A Guide to Choosing the Best Workshop in Singapore
Finding a suitable car workshop is part and parcel of owning a car.
This decision is especially important for new secondhand car owners or firsthand car owners who have expiring car servicing packages (which typically come for free together with the car purchase).
Car owners who already have a regular workshop might also change workshops due to various reasons such as poor service or high prices.
It is common for car owners to ask relatives or people in the industry (such as auto brokers) for help. Even then, the recommendations are not perfect. This is why we put together a list of factors to consider when choosing a workshop.
We’ve organized the following factors in a “What to look out for: How to solve” format.
1) Mechanic knowledge: Select a specialist workshop
Specialist workshops tend to be more experienced with specific car makes and can often make better judgements with the right diagnostics tools.
Sometimes, this can make the difference between going to a workshop twice a year for regular servicing or going back multiple times to fix mistakes.
They may also have access to parts stockists that offer more competitive pricing. Ask us for a workshop that specializes in your car or find a specialist workshop for your car here.
2) Reasonable prices: Ask for quotations
Our study of workshop quotes and prices revealed that regular car servicing could cost from as low as $60 to as high as three times that amount or $180!
However, it is tiresome to contact 5-10 workshops just to get the best quote. By partnering with a large network of mechanics, Steer is able to provide a range of competitive quotations tailored to your requirements.
Start browsing here for pricing or chat with us to obtain quotations for the service you need.
3) Car workshop reputation: Check for reviews
Transparency and honesty are one of the most sought-after workshop attributes, according to car owners who have serviced their cars with Steer.
As car owners tend to have a lot less knowledge of cars compared to mechanics, the information asymmetry could result in a distrust during the car servicing process.
Car owners tend to surf forums and facebook pages to find out more about reputation, but even then, the information is not perfect.
Workshops that explain why a particular servicing is required tend to be perceived as having better customer service and reputation.
Steer compiles the reviews of customers who have actually serviced their cars at the workshops. You can view the workshops that are highly rated here and read reviews.
4) Convenience: Check location, opening hours and waiting time
Everyone wants their car service to be efficient. Some factors to consider for convenience include: 1) location of workshop, 2) opening hours and 3) time taken to service / waiting time.
Instead of contacting 5-10 different workshops, you find workshops that suit your timings and location at Steer.
Workshops tend cluster around industrial estates and are hard to get to. Filter workshops by location here or use our map to find a suitable workshop.
Using Steer, you can also find opening hours as well as servicing time for workshops in each individual workshop page (see an example).
The right car workshop is forever
It is important to find the right workshop as it saves you significant amounts of money and time.
At Steer, we believe car owners only have to find the right workshop once and we can help you do so here. Just tell us what you are looking for and we will match you with the right workshop.
