There are some things consumers should know about automotive service and repair. First and foremost, your service center cares about you and your family’s safety. And they really appreciate your business. Your service center wants to build a trusting relationship that becomes the foundation for a mutually beneficial experience for years to come.

Building on that foundation, there are some things that would help you understand the auto service and repair business better. First, it can be really hard to fix cars. The days of shade tree mechanics are long gone. The majority of automotive systems are computerized. It takes a lot of training and very expensive equipment to diagnose and repair modern vehicles.

The technicians that work for your service center need extensive computer training – not just how to run the diagnostic systems, but also searching for the right parts, networking with other technicians to help them with a difficult problem and pulling together a job order that makes sure that each step of the process is addressed.

The threshold for getting started as a technician gets higher all the time and there is a huge commitment to on-going training every year. This training takes time and money. It contributes to business overhead. The average person may not realize the business and environmental regulations your service center must comply with. Of course that costs money too. Like any business, overhead is a big factor.

When you go into a restaurant you don’t value the meal by what the food would cost at the grocery store. The restaurant has rent, wages, insurance, taxes, utilities, professional fees, equipment, supplies – you get the picture. The restaurant has to charge enough to not only pay for the ingredients, but for all these other things as well while making enough profit to remain in business. If you value the meal and are satisfied with your dining experience, you’ll come back and tell your friends.

It’s the same for your service facility. The value of its service is not the cost of the parts they replace, but in your satisfaction with the results. If they deliver a good product at a fair price, customers are happy to see them succeed as a business.

Your service center loves to see its customers whenever they come in, but they would much rather see them three or four times a year for routine maintenance than once a year on a tow truck. They want to work together with you to avoid breakdowns. Tell your friends and family to go in for their scheduled maintenance too. That lowers the service center’s marketing costs and helps keep its labor rates down.

That’s good for everyone!

Our other videos are good for everyone, too! AutoNetTV produces great auto tips videos on automotive parts, good maintenance, and auto safety. Check them out at our online auto tips videos.

When your car breaks down, or just needs some routine service, it can make you a little nervous. Because your car’s so important to your life, you need to be back on the road as soon as possible. And, with the problem fixed right the first time.

We’ve been checking into some of the training technicians receive, and we’re very impressed. It’s amazing how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. So it’s not like when your uncle worked on his hot rod over weekend.

Today there are four cylinder engines that make more power than the V-8’s in luxury cars 20 years ago. A new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to 60 mph.

Our engines are more and more powerful and at the same time their fuel economy keeps inching up. And they’re so reliable. This is all due to engineering. But the advances come at the price of simplicity. Modern cars are so much more complex from a mechanical standpoint that it makes your head spin.

Then there’s the electronics. Some cars have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle functions as well. We take all of this sophistication for granted – but somebody has to fix it when it breaks.

It’s a real challenge for technicians to keep up. It requires a high level of commitment on the part of the technician and the service center as well. In addition to the training, there’s the financial commitment to purchase the diagnostic and repair tools as well.

So where do technicians go for training? There’re many sources. It’s usually a combination of formal classroom training, training provided in the service center by parts and equipment manufacturers, on-line courses and home study courses. There are many independent certifications available all the way up to Master Technician.

And AutoNetTV produces monthly training for service centers called The Pro Channel. If you were to watch the Pro Channel segment on re-flashing the engine control computer, you’d be amazed at how much is involved: special software, hardware interfaces and a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill.

Service centers have a lot of other resources available as well. No one can know everything, so service centers subscribe to data services, technical libraries and even on-line communities that can help them with they run into a difficult problem.

It’s like those medical diagnosis shows on TV. Here are the symptoms – what’s the diagnosis and treatment. Diagnosis is every bit as much an art as a science. As consumers, want everything to be simple, straight forward and cheap – and sometimes it just isn’t.

So, be more relaxed next time you take your car in. You really should trust your service advisor. You’re in good hands. The more you know, the more comfortable you can be with your automotive service decisions. Go to our website, AutoNetTV.com, to learn more about many service topics.

Your car is important to you and keeping it running is vital to your lifestyle. That’s why you should have it serviced regularly. And even though it may just be routine maintenance, you want it done right.

It’s also very important to your service center to keep you happy and on the road. You might be surprised at the amount of money service centers spend every year to make sure their technicians are properly trained.

Your service center offers a variety of car care services to many kinds of vehicles. They need to be up to date on the latest techniques and parts so that they can care for your car properly. Centers subscribe to data services that list the high quality parts and fluids recommended by your manufacturer.

And each service has a checklist of standard procedures. Technicians follow these procedures so they can safely deliver a consistent level of high-quality service.

Some services require the use of specialized equipment. Technicians are trained extensively on this equipment so that they can service your car quickly and efficiently.

Classroom, video and hands-on training is provided by the company and outside trainers. It’s not only important that service technicians be able to perform a given task, they also need to be thoroughly trained in inspection and diagnostic techniques. One of the great services they perform is to spot potential problems before they become serious.

The automotive service industry has standards for classifying and communicating problems to customers. For example, it’s one thing to learn that your manufacturer recommends that you change your serpentine belt every 30,000 miles and another to learn that the belt is on the verge of failure. These standards help you understand the urgency of recommendations, letting you make better service decisions.

You may be interested to know that service technicians are trained in compliance with federal and local laws and regulations, including environmental regulations regarding the disposal of used parts and fluids.

It’s the goal of your service center to provide fast, courteous service. You should feel free to ask your technician or one of the managers about your service or for more information about their recommendations.

Well-trained service providers, established procedures, industry standards, and, of course, AutoNetTV, combine to give you the best service experience possible.