What You Always Wanted to Know About Auto Repair Shops but Were Afraid to Ask—A National Survey of Owner/Operators, Mechanics and Consumers 810056
The quality and cost of auto repairs have been a major source of consumer complaints for many years. However, efforts to improve the automotive repair process have been hindered by lack of reliable quantitative data on factors thought to be significant contributors to consumer complaints.
This paper presents quantitative data from three recent national surveys, including: (1) a personal interview survey of 1,512 automotive service industry owner/operators; (2) a personal interview survey of 591 mechanics employed by those owner/operators; and (3) a telephone survey of 2,434 recent customers of those service facilities.
The paper presents data on repair industry equipment, procedures, practices, and reference materials, as well as mechanic skills, experience, and compensation. Relationships between customer assessment of the repair process and characteristics of the repair facility are also examined.
Citation: Magro, W. and Cook, W., "What You Always Wanted to Know About Auto Repair Shops but Were Afraid to Ask—A National Survey of Owner/Operators, Mechanics and Consumers," SAE Technical Paper 810056, 1981, https://doi.org/10.4271/810056. Download Citation
Author(s):
William R. Magro, Wendell A. Cook
Pages: 14
Event:
SAE International Congress and Exposition
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Also in:
SAE 1981Transactions-V90-A
Related Topics:
Reliability
Tools and equipment
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