寻一家靠谱的修车行

字幕