Your Mercedes' brakes are squealing. Your Porsche is due for a tune-up. Or your Jaguar doesn't quite have the zip that it once boasted.

Your foreign car needs service. And because it's still under warranty, you should immediately take it back to your dealership for service, right?

Not necessarily, says Nerces Mavelian, owner of Dallas' Autoscope, an auto repair shop that specializes in personalized European car repair in Dallas, Plano and Addison.

Dealerships don't always identify every problem that a foreign car suffers, Mavelian said. That's why he recommends that the drivers of these high-performance cars first visit a specialized independent repair shop for a detailed checklist of potential problems. Owners can then present this list to their dealers to make sure that their car is in peak condition when it returns to the road.

"The misconception is that once you bring your car to the dealership, everything comes out pristine and in perfect working order," Mavelian said. "People think that everything is fixed. But that's rarely the case."

When drivers bring their cars to a dealership with a specific problem, whether misfiring spark plugs or a broken catalytic converter, the dealership's mechanics will fix that problem. But that's all they'll fix, Mavelian added.

Drivers who don't know that their cars are also suffering from a malfunctioning part or a leaking component that just started seeping will return to the street with that problem still plaguing their vehicle. That's because they didn't know to ask their dealership mechanics to look at this problem.

“When you bring a car to a dealer, you have to tell them what is wrong with it,” said Mavelian. “They type it into their system and fix it. But that's all they'll fix, and that can leave with you a car that's about to suffer a serious, costly problem."

At Autoscope, mechanics provide clients with a detailed checklist of current and potential problems with their vehicles. This checklist is free during the routine maintenance or service, and clients are under no obligation to schedule repairs with Autoscope.

Mavelian even encourages motorists who come to Autoscope to have their tires rotated or oil changed to take advantage of their free concierge service, which includes transportation of the car and checklist to their dealership. They can then have these problems corrected while their vehicles are still under warranty.

Mavelian also recommends that drivers take their cars to a specialized, independent shop for a checkup before they bring them back to their dealers. This way, drivers can be sure that all of their vehicles' problems will be addressed.

"It's important to have a good, trusted repair shop look at your car even while it's under dealership warranty," he said. "It is the best way to confirm that your car is in good running order.”

And once the dealer warranty expires? Mavelian says that there is then no reason for motorists to bring their foreign cars to the dealership for repairs.

Independent repair shops usually charge less for repairs and are faster, often finishing their repair jobs in a single day, he said.

Want to learn more about the benefits of independent repair shops? Call Autoscope at 214-350-3050 or visit the company's Web site at www.autoscope.net.

Autoscope - Park Cities
6134 Denton Drive
Dallas, TX 75235 (MAP)

214-960-1016

Hours: Mon-Fri: 7:30 AM - 6:00 PM Sat: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sun: Closed

www.autoscope.net