Is Malaysia's Car repair service goods?

[ken yeang]

No doubts, we have plenty of workshops (engine repair, service, bodyshop "magat shop", paint shop, car accesories shop, specialilty shop, etc) in Malaysia.

We can see them conveniently everywhere (yes, including shophouses near housing areas), Some even made of papan, roadside, and even the famous "under cherry tree" workshop. even next to kedai kopi.

The questions are:

1) Are we happy with the service/quality given by these workshop? judging from the fees they charged? I know you pay peanuts, you get monkey, but what is your thought? Cheap can be good sometimes, yes?

2) Is there any control to the industry so far? what can be improved over these workshops?

3) Are the technician/mechanic qualified enuf, experience, academically, professional? to be trusted with our cars? or "the more they fix, the worst it gets" kinda scenario? Some mechanics resort to "trail and error" method, and not thru proper diagnose test....

4) from point 1, 2, 3. is the workshop industry in Malaysia going down? not going anywhere, or have improved all these time? I see Thailand is doing very well, and no doubt Malaysia is lagging behind already.

5) I witness many workshops even claimed they are "expert, specialist, professional, being "pakar" in this and that, but are their claims as good as their service given? Just see the signboards of some workshops, you'll find these words. Are these words Over-used, Mis-used and Abused and Mis-leading to many consumers?

Please, share you views here....
thanks

 

[zan]

many malaysians actually still cannot afford a car but still buy one. (myself included)

therefore, when it comes to maintenance and service, we would go for alternatives instead.

but as I am in auto industry myself (for 15 years), i do realised the importance of keeping the car in good order and the use of genuine parts. i would just refuse to pay franchise price - simply too expensive.

 

[FVel]

I don't trust many workshops to do my car. Even with my regular places, I tend to be a bit fussy about what I want and how I wanted it done. I actually take the trouble to look over their shoulders when they do the work.

That's the trouble with ppl. You give them a free hand, most will take shortcuts.

I have seen plenty of workshops here who gave really good service when they started operating, but when the business begun to roll in, the quality of the work tends to suffer. Most are great when small volume, but find it hard to cope when they take on too much. It's very hard finding a workshop that maintains a consistent level of commitment through the hard times and through the good. Most are just in it for fast money, not pride of a job well-done.

Even the good ones tend to have some pitfalls. My regular tyre shop is one example. They are great in all respects, tyre alignment & balancing, general and basic repairs etc, but are still so bloody-minded stubborn when it comes to using a proper tyre pressure gauge. Seems the boss swears by the those pen-type pressure gauge (the ones with the sliding ruler read-out). Those things are crap. Totally worthless garbage. All my friends who do trackdays rely on Intercomp tyre gauges (or similarly credible units). Invariably, the pen-type will either report the pressure as way high or too low. I'm about the only customer at that shop who actually check and fill the pressure using my own gauge.

 

[JINEIL2EN]

i satisfied with my workshop... not to mean that good in 'service' coz not a very good PR(should hire some leng-lui to help me in PR ma)... haha.. charging a little bit more expensive than ulu-ulu places workshop.... but the workmanship & satisfying guarantee. we looking towards Quality, not Quantity. Thanks...

 

[ken yeang]

Sometimes I don't mind paying a little more to the workshop knowing that he workmanship and the quality is there on the car after repair. I mean, why be so stingy with the repair work when your life is depended on the functionality of your car?

If something fails when you were driving 110km/hr, how you wish you would send the car to do a proper job.

On the extreme case, take F1 car for example......The winning/losing depending a components, or a whole package. Stingy on electrical insulation may cause faulty electronics, etc...No worth it leh.....

Anyway, back to discussion, I don't mind paying, as long as I get back the quality work from the mechanic who fix my car. problem starts in Malaysia when ppl are business minded and profit oriented.......

 

[netmatrix]

My mechanic was an expert in fixing up BMW. Until he got lesser and lesser BMW customers. Because most of the cars he fix now are Japanese and local makes. But he still can show a thing or two in fixing up continental cars. But nowdays continental car manufacturers are making people like him hard to make business out of repairing such cars. More and more electronic restrictions here and there.

I think he was one of few that have been trained by BMW in Malaysia to fix BMWs. But now age has caught up. And there is no new apprentice to take over. There are some guys who would do it. But lacklusture attitude isn't going to help in getting business.

 

[ken yeang]

netmatrix,

Yea, it's sad to know that there are tonnes of knowledge in a person and nobody else seem to be interested to learn from the giver. If there is such attitude among Malaysian youngsters, then this may be very bad for the future generation. Guess what? it might be Bangla you'll be seeing in car workshops in the later years.

I mean, nobody is keen working in workshop environment. Many Ppl prefer working in air cond room, not under the sun and prefer a clean-clean job. 9-5 job Hmmm, no wonder I sometimes see more youngsters selling VCD/handphone than youngster doing mecahnical repair in w/shops.

Electronics are invading the engine bay of new conti cars. absolutely right. Sooner or later the workshop unkers will be left out becoz they are not familiar with these car. unless...they are willing to re-learn the new trade. Question is, do these unker have such positive attitude?:hmmmm:

 

[eyong]

It all boils down to the education level of people. Many are school leaver with Form 3, or maybe Form 5 (barely) levels. The level or scope of seeing and analysing things are limited. Even so, being taught by a great boss, whether they could or would accept, or able to utilize the knowledge is another.

Many came out with so-called education would rather work in an office than workshops. Unless we are willing to pay, say RM20 or RM40 an hour, then you would get "professional" service. But would you? I don't see and never seen a young mechanic with positive attitude and finer element of looking at things.

By the way, have anyone noticed there's two sides to a washer? A face and a bottom - that's now I see details.

 

[JINEIL2EN]

My mechanic was an expert in fixing up BMW. Until he got lesser and lesser BMW customers. Because most of the cars he fix now are Japanese and local makes. But he still can show a thing or two in fixing up continental cars. But nowdays continental car manufacturers are making people like him hard to make business out of repairing such cars. More and more electronic restrictions here and there.

I think he was one of few that have been trained by BMW in Malaysia to fix BMWs. But now age has caught up. And there is no new apprentice to take over. There are some guys who would do it. But lacklusture attitude isn't going to help in getting business.

yup dude, just like my mech, both of them, 1 is from Audi, & his bro is from BMW.... altho still got some "european" customer, but most of them not willing to pay for a replacement parts... damn....:stupid:

 

[netmatrix]

Well its not like you can pay RM700 to get a perdana's gearbox fixed. I mean used parts in a continental car cost much much more!

Anyway i can tell you one thing. Most people who owns conti cars aren't that rich. Its more to show off. Really. I have seen many conti cars at mechanics place that is stranded there for more than 3 months because the owner cannot put up a deposit to get it fixed. Its that bad. The really rich ones get their cars serviced at authorised workshops because they can swipe with credit card. My mechanic only accepts cash nowdays because of some bad payees due to "trust".

So now, i'm not really impressed with people with big cars. They use it to bully us. If i get rich, i'll still own a cheap maintainable sedan. If i want an expensive car, i'll make sure it comes with a driver!

 

[JacEK]

i've been attached with my regular workshop for past 5years.
not a big and fancy workshop, it is rather old and dirty. but in terms of price, reasonable and workers are not friendly...but very good in car repairs and any related stuff.

if you are on budget, they will recommend half cut parts, if not, they recommend brand new parts.

no matter what i do, i will make sure i wait until my car is done. overall, i think im happy with their service.

most of the time, before i send my car for repair or change any parts, i will do survey on the prices or market rate before i go to my workshop.