Finding a high-quality repair shop for your semi-truck is one of the most important aspects of maintaining the operating life of your truck. After all, if you can’t run your routes, you are bleeding money every hour!
While you may have protection from your credit card company to protect you against service that is extraordinarily bad, it is better to hedge against damages by choosing the right shop from the get-go. Let’s discuss the key factors that can help you choose the best truck repair shop near me (or you) below.
#1: Look for clear signs of experience
There is no replacement for experience. When searching for a local garage shop that is near your location, you’ll want to look for any signs that demonstrate the repair shop has experience. Heavy truck repair requires a great deal of experience gained from years of repairing and working on large tractor trailers to perform the high-quality work typically necessary.
While a new shop may entice truckers with lower then expected pricing, new equipment and maybe an attractive storefront, all of this does not compare to a proven track record of proven experience. Always ensure that any shop that you bring your truck to has at least a decade of experience in the industry.
#2: Full Array of Services
Whether you need truck differential repair or truck transmission repair, you need to be able to get all your service done at one shop if possible. The best truck repair shops like RIL / CT CAM expanded their services years ago to serve all their clients under one roof. Professional truck repair shops will typically have someone who has expertise with rebuilding engines, replacing transmissions, and solving those crucial fuel economy problems that can drain a truck driver’s wallet.
#3: Positive Reviews from 3rd party sites
When you Google, “truck repair shop near me,” the best shops should pop up on the first page. These sites will often have Google or Yelp reviews that can help you quickly assess how they treated other customers.
Although a high-quality shop can be hit with some bad reviews by fickle customers, they should be able to balance out any negative reviews with positive reviews over time. Always be sure to read through the reviews to determine whether the nature of the review is incompetence or something administrative.
#4: Multiple Service Bays & garage doors
A quality repair shop has the facilities to handle the bulk of truckers passing through a region. This allows them to maintain the overhead needed to secure the top talent and to maintain state-of-the-art equipment.
Shops that are built to accommodate a large volume of truckers will have 10-ton cranes, an alignment pit, and at least 10 service bays to ensure that emergency problems can be addressed at any time. Because time is money, you don’t want to be waiting on the back shelf for a bay to open up when you need repairs.
You should also ensure that these service bays appear to be organized and clean. We have all seen the classic truck shop, located in the middle of nowhere, that has piles of greasy parts and tools thrown around all over the place.
#5: Towing Capabilities
Many truck repair shops will invest in the equipment needed to bring customers to them. Some on the other hand will partner or refer specialist towing companies that only tow heavy trucks.
When you repair trucks at high volume, you don’t want to refer an independent smaller towing company often times because they risk referring customers to garages that aren’t properly equipped to fully evaluate the work required. An experienced semi repair shop owner will ensure the capacity to assist throughout every aspect of an emergency call for truck repair service near me, including the towing.
#6: Location “near me” is key!
A high-quality truck repair shop that is “near me” will be located next to major routes and city arteries that trucks frequently travel through or break down in. This limits the time spent on the roads when a truck breaks down and makes it easy to access the location at all times of the day and irrelevant of seasonal weather.
Because trucks break down with greater frequency during inclement weather, a truck repair shop that is located right off the main highway system will be in the best position to deal with the customer searching for a truck repair shop near me.
#7: Large Inventory of Parts & Materials
If you need truck differential repair or truck transmission repair, you can’t be waiting a week before the repairs even begin. If you Google, “truck repair shop near me,” you should read the homepage of any prospective truck repair shop to ensure that they have parts on hand.
Although no truck repair shop will have everything in stock, they will either have these parts the next day or sitting in their own private warehouse. The best shops will even have custom CNC equipment to fabricate parts in-house.
Foreign parts typically take three days or longer to ship from overseas on special orders. If your truck needs imported parts, you should always double-check to ensure that the shop that you choose carries these special parts.
RIL / CT CAM is an established truck repair shop and garage located in Laval just within greater Montreal. If you need a hand with your heave truck, feel free to give us a call, we can help!
