Popular Mechanics: Find Twin Cities Area's Top Auto Repair Shops

New cars are hot commodities right now. A global microchip shortage has drastically slowed factory output and created a historical seller’s market. The shortage of vehicles means many buyers sit on waiting lists and there’s little-to-no room to negotiate. While they wait for the market to stabilize, many drivers are keeping their old autos longer. If your old ride needs professional maintenance or other repairs, it’s important to select a shop that will give you top-notch service and fair prices.

Nonprofit Twin Cities Consumers’ Checkbook’s evaluation of 328 local shops includes ratings for quality and price. Checkbook’s ratings are based on more than 14,000 ratings it collected by surveying area consumers; a review of consumer-agency complaint records; more than 1,300 price checks by its undercover shoppers; and other sources. Until Jan. 5, Checkbook is offering free access to its ratings of local auto repair shops to Patch readers via this link: Checkbook.org/PatchTWN/auto-repair.

Fortunately, many shops were rated “superior” for overall quality by 90 percent or more of their surveyed customers. But there are also others you’ll want to steer clear of: Dozens of the businesses Checkbook evaluated got such favorable ratings from fewer than 60 percent of their surveyed customers.

Checkbook’s ratings of area shops include a separate rating for price, derived from price quotes collected by its undercover shoppers for several carefully constructed repair jobs. You want to be sure a shop charges fair prices before you bring in your car because, like with most repair work, it is difficult to shop for price before you know exactly what needs to be done.

Checkbook’s undercover shoppers found dramatic shop-to-shop price differences. or example, to replace the water pump for a 2014 Ford Escape, they found prices ranging from $270 to $649 among Twin Cities area shops. Hourly labor rates range from $80 to $190.

If you know what repairs you need, you can compare prices from shop to shop on your own by calling a handful for quotes. Checkbook’s shoppers found it was surprisingly easy to get price quotes from auto repair shops over the phone. If you don’t know what work is needed, call one or more shops and describe the symptoms—what the car is doing or not doing. Shops might be able to tell you over the phone what’s likely to be wrong and quote a price. If so, get quotes from several shops.

When shops can’t determine what’s wrong with your car based on your description, you’ll have to take it in for a diagnosis and estimate. Then, with estimate in hand—and assuming the diagnosis is correct—check with other shops to see if the shop’s price is fair. You don’t have to pay more for good service: In fact, low-priced shops were more likely to receive high marks from their surveyed customers than high-priced shops.

Many consumers believe dealers offer better repair service due to access to proprietary knowledge, sophisticated diagnostic software, and high-tech tools, not available at independent garages. That’s not true. In fact, Checkbook found the opposite: On average, shops operated by non-dealers were far more likely to satisfy their customers than dealerships—and offered lower prices.

Both dealers and non-dealers subscribe to the same databases that provide repair instructions, diagrams, and news from manufacturers. Although many car dealerships feature spacious, nifty-looking workstations, independents have access to the same tools and equipment. Despite what dealerships would have you believe, local garages can access the same information, software, and equipment. Checkbook’s advice: If the work you need is not covered by a new-car warranty, use an independent shop.

With any shop, communication is critical. You should:

• Give the shop a detailed written description of your car’s symptoms. But distinguish between what you know and what you think you know. If you know what needs to be repaired, tell the shop, but don’t guess. If you mention a specific problem—say, a bad alternator—the shop may replace a perfectly good alternator (and charge you for it), before fixing what is actually wrong.
• If possible, speak with the repair technician who will be working on your car. Service write-up personnel at large shops often know very little about car repair, and those who do know car repair may not be able to describe your car’s symptoms to a repair technician as well as you can.
• Either get a written estimate in advance or write on the repair ticket that no work is to be done without your approval based on a written estimate.
• Get a written, dated invoice that details charges for parts and labor, and the vehicle’s odometer reading.
• Pay by credit card—you can dispute the charges if things go wrong and the shop isn’t responsive.
• If the car is still not right when you get it back, immediately inform the shop, preferably in writing.

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Twin Cities Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help consumers get the best service and lowest prices. We are supported by consumers and take no money from the service providers we evaluate. See ratings of local auto repair shops for quality and price free of charge until Jan. 5 at Checkbook.org/PatchTWN/auto-repair.