to hate dealing with flippin mechanics?

[GetDownYouWillFall]

I have a love hate relationship with my car. Love the fact it gets me around, hate it when things go wrong. This week I had a warning light come on, with a "beep". Great, I thought.

Booked into the garage. When I explained the problem the mechanic said "err, you DO know that the lights on the dash come on when you turn on the engine, don't you?"

Err, Yes I am not a COMPLETE DORK! Grrrr.

Why is it I am made to feel completely stupid when there is anything wrong with my car.

Change garages.

And read a couple of books on how cars work/ basic maintenance and diagnosis, so you can at least talk the talk.When things do go wrong, get the mechanics to explain what has gone wrong, how it should work and how they fixed it- that way you've increased your knowledge for next time....

Most men are pretty clueless about cars too, so you don't need to learn much to seem reasonably knowledgable.

Also, most actual mechanics are scared and clueless themselves when it comes to modern electronic beepy bits in cars.

My Dh is a mechanic.....an honest and informative chatty chappy. (dear God he never shuts up about engines...like me with shoes really)

he does tell me of the fuckwittery of LOADS of customers and their cars. Its quite funny realy.
I would change garage if you are not happy.

As with Sunburntats,
My hubbies is also a mechanic with his own buisness, and a he's bloody good one at that, even if I say so myself, and thats why hes always so blommin busy, unfortunatly for me and our boys

Not all mechanics are morons like the one posted.....

my hubby is also a mechaninc and a good one at that !!

stubbornstains you know some odd mechanics if they are frightened of "electronic beepy bits in cars" modern cars contain so many electronic beepy bits that surely most mechanics are used to them by now

getdownyouwillfall, you should think about changing garages if they speak to you like that

I understand the basics of how my car works, and use a fabulous local mechanic (not in a main dealer), so I'm fortunate that I have no problems this way. OP, change your garage.

this was a citroen dealer, so perhaps I need to find a more approachable local guy! Someone who doesn't patronise me would be nice!

TBH, I have found main dealers geberally patronising, insulting and downright useless. (And nauseatingly obsequious to DH. Local all the way - though if your car is still in warranty, check that the independent garage mechanics have had appropriate training from Citroen.

find a nice independent garage! i always find it interesting to google the problem first too then you can at least find out a bit about it

the annoying thing is that it is still under a 1 years warranty from the citroen dealer, so I have to go back there for the time being.
Yes, they are equally nauseatingly obsequious to my DH too.

The other thing that riled me was that they had a massive forecourt absolutely packed with cars. I parked mine in the only remaining slot. The guy just took my key and I called after him "do you want me to show you where I've parked?" and he just shrugged "nah I'll find it"

Yes to googling the problem, and see if there's an owner's forum online. They can be very helpful.