Objective / Main message
No need to scroll to the bottom to get the point of this article; let me provide it up front to get it out of the way right now, before we go into the "why."
It is as follows: don't take your car to the nearest shop, take it to one which has experience & specialization in your particular make and model. This is actually the most convenient and prudent thing to do in the long run for the well-being of your investment in a powerfully engineered European car.
Transition in/hookTo understand why this is so important for you as an owner of a European car, let me provide one of the best stories that illustrate this point.
Going to the nearest auto repair shop in Brooklyn is a trap too many car owners in the borough succumb to, because of the false sense sense that this is the most convenient route.
Why drive an extra 15 minutes to a shop when there's one right around the corner, right?
But, as an owner of a European car, you should not take your investment to the nearest shop, rather the best shop in Brooklyn for European cars.
Specialization in your particular car, honesty, integrity, and expert mechanics who know all the ins and outs of your car are factors that should trump proximity every time as far as you're concerned. This is because in the long run, you will avoid costly repairs that could run in the thousands, which would be a far larger inconvenience than an extra 10-15 minutes of driving.
The trade-off of adding 15 minutes to your drive to a repair shop to save thousands of dollars in the future is a no brainer.
One of the best examples that illustrates this point is the story of one customer who came in here to MINHS Automotive for the first time approximately a year ago.
Hers is the textbook case for why you should never view taking your car to the nearest shop as a convenience, and taking it to a shop slightly further away as an inconvenience. In the long run, the invert of that assumption will prove to be true. And that is a hard lesson you want to avoid.
Context About a month ago, a new customer came into our shop looking for answers concerning some symptoms her BMW was experiencing. She was a mother of two living in Bay Ridge Brooklyn and worked full-time. So needless to say, she was busy and time was precious.Before buying this BMW, she owned a Honda and would take it to the nearest auto repair shop to her home. For years they did a great job and she had nothing but positive experiences with them. So when she bought the BMW, in her mind, there was no reason to take it to any other shop.This shop was just around the corner from home and always did a good job with her Honda. So if and when her new BMW needed maintenance or had a problem that required attending to, she would take it to the same shop she always went to before."Why go anywhere else? A repair shop is a repair shop," she thought.
The customer in question owned a [german car make] and would take it in to a shop that was closest to her, because she incorrectly assumed this was the convenient thing to do. She had a busy life and driving to a different neighborhood seemed like an unnecessary chore and waste of her precious time. "A repair shop is a repair shop" she thought.
ChallengeThen one day, her BMW began to experience some symptoms like [SYMPTOMS]ConflictSo shedid what she always had in the past when the car she owned needed to be looked at; she took it into that same auto repair shop. She dropped the car off and waited for the phone call from them that would explain what the issue was and what they recommended be done.and then theyAfter the shop had a chance to look at her car, the phone call came. [SYMPTOMS]and so theyand when it did, the diagnosis was not as firm as what she'd get whenever she took her Honda in to them. They "thought" the issue was [ISSUE] but it was too vague for her liking. She didn't feel the certainty she needed before she signed off on the work they were recommending. ResolutionEventually(and thankfully), as a savvy mom,she was smart enough to not allow herself to get tied down to this shop for this job, because of past work on a different make and model. Once she knew her new BMW is not a make and model they specialized in and did not customarily service, she began a search for other shops in Brooklyn that did in fact specialize in servicing BMW.After careful and meticulous research -- searching on Google, evaluating various Brooklyn shops' digital presences, reading customer reviews, combing through website content to get the sense that the shops had extensive experience with European cars -- she decided to reach out to us and schedule an appointment.2 days later she and her BMW were in our shop and a day after that she had her diagnosis: [THE DIAGNOSIS]We explained to her how and why [THE TOOR PROBLEM] was causing these issues, and what would happen in the long run if we did not get this taken care of nowLessons LearnedWhat I learned from that was . . . (That’s when I realized . . . That explains why . . . What I’ve since come to realize is . . . What I think we should have done was . . .)The lesson to take away from this customer's story is that, had she moved forward with her old shop that did not have experienced mechanics specializing in her make and model, the real problem would not have been dealt with. Left untreated, this problem would have inevitably turned into catastrophic failure that would have cost her thousands and thousands of dollars to repair.Therefore, please know that if the auto repair shop that's slightly further away is better suited to service your particular car, you shouldn't think twice about driving to them. Do not fall into trap of going to the shop that's closest to you. The 10-15 minutes of driving time you'll save in traveling to the shop, only to Recommendations/Call-to-action