Iranian Car workshops

A workshop is a conversation before it is a repair, and the quality of the conversation decides the size of the bill. The mechanic has not heard the noise; you are the only person who has. Most people who have recently arrived in Germany walk into that first appointment short of two things: the German words for what is wrong, and the knowledge that between handing over the key and being handed the invoice there is a list of questions worth asking. Buying and selling a car, the registration document and the periodic roadworthiness test are covered on the main automotive page. This page is about the visit itself.

What the Verified badge does and does not say

Verified says one thing only: a real person stands behind this profile and manages it themselves. YabInfy does not check anyone's certificates, licences, experience or competence, and the badge is not for sale. Repairing cars is a regulated craft in Germany: the trade calls for a master craftsman's qualification, and the workshop itself is entered on the Handwerksrolle, the craft register kept by the Handwerkskammer for its district. If you want to know whether a particular workshop is on that register, or which work the requirement actually covers, put the question to that chamber.

Describing the fault so it can be found

No mechanic can work from an adjective. "It makes a noise" says almost nothing. What shortens the search is telling them when the noise happens:

• Cold engine or warm, and is it only in the first few minutes of the morning?
• At what speed? Only in low gears, only above a certain speed, or tied to engine revs rather than road speed?
• Under braking, turning one way, over bumps, or even standing still?
• Which corner of the car does it come from, when did it start, and is it getting worse?

The most useful thing you can do is record it on your phone while it is happening: thirty seconds of the actual sound beats any description. If a warning light comes on, photograph the dashboard before you switch the engine off, because some warnings do not survive a restart. Describe the symptom rather than the cause you suspect, or the search goes one way from the start. And if the fault only shows up while driving, ask whether a short test drive with the mechanic in the car is possible.

What to bring

• The registration document that lives in the car: the vehicle identification number and technical data are read off it, and parts are ordered on that basis.
• The service book (Serviceheft) with its stamps, which is both the car's history and your strongest card in any conversation about who pays.
• Any earlier invoice for the same fault. A fault that comes back is a different conversation, and hard to have without the paper.
• The locking wheel nut adapter, if your wheel bolts have one. Without it no wheel comes off.
• The notes you made about when the fault appears, on paper rather than in your head.

Diagnosis is work, and work is billed

Reading the car's fault memory is the beginning, not the end: a stored code usually says which circuit reported something abnormal, not which part has failed. Getting from the code to the cause takes time, and that time lands on the invoice. So settle three things before you hand over the key: whether the diagnosis is charged separately, how much it is, and whether it comes off the total if you have the repair done there. Workshops answer differently and none of the answers is unreasonable; finding out afterwards is what is unreasonable.

The form they put in front of you before work starts is worth reading too. Many repair orders carry a pre-printed authorisation letting the workshop do further necessary work up to a stated amount without calling you. Set that figure yourself, or strike it out and write that you want a call before anything not on the list.

The hourly rate, and an invoice that separates parts from labour

On many jobs labour costs more than the parts, and hourly rates differ sharply between a franchised dealer and an independent workshop; inside one workshop, mechanical, electrical and body hours are sometimes priced separately. The rate is not a secret: ask for it before any work, and a place that will not say has told you something about itself. Note also that labour on a great many jobs is billed against a standard time for that job rather than the minutes the mechanic actually spent at the car.

The final invoice should be readable line by line: every part with its name, number and price; every operation with the time charged to it; consumables and the disposal of oil and fluids; tax shown on its own. One line with one number is not something anyone can check.

The maker's part or an equivalent

For most cars a part exists at several levels: carrying the carmaker's branding, the same component from the same factory under its own name, an equivalent from another manufacturer, and reconditioned units. The price gap is real, and on a high mileage car a good equivalent is often the sensible choice. What should not happen is being quoted for one and given another, so ask which level the quote is for, and ask for the part name and number on the invoice.

