “Mechanics have suffered a bad press in the past and I think we’ve all left a garage at some point wondering whether they’ve charged us too much for a job or whether all four tyres really needed replacing.

“Most of us are clueless when it comes to looking after our cars and rely on their expertise to make sure any problems are picked up and sorted out. Without them, we’d be stuck.

“These survey results prove that mechanics are a more honest bunch than we give them credit for – and are particularly generous when it comes to friends and family.

“It’s a nice touch that pensioners are most likely to get the discounts. After all, these are probably among the most careful drivers and the most loyal customers to a particular garage.”

RepairACar.co.uk works by helping customers find a garage to carry out repairs and maintenance. Customers submit their enquiry to the site, it sends those details via text to garages in the local area and the garages then call the customer to find out more and provide a quote.

This means the customer will receive a number of quotes, with very little effort, and all they have to do is select the one that works for them.

Ross continued: “The way the site works means the garages which are charging too much, or ones that do not come across as particularly honest, don’t get the work, and ultimately will drop off the site. Those that are competitive and offer a good service will remain and continue to pick up more work.

“It’s win, win for the customer – we’ll have only the best garages on the site so they can be sure they’ll always get a great job done.”

Author: Faye Sunderland, February 18th, 2011
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