What to look for in a Heavy Truck & Equipment Service Shop
The certifications of a shop and its employees are a good place to start when wondering if they are worth your business. Anyone can open a workshop, but if they don’t have the skills and technical knowledge to back up their work, that’s a big red flag! The shop you choose should be an AMVIC council member, because that means the company follows a code of ethics set by an outside party, and their technicians should have their Red Seal licenses to ensure a consistent quality and standard of service. They should also have multiple licensed CVIP (Commercial Vehicle Inspection Program) technicians who can attest that your heavy-duty truck or trailer is roadworthy. It’s also important to check that the company has a COR-certified health and safety program to protect its employees – this is a benefit to customers because its high standards facilitate better service and repair quality – and that they have an established positive reputation for honesty from past clients.
The next factor in choosing a shop is convenience – if time and service is of the essence, you don’t want to be waiting for weeks to get necessary work done. Your chosen shop should have a fleet of fully-equipped service trucks that can come to you – loaded with computer diagnostics, welders, mobile cranes, and more that will ensure you get the service you need. With these, they can perform maintenance on the spot, or even bring your vehicle back to the main shop if needed. And speaking of the main shop, it should be located close to commercial and industrial routes, with easy access to the lot.
Many customers don’t want to wait until something is wrong with their vehicle, and they want proactive preventative maintenance done instead. A good shop will send out text, mail, or email reminders (whatever you prefer) to let you know when a check-up is needed, and will be open at least six days a week to help fit with your busy schedule. They will even respond to specific requests, like night-time work or specialized locations, because that’s what is most convenient for customers.
And that leads into the final consideration: customer service capability. The right shop will have a commercial vehicle inspection station, up-to-date computer diagnostics equipment/software, a computer history of your vehicle that they can monitor, and a transparent invoice system that clearly states what each charge is, so you know what you are paying for. The staff should be friendly and speak with you in easy-to-understand terms, and will work in partnership with you to look after your vehicle and extend its life. They will also emphasize preventative maintenance, rather than fixing problems after they show up, which is cheaper and easier in the long run, and will take other customer considerations into account, like environmentally-friendly zero-drip on-site oil and lube services.
That’s quite a list to get through! You might be thinking that no single company could fill all of those points. But at West Tech Mobile – we do! We repair large, heavy-duty trucks, trailers, one-ton trucks, and delivery trucks, and we are proud to offer certified and comprehensive customer service that comes to you and keeps you moving. Our primary aim is to provide quality work at a reasonable cost. We contain costs wherever possible and pass these savings on to you in these difficult financial times. We want to work with you for the best outcome, so call us at 403-265-5699or visit us at our shop at #22, 5555 51 Ave SE, conveniently located in Calgary’s industrial area today!