All brand new cars (and even most used ones) will generally work just fine for a few hundred miles. As long as you perform basic maintenance by yourself, the vehicle will just keep running as if it won’t ever break down. But don’t let that fool you: chances are that you are just a few miles away from experiencing a component failure, which will necessitate repairs from a reputed garage or dealer.

Speaking of places where you could repair your vehicle, you clearly have two distinct options: one is to go the dealer where you bought your car in the first place. The other is to contact an independent garage. Which one is the better choice? Although there is no clear winner amongst the two, let’s say that independent garages are a little easier to approach. For that reason, let’s take a look at the advantages that independent garages have over car dealer service centers.

Fewer Restrictions When It Come to Brands and Makes

Generally, independent garages will be willing to work on a variety of vehicles of different makes and models, no matter whether they are sedans, compacts, large trucks or even other types of machines. On the other hand, dealers will only accept specific vehicles and sometimes may refuse to service anything that is older, citing a lack of spares as the main reason. There are independent garages that specialize in some brands as well, but a BMW Melbourne service may actually accept to service any other German brand if you keep asking.

Lower Prices on Average

Most people who don’t know much about cars and their internals will prefer taking their vehicles to dealer networks for anything ranging from oil changes to extensive repairs, but this will often cost them a lot more than if they would have gotten the job done at a generic garage. The main reason for the extra charges is that car dealers will exclusively use OEM parts for replacements, which often cost more than aftermarket counterparts.

Better Relationships with the Workers

When taking your car to a garage, you will often be greeted by the mechanics themselves instead of a sales agent or some other person. In fact, the mechanics themselves will be the ones to keep in touch with the repair job, meaning that you will establish a better relationship with the people who are doing the repair work. In a dealer, you won’t experience this kind of thing, as you may not even see the mechanics at all. There is a reason why any Mini Cooper mechanic will know all his regular customers personally, and the above lines should be enough for you to understand why this happens. Go right here to find out more details.

Fewer Delays

A lot of people have often cited the fact that dealer networks are quite slow with repair work, taking a few days to perform something as simple as a brake pad change or servicing of the car. With independent garages, delays are less common (although that doesn’t mean that they never occur).