The process, the approval, and the questions we answer daily
What owners fear is not the price. It is the telephone call that comes when the car is already half apart. This page exists to say that the call does not happen here.
01
Record the symptom
Ploy does not write “there is a noise”. She keeps asking until the description is something a technician can actually test, and all of it goes on the work order.
- Cold engine or warmed up?
- Driving straight, or turning?
- Accelerating, braking, or over bumps?
- When did it start?
- Anything repaired recently?
- Any warning light?
- Is it still safe to drive?
- Do you have a recording?
02
Inspect and diagnose
Road test, lift, scan, voltage, pressure, leak trace, clearance — and teardown, which happens only with your approval and is always quoted first.
03
Send you what we found
Before anything is repaired you get everything we found — not only the items we would like to sell you.
- What the fault is and what is causing it
- Photographs or video
- Labour, parts, fluids and materials, separately
- Parts-tier options, each with its price
- When we expect to finish
- What happens if you leave it, and within how many kilometres
- Everything else we looked at and did not replace
04
You approve
Nothing extra is touched until you say yes. A new finding mid-repair means a second estimate, not a bigger bill — and the car waits.
- Sign at the counter
- Reply on LINE
- Confirm by phone, and we note it on the work order
05
Repair and record
What goes on the record at the end is what you take home with the car.
- Parts actually fitted, with brand and part number
- Actual hours
- Before and after photographs
- The condition of the old parts
- The technician’s notes
- The road-test result, with the odometer out and back
- The warranty
- What to look at next time
If you say no
If you say no, we reassemble what we opened, tell you the car’s condition and whether it is safe to drive, and you pay for the diagnosis and any teardown you had already approved. Nothing else. No storage charge for the first three days.
The three-state triage
Every finding gets one state and one horizon. Nothing is ever written down as simply “should be replaced”.
- Red — repair now
Red — repair now
Safety, or it will damage something else, or the car is already driving badly.
- Amber — plan it
Amber — plan it
Worn or ageing, still working — and we tell you how many kilometres or months it can wait.
- Green — monitor
Green — monitor
Fine today. Re-checked free at your next service.
On this site colour means one thing only: the condition of a part. Every button is steel. There is no red button anywhere.
Repair status
The customer gets one link and can see which stage the car is at. The example below is an invented job — select any stage.
HM-2607-014
Toyota Vios 1.5 · 2015
2กท 4471
Vehicle received08:10
Received at 154,220 km. Symptom on the work order: squeal under light braking, two weeks.
Inspection in progress09:25
On the lift, all four wheels off, pads and discs measured at every corner, photographed.
Estimate ready10:40
Estimate sent on LINE with eight photographs and every thickness figure.
Waiting for your approval10:41
Waiting. The car is inside the building and nothing further has been taken apart.
Repair in progress
Not reached yet. On a real job this carries a timestamp and the technician’s note.
Waiting for parts
This stage exists so you do not have to telephone. The date on it is the one the supplier gave us, not an optimistic one.
Quality check and road test
Not reached yet. On a real job this carries a timestamp and the technician’s note.
Ready for pickup
Not reached yet. On a real job this carries a timestamp and the technician’s note.
The questions we answer every day
There is no separate FAQ page, because the questions the front desk repeats every day are all questions about this process.
Is the inspection free?
A look and a listen, a battery test, tyre pressures and a road test with a technician are free and need no booking. Anything that needs a lift, a scan tool or gauges is a diagnostic job with a published fee — and if you have the repair done here on the same visit, most of those fees are credited back.
Can I bring my own parts?
Yes, with limits. We will not fit unbranded safety parts, second-hand brake components, suspension parts we cannot identify, opened electronics, or counterfeits. Where we do fit your part, we warrant our labour and not the part — and that sentence is printed on your estimate.
Will the price go up after you start?
Not without you saying yes. If we find something else, you get a second estimate with photographs, and the car waits until you answer.
What happens if I say no?
We reassemble what we opened, tell you the car’s condition and whether it is safe to drive, and you pay for the diagnosis and any teardown you approved. Nothing else. No storage charge for the first three days.
Do you keep the old parts?
Yes. Photographed first, then in a box with your job number and your name on it, for 14 days.
Is there a warranty?
Our labour: six months or 10,000 km, whichever comes first. Parts we supply carry that brand’s warranty, six months minimum, and we handle the claim. Parts you supply: labour only.
Can I collect the car today?
Often, if it is booked and the parts are on the shelf. We tell you at the estimate, not at 17:00.
Do you take walk-ins?
For a look, a listen, a battery test or a tyre check: yes. For a bay: book. The three bays are usually full by 09:30.
Why do you road test my car?
Because a lot of faults only exist while the car is moving, and because a repair is not finished until the thing that brought you here has stopped happening. It is the same 3.2 km loop every time and we write the odometer reading on your record.
You cleared the light and it came back — why?
Clearing a code deletes the record, not the cause. If we cleared it without fixing anything, all we did was delete the evidence.
Why might you need to take more apart after inspecting it?
Some faults are only visible with the part off the car. When that is the case we tell you what the teardown costs and what we expect to find, and you decide before a bolt is turned.
Do you repair European cars or EVs?
Not complex work on either. The full list of what we do not take, and why, is on the vehicles page.
My car is staying overnight — where is it?
Inside the building with the shutter down. It is not parked out in the soi. Take your valuables with you, and we log the odometer in and out.