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Appointments vs. Drop-Off Times

from the Carrsmith Service Department

At Carrsmith we do not schedule 'Appointments,' we schedule 'Drop-Offs.' That is, our clients drop off their vehicles, and later we take their car into the shop on a 'first come, first serve' basis.

Because of the great variety of automotive services we provide, we cannot schedule appointments like a doctor might. (By the way, when was the last time your doctor saw you at your appointment time?) However, unless it is a difficult or unusual problem, most often we can get the customer's car back to them by the end of the same day. Also, we have a special arrangement with Avis car rental, located about a 1/2 mile south of us at at the Paramount Plaza Hotel. They will give our customer's a special rate of  between $20 and $25 a day. We have bus service very close to the shop every 15 minutes, and sometimes we are able to offer rides within a 3 to 4 mile range.

Because we will fix just about anything that is wrong with a customer's vehicle (and we sometimes get cars that have been to 2 or 3 other shops for the same problem), it is almost impossible to know in advance how much time it will really take to fix a particular vehicle. That's one of the reasons we schedule Drop-Off Times.  

Another is because when a client calls us to schedule, unless they want regular maintenance work done, they will  not know the cause of their concern. It's our job to discover the cause of their automotive concern, and the cause is what determines how long their car will be in the shop. When they describe the symptom for example, a drip, a noise or a drivability concern they most often do not know the cause. And nor do we, until we have had the opportunity to really see and evaluate the vehicle. I've been doing this type of work over 30 years and anyone who thinks they can tell what's wrong with your car over the phone is kidding themselves, kidding you, or both.

Why does it seem that some shops do make appointments? Most likely these are shops that do "small or easy jobs" like tire work and oil changes.

Though it's great to do, once a vehicle is out of warranty aside from an oil service, these days a lot of driver's do not bother with regular maintenance (these services are listed in your owner's handbook). Regular maintenance is a specific list of tasks to be performed at particular mileage intervals. There is a set amount of time for each of those services. Of course, with that kind of work no diagnostics are involved. Obviously, everyone does not come in for an Oil Service. Therefore, we have widely varying times needed for the great variety of services and repairs we do perform. Also, consider this: The last time I did an analysis of the year range of vehicles in the Gainesville market the graph formed a bell curve with the peak being vehicles 8 to 10 years old. This means a lot more cars out of warranty (less regular maintenance) and a lot more vehicles with more complex problems because of their age. 

So, what is the advantage of having your car repaired at a shop that does more than just regular maintenance services? You have a more experienced, more qualified technician working on your vehicle. A technician that does Oil Services and Regular Maintenance all day is generally an entry level technician and accordingly, does not possess the high level of skill and experience necessary to perform more complex tasks. At Carrsmith we do all types of repairs. 

The technician inspecting your vehicle has the ability to change your oil, or rebuild your engine. He is therefore more likely to notice the tell-tale signs of wear and alert you in advance of an impending failure.

Why can't you wait if you come first thing in the morning? When you arrive in the morning with your vehicle, there is often work ahead of you from the prior day- cars with repairs already in progress. Not to mention clients who dropped off the evening before or that morning ahead of you. Once we have gotten our work flow up to your vehicle we can call you and discuss our evaluation of your vehicle with you.

Why may this seem different from where you lived before? Another contributing factor to the time involved in getting your vehicle repaired is parts availability. Gainesville has a population of around 100,000. When I worked in Miami,  with a population of over 2 million in the 1970's, if you searched long enough and hard enough you could usually find any type of part any type of car needed somewhere in the Miami or Ft. Lauderdale area. With the law of Supply and Demand, less common parts have less demand and therefore we find less supply than in a city 20 times larger. It's not that we can't get them. We can. It may just take an extra day or two. We see UPS, FedEx, Airborne, and a variety of couriers from other cities at least once each day. 

What other factors can slow a repair job? Based on our experience, often we can anticipate all the parts that may be needed before starting a repair. However, sometimes in the midst of a repair after a certain amount of disassembly we may discover an unexpected part that should be replaced to do the job correctly. This may add additional time and expense, but we will notify you if that happens.

In the interest of your satisfaction with the repair, until we have completed our final road test we do not consider your vehicle finished.

Thanks for taking the time to visit our website.

Ray Carr

P.S. Call us anytime at 352-378-7830 if there is anything we can do to help you.

                                 www.carcare.org