Thread: Need car mechanic in David who's not a crook!

My relative, who's temporarily residing in Panama, took his car to a local mechanic in David. The crook kept the car for almost a week and ended up charging almost $1,000 for repairs and parts. The car broke down yesterday once again and had to be towed home. Obviously, the needed repairs were not done. Since my relative doesn't currently have residency status, it's not simple for him to take this mechanic to court or report this to the police. Does anyone know of a couple of reliable mechanics in David who'll not rob this person once again and who'll perform reliable and responsible repairs? This is one more crook among all the other crooks my relative has come across while in David. He put his cell phone down on the counter of an eatery the other day and someone took it in less than a minute. A month ago all the tires of the car were taken in the middle of the night and the car left on cinder blocks. As he reports his experiences in David to us we grow disappointed as we were considering Panama for a possible retirement location. I was there a few months ago to scope the place out and was disheartened by what I saw in David and in my rides to Volcan and Boquete. We took our relative to purchase a stereo system and the person who assisted us also turned out to be crooked, the system inside the box was already used and had been returned. He thought we'd take it without inspecting it first. We had already paid before opening the box, it took us over an hour in another line to obtain a refund. Again, quite disappointing. I look forward to members' input for reliable mechanics. Thanks.

Well, there are number of ground rules to maintain in Panama when dealing with car mechanics.

1. You never sign anything to pre-approve work. You will not pay for any repairs without a quotation.
2. First step is the diagnostic part. This is where you order to mechanic to identify what work needs to be done. You can either pay him for this or say that you will let him do the work. At the end of this you have to go there and get a parts list.
3. Now YOU have to buy the parts. I typically buy mine here: Discount Auto Parts Online - Mercedes Parts, BMW Parts, Volvo Parts, Volkswagen Parts - PartsGeek.com New Auto Body Parts. If you don't have a car available in the US you are bascially out of luck as far as I know. You have to have a Miami PO Box to get the parts down of course.
4. You go to the mechanic again and present your parts. Ask for a quote for the installation of these parts. Go to 1-2 more and ask for quotes.
5. The mechanic always has to give you the old replaced parts, including oil filters of course in a plastic bag. Otherwise they will be tempted to keep the $5 for themselves.
6. If possible stay at the shop while the installation is done and buy them a free lunch. Become a friend....
7. Check your maintenance schedule and pre-buy the parts, such as air filters, AC filters, fuel filter, timing belts, spark plugs, wires and hoses.

An example: A voltage regular for a Volvo is $300 in Panama - it's about $60 in the US.

For the cheaper stuff it's better to buy the wrong part and throw it in the garbage than to pay the Panama prices.

Also, one has to realize that guys employed at Novey, for example, make $1.70 per hour. You have to adjust to the country.

Four brand new stolen tires are probably worth $200. This four guys (2 working as police spotters on the intersections) will go for when you give them an opportunity.

A store once tried to dump a returned 9k BTU AC on me in a store. I created a big uproar in the store, involved other customers. Got thrown out basically - drove home for receipts and such. When I came back there was a brand new 12k BTU standing on the floor (for me then...) for the same price.

If you are not prepared to, occationally, to run over people with a dump truck and back em over, then Panama is not for you.