May newsletter

Did you know that if your car is still under the factory warranty you do not have to take your vehicle to the dealer for its scheduled maintenance and non-warranty repairs.

According to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975 manufacturers are not allowed to void the vehicles warranty just because aftermarket parts are used on the vehicle. You also have the option to take your vehicle to any qualified repair facility to do scheduled maintenance. So, for example, lets say your transmission fails and your car is still under the factory warranty. You need to prove that you have complied with the scheduled factory maintenance by producing the service records on that vehicle.

When we are looking at a particular repair on a vehicle, relating to parts, we look at several things to determine where to purchase the part.

First, we look at the quality of the part. Some parts manufacturers are having their products built and assembled overseas. Although that is not always a bad thing some of these parts are poorly built with cheap components. If we are not comfortable with a particular manufacturer we will not use their product, plus it doesn’t hurt to support the good old U.S of A whenever possible. Most manufactures offer a 1 year warranty on the part only. We extend that warranty 1 year and offer a 2 year 24,000 mile warranty on parts and labor. We are able to do this by installing the best parts available.

Second, we look at cost. Some aftermarket parts are as good as the factory part, and less expensive. Some aftermarket parts are better than the factory parts, but more expensive. As consumers we always tend to look at the price first, when dealing with car parts. When we get a vehicle in our shop that has been in another shop with the same problem, it is sometimes workmanship, but most of the time it is a cheap part that has failed. In my opinion putting a cheap part on your car is a workmanship issue, that’s why it is so important to use the part that has the most value.

Third, we look at availability. Sometimes we want a particular manufactures part, but it just is not available so we have to go with the next best option.

It is our goal to repair your vehicle with parts that have the best value for you. That’s not always the most expensive, but sometimes it is. Even the best parts can fail, that’s why we offer a 2 year 24,000 mile warranty to give you peace of mind that if that part does fail we will stand behind it. And the Magnuson-Moss Act gives you peace of mind that your factory warranty cannot be void if we do the scheduled maintenance or non- warranty repairs.

[schema type=”person” name=”Tom Bender” orgname=”Bender’s Automotive” jobtitle=”Owner” url=”www.bendersauto.com” description=”Tom Bender is the owner of Bender’s Automotive, a Top AAA Approved Auto Repair Shop in Covina CA. He also teaches automotive service at Citrus College” street=”747 E. San Bernardino Road” city=”Covina” state=”CA” postalcode=”91723″ country=”US” email=”bendersauto@aol.com” phone=”(626) 332-3022″ ]