When you drive a foreign car, you want to be wary of taking it to just any mechanic for servicing. Usually it's best to have a specialist look at your foreign car, no matter its country of origin, in order to ensure those repairs are done properly. Note a few reasons to hire a specialist for your foreign car repair no matter the type of car or work it needs to have done.
1. Diagnostics
Your car repair starts with a good diagnosis of the problem, but in order to do this properly, your mechanic needs the right tools that will fit your car and give them a good reading. Diagnostic equipment meant for domestic cars may not even fit the valves, sensors, and other pieces of your foreign car, much less tell your mechanic the problem. They may not communicate properly with your car's computer, which can mean a poor diagnosis.
In addition to having the right equipment, a mechanic who specializes in foreign cars may be more updated on common problems with certain cars. Someone who specializes in Citroen repairs, for example, may have had many Citroens come through his or her shop doors with a common problem, so once you arrive, they will already know where to start looking.
2. Parts
In many cases, a foreign car specialist will be able to get factory original parts from the manufacturer. These are often reserved for authorized mechanics who specialize in your type of car, and they can make a tremendous difference in the quality of the repair job. Parts that don't fit to exacting standards or that are made with inferior materials will result in a poor quality repair job, damage to other parts as they vibrate against each other, and the need for another repair far sooner than expected. A mechanic may also try to shave off or fabricate parts that don't fit perfectly, and this can mean actually damaging those parts so they don't work as expected.
3. Tools
Along with diagnostic equipment, often a mechanic will use specialized tools to remove certain car parts or make repairs. These tools are also meant to fit the connectors of parts on certain models, or to otherwise make quick work of those repairs and communicate with the car's computer to ensure a repair job has been done properly. If a mechanic doesn't have the right tool to remove a part, he or she may try to force something and in turn, may cause more damage to your car. The wrong tools can also make the repair job take much longer than it should. This too is why it's good to choose a specialist for your foreign car repairs.
