Troubleshooters.Com presents:

Find a Good Mechanic

Copyright (C) 2006 by Steve Litt

You thought this would be a list of mechanics, didn't you? I'll go you one better by showing you how to evaluate prospective mechanics.

To evaluate a mechanic, you need to know what a mechanic really does. It's much more than working with a wrench and a diagnostic computer. A truly good mechanic must follow a troubleshooting process, so to evaluate the mechanic you must be familiar with the process of troubleshooting. These two books will give you that information:

• Troubleshooting: Tools, Tips and Techniques (Easy introduction to troubleshooting)
• Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist (Complete, dense and rigorous compilation of troubleshooting process info)
• Manager's Guide to Technical Troubleshooting (Easy overview of the Universal Troubleshooting Process)

Read at least one of these books, then evaluate mechanics on symptom acquisition, diagnostic ingenuity, shop organization. You will find that at least half the repair shops are not aware of what you've learned in these books.

If you are a manager wanting to train your team, consider our troubleshooting courses.