We get a lot of calls here at Precision Auto with a wide variety of really good questions. One of the most frequent questions we get is "How much is it to install my part?". Today I want to take some time to explain why we don't install customer supplied parts and why it may not be in your best interest to do that at all.
5. Wrong Part
People regularly shop for parts online. This isn't necessarily an issue if you know what you're looking for. The problem is that the average consumer doesn't. So they end up getting the wrong part.
In these situations, most of what we see is a part that doesn't even go in their car or a part that won't fix the issue because no one properly tested to verify that the part being replaced is in fact faulty in the first place. The customer generally buys a part based on someone else's recommendation without any actual testing. Historically they end up getting the lowest price part with no real regard for quality. Sounds crazy but it happens a few times every single day.
4. Poor Quality Part
The same consumer using an online or local part store can be well intentioned but unintentionally misled. There are different grades for parts. Such as OEM, Generic OEM (same as OEM with the brand missing or scratched off), and aftermarket. The problem is that these part levels can vary greatly in overall cost, quality, and in a lot of cases Knock Off parts are passed off as OEM without the consumer having any idea that they've been dooped until it's too late.
3. Wasting Time and Money
Your time is valuable. Going for a "free code scan" at a part store (which isn't even remotely a diagnosis and you can learn more about that here) or researching your issue can take a lot of time and really wear on your patience. Add in any time spent to try and fix an issue based on poor advice and you have a recipe for a frustrated consumer.
2. Warranty and Insurance Issues
If a customer were to bring a steak to a restaurant and request the restaurant to cook it. What happens if the steak is tough? Is the restaurant responsible or is the consumer? Same goes for auto repair shops that install parts the consumer provides. That shop not only has no control over how long that part will last, they also have no control over whether it will fix a customer's issue or not.
One of our main reasons for not installing the customer's part is that there's no guarantee that the part will fix the issue because in most all cases they haven't allowed us to test and verify that the part will fix the issue or in most cases last more than a few weeks. In addition, most insurance companies strictly forbid using customer supplied parts.
1. Your Part Won't Fix The Issue
This is easily the most important reason why we don't install customer supplied parts. Throughout the years we have found that some people will do research online, then call us to say that they got a free "diagnostic" elsewhere which led them to purchasing some part and now they're on the hunt for a shop to install the part.
When we look at this more closely we've found that this "research" and "diagnostic" is always one of a few things. The research is generally Googling the issue and landing in some online forum, advice from a friend, or even worse is advice from a self proclaimed expert on a Facebook Forum. The fact of the matter here is that good technicians rarely sit in online forums waiting to answer questions, mainly because they're working.
As for the "free diagnostic" that they received elsewhere, it's worth about as much as they paid for it. Part stores that offer a code scan for free are just trying to sell parts, whereas a repair shop is trying to solve your problem and fix the issue. There's a big difference!.
There's also a huge difference in the process between actually testing a vehicle to find an issue and what part stores do. You can read more about that here.
Is your car broken?
We're here to help. Our Technicians are ready to handle any issues your car may have and we back most repairs with our 3 year 36,000 mile warranty. This way should something go wrong we simply handle any issues that pop up, should they pop up at all. It's really pretty seamless.
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