Mechanics local gentlemans agreements

Old diesel

Has anyone come across the situation where mechanics have gentlemans agreements between themselves that they each cover their own area.

So if you have area A covered by a certain garage - and the next area - area B is covered by another garage - the garage in area B would be reluctant to take customers from Area A.

Does anyone else think that's a completely off the wall bonkers way of doing business.

Personally I believe in simply getting the best mechanic that's within a reasonable driving distance of my home to do servicing repairs - treat him fairly - he does the work - and alls good. I mean for example if I were within a reasonable driving distance of Portlaoise I would be looking to deal with George Dalton simply because of his very good reputation (from what ive heard/read)

If any other posters on here have encountered this before - how did you address the issue.

Would also appreciate any recommendations for decent mechanics in North Cork area - or other surrounding areas like Abbeyfeale, Newcastlewest, Adare or Castleisland areas - or even Tralee - who are happy to deal with customers outside the area.

Thanks guys

power pants

Never heard of that, I also decide myself where I bring my car. If someone doesn't want my business, its no loss to me whatsoever.

tomdempsey200

it's annoying
had it with accountants a lot.. not wanting get to step on the other mans toes

Old diesel

power pants wrote: »

Never heard of that, I also decide myself where I bring my car. If someone doesn't want my business, its no loss to me whatsoever.

Precisely - glad you get where im coming from

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

it's annoying
had it with accountants a lot.. not wanting get to step on the other mans toes

That seems to be the sort of thing that's going on - Mechanic more interested in not upsetting his buddy - rather then taking on new business.

In fairness on a point of clarification the 2nd Mechanic is happy to do the work - but I just think the fact that he wanted to/felt the need to mention it - is a bit of a turn off.

I really can't be doing with such nonsense - so would rather go elsewhere for my own cars. Think the family cars may still possibly be going to that other mechanic.

But its turned me off using him for my own car (when it gets bought).

Its a shame really - the mechanic is supposed to be excellent - and I would have liked to deal with him.

Maybe I should overlook it - if he does the work and does it well - then I just may have to accept that lifes inperfect.

But if theres someone good within a reasonable driving distance that doesn't mind doing business with from outside their local area - then id rather deal with them if possible.

Driving to Adare or Tralee means a longer journey etc - but f:mad::mad:k it - all being well - it shouldn't be too frequent an occasion.

Might be no harm to to see if I can deal with a mechanic that specialises in the make of car I end up buying anyway - so it may be for the best.

All completely unnecessary though imo

JohnBoy26

It's kind of mad that the mechanic doesn't want to take on new business for fear off upsetting his buddy mechanic.

If mechanic no1 is not good enough or is not as good as mechanic no2, then he only has himself to blame for loss of business.

power pants

Also how would he ever know? Unless mechanic one bullies mechanic 2 every month to see his sales ledger

biko

That's just silly but I wouldn't be surprised if it happens deep in the sticks where everyone knows each other.

MrDerp

A colleague of mine got rear-ended one day and proactively went to get a quote, which came in at X. He went back to the other driver and said he'd had a quote for X. He was asked 'Would you mind getting a second quote with a garage I know?', and being reasonable he went for the second opinion. The second quote came in much cheaper, and he went back with this improved quote.

All was going ok until the first garage called him up to chase up on the business they'd quoted for. He said that another (named) garage had provided a quote which was 500 euro less.

Two hours later his phone rings, and the second garage said that they were a partner of the first garage, and had an agreement not to quote for eachothers business, so they were pulling the quote.

He went back to the other driver and said "If this is the type of people you do business with then I'm sorry but I'm going to have to go through your insurance"

crosshair1

Old diesel wrote: »

Has anyone come across the situation where mechanics have gentlemans agreements between themselves that they each cover their own area.

Never heard of such, but I would be very sceptical of a potential customer coming a distance for routine work that could have been done at a garage much closer to him/her.

I personally wouldnt bother booking in a car usually unless the customer was known to me or an existing customer had sent him my way.

While an approach like this may not be the best financially, it almost eliminates having to deal with timewasting customers.

Old diesel

Well having asked the family member about it more it seems - that the guy is willing to do the work without fuss.

He did mention the "gentlemans agreement - but its not a big issue it seems.

I may have overreacted slightly - humble pie time for me - oops.

@Crosshair1 - reason we are looking to go to a new mechanic is due to our own one scaling back on his work for his own reasons.

If I did travel a decent distance to a particular mechanic - it would be on the basis of that mechanic been particularly awesome with a very good reputation.

Not to time waste - my outlook is - that if the guy or garage is good - I will taking the long term view - I want to deal with these guys long term - so last thing im going to do is mess them about.

which is something I hate to do to people anyway.

crosshair1

Good that youve got this mechanic to do the work.
I would have imagined that your previous mechanic would also have been able to recommend someone.
I think in cases like this you stand a lot less chance of things going wrong if you go on the basis of recommendation of family/friends/work colleagues.

Anan1

crosshair1 wrote: »

I personally wouldnt bother booking in a car usually unless the customer was known to me or an existing customer had sent him my way.

While an approach like this may not be the best financially, it almost eliminates having to deal with timewasting customers.

I'd say 'might not be the best financially' is something of an understatement.

crosshair1

It may be an understatement but i'm busy and i'm getting paid.

I suppose back to the 1st post where the op was questioning why someone did not want his business, this guy probably had enough to do also.

There is a lot to be said for having good customers.

What I said regards not booking in a car is due to no shows, being late, sob stories etc when it comes to paying. I find this rarely is an issue with people sent on by existing customers.

Its like people who you havent done work for before ringing up and pricing repairs. Realistically they've probably priced everyone else and you wont see them back because someone will do a cash deal.
Its not difficult to see how an hour a day could be lost on the phone.