Ask for the old parts back

Asking to be handed the replaced parts is a normal request in Germany, not an accusation. Make it when you drop the car off rather than at the till, because by the end of the day the old part is in the recycling bin. You get to see that something really was changed, and to look at the worn pad yourself. Two refusals are legitimate: a reconditioned exchange part, whose old unit goes back and usually carries a deposit, and material the workshop must dispose of, such as oil, brake fluid and batteries. If the answer is no, ask which part and why.

The repair carries a guarantee of its own

Work done by a workshop is a contract for work, and the workshop is liable for defects in that work. How long that liability runs and what exactly it covers come from the law and from your contract and are not the same in every case, so do not assume a figure: ask for the period to be written on the invoice. In practice that means keeping the invoice, and if the same fault returns, going back to the same workshop first, in writing and with a date, before taking the car anywhere else. Going elsewhere without giving the first workshop the chance to put it right usually weakens your position.

How long the car is gone, and whether there is a replacement

Ask how many days the work takes and, more to the point, whether the parts are in stock or on order: cars sit in workshops because a part has not arrived far more often than because the workshop is busy. If you need the car, ask when you book whether a replacement is available, whether it is free or charged per day, and what you carry if something happens to it. Small workshops rarely have more than one or two, which is why this belongs to the day you book, not the morning you arrive.

The seasonal tyre change, and storing the other set

Winter tyres here are tied to road conditions rather than to a date in the calendar: snow, ice, frost and slush. The familiar line about October to Easter is a rule of thumb, not the text of the law. What matters on the tyre is the alpine symbol, the little mountain with a snowflake; the older marking is no longer accepted on its own for every tyre, so ask which of yours still qualifies.

Most workshops do the seasonal changeover and will store the other set for you, which is the difference between four wheels in your flat and none. Ask what storage costs per season, and ask for the tread depths and each wheel's position to be written on the invoice. Book early: the two changeover weeks are the busiest of every workshop's year.

Before you hand over the key, ask this

• The hourly labour rate, and whether electrical and mechanical hours are priced differently.
• What the diagnosis costs, and whether it comes off the total if you go ahead.
• Which level the quoted part is, and whether it is new or reconditioned.
• Whether the old parts will be put aside for you to see, and which ones cannot be.
• Which period this particular repair is covered for, and where that is recorded.
• YabInfy checks none of this, so ask for it yourself, and ask to see the document where it matters.

If you disagree with the bill

Do not argue at the counter, because nothing is settled there. Ask first for the breakdown in writing: what was done, which parts went in under which numbers, and how much time was charged to each operation. Then put your objection in writing too, naming the exact line you dispute and setting a date for a reply. Be aware that a workshop can generally keep the car until the bill is paid, so if you need it back urgently, ask about paying while stating in writing that you do not accept the amount, and know that what this preserves varies case by case.

If that leads nowhere, court is not the only route left. Germany has consumer advice centres, and the motor trade runs arbitration boards that handle disputes between customers and workshops, normally at no cost to the customer. Which board covers your workshop, and whether it applies only where the workshop is a member, is something a consumer advice centre or the regional chamber of skilled crafts can tell you. Where the sum is large, or damage to the car is being claimed, take advice from a lawyer before you pay.

A short list, and what stays private

The list here is short and spread thin: Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf, Essen, Münster, Neuss and Egelsbach. The nearest one may not be in your city, and unlike most services this one cannot come to you: the car has to get there, and a car that is not roadworthy should not be driven far at all. If nothing is close, a sensible split is to make the journey for the conversation that needs your own language, and have the oil changed near home.

• Reviews here are written by people who took their own car in: whether the invoice was legible, whether the car was ready when promised, how the place behaved after the money changed hands. No review tells you whether a repair someone proposed was necessary; for that, get a second quote.
• Contact details and the address sit behind the "Show contact details & address" button, so you speak to the workshop directly.
• YabInfy neither keeps nor shows who opened a profile or who got in touch, so you can collect several quotes without anyone knowing. The review you write is the public part, under a name you choose.
• The FAQ covers the rest, and if you run a workshop and serve Persian speakers, add your business.