Getting the right fix for your car

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Getting the right fix for your car
Published: 23/08/2009 at 12:00 AM
Source: Bangkok Post

A new service network in town has invested in science and personnel to help tap the growing number of car owners dissatisfied with so-called 'authorised service centres'

Newspaper section: BrunchIt took you many years to save enough money to make a 20% downpayment on a new car - and now you owe the bank and finance company for everything from your condo to your personal computer.

You work hard to repay all these debts, and after three years your car develops problems, so you take it for a service at the same authorised service centre you've been using all along.

Then you are presented with a five-figure bill and start asking every possible question about why this (and that) needed to be replaced.

You question why it costs so much more than the last time you came in.

"Oh, the warranty has just expired, so now the labour and parts are no longer covered by the car company," replies the receptionist.

And you think: "Damn, I've still got another year to repay the bloody finance company for this car and I now I've got to pay all this as well!"

The mechanic is able to explain every item on the bill, and you have no argument except offering your credit card to be swiped.

You drive your car home and fear that the repair bill has just cost you that dream holiday in Krabi.

The next morning, you drive to work and whatever was said to be broken, and fixed, dies on you again and you're stuck in the middle of a busy street while other drivers honk their horns in anger at you delaying them.

Worse still, it's raining. Hard.

So, you call up a friend to help find you an independent garage that might be able to fix your car for good.

Sure enough, your car is repaired for maybe half of what you paid the authorised service centre, and they even tell you didn't need to replace the part in the first place.

Chances are this new-found saviour of yours is run by technicians who recently quit from authorised service centres and set up their own "specialised" garage, dedicated to servicing the one or two makes of car they're familiar with.

Since then, you've turned your back on the service centre authorised by the company that built your car.


That's the scenario many of us have experienced at least once.

Chances are, too, that a couple of years later even your new garage can't fix some of your problems because the car has seen better days.

So, you buy a new car of the same brand, and hope this new garage can maintain and repair your car as well and just as cheaply as they did a few years ago.

That's your first sin - breaking the manufacturer's warranty by not having the car serviced by an authorised dealer and according to the schedule specified in the service booklet.

So, now you have to pay for everything.

Your second sin is that whatever product recalls the car company may issue in the future, you will not be eligible for free servicing now that you no longer use their authorised service centre.

Your third sin is probably the worst in terms of trouble and wasted time - your new car is built with ever increasing reliance on electronics and technology, and its level of sophistication has far surpassed the level of technical training and problem-solving your trusty independent technician has accumulated over the years.

To put it simply, he doesn't know how to fix your car.

But the problem is that he will never admit that it's his fault for not knowing how to fix your car and makes up excuses like: "Oh, they just don't make cars reliable any more so the dealers can make more money to get them fixed."

What a load of rubbish! Statistically, today's cars are more reliable than ever.

Why? Because the more reliable the car, the more good opinions about it will be spread by word of mouth, leading to increased sales.

And the cost of engineering in better reliability is already included in the price.

Of course, having a well-engineered car is only half the problem solved, because it's also down to the quality of servicing to keep the car running reliably.

Have you ever noticed how many tick boxes are on the service sheet for your car? Ever wonder who and how the decision is made for each particular item to require adjustment, repair or replacement?

Even at authorised service centres, many of those tick box decisions rely on technicians or even the service manager, not the diagnostic computer.

Yes, most of your modern car's functions are controlled by an ECU (electronic control unit), or on-board computer.


And if someone tells you that each manufacturer can only have its ECU checked by the manufacturer's authorised service centre, then they're lying.

It is a fact that since the late 1990s a universal system for reading the data from a car's ECU, called OBD-II (on-board diagnostics) has been required by the US government for safety reasons and consumer protection.

You see, if a car breaks down, and it can be diagnosed with standardised equipment that even a roadside break down service can operate, then the car can be fixed quickly and be out of harm's way for everybody's safety. The system also prevents car dealers and manufacturers from monopolising the car servicing industry.

Now, a new franchised network of independent service centres called Master Motor Services (MMS) has popped up in Bangkok, run by the same guys who own the Master Car Rental and BMW dealer Millennium Auto.

Using the latest servicing equipment from Bosch - which designs and builds many car components, including ECUs - MMS is providing an alternative for tired customers like you and me.

And the beauty is that you can have an MMS technician plug in to your car's ECU and diagnose just about everything that the electronics control, which is not only the engine and transmission, but even simple devices like power windows and windscreen wipers.

They have an ECU database of more than 295 models that are on Thai roads, so they can show you how your car is functioning against the standard values for each particular model, including the condition of the engine, suspension and brakes.

No more guesswork, just science.

And unlike an authorised service centre, you can look at the results right off the diagnostic computers and talk with the technician directly about the solutions instead of blindly signing for whatever the service receptionist tells you.

That said, MMS cannot fix everything, but they can show you what needs to be done provided that their equipment can detect it - and they can detect just about any fault a car has.

This column is not an advertorial, but since MMS does not yet have a website, I cannot help but give you a telephone number for you find out where your nearest outlet is - 02-971-9000.

I do hope that there will be more service centres like this that take the guesswork out of car maintenance, and I do wish that car companies would make more effort reassuring their customers that their expensive cars are being properly maintained and make their the procedures more transparent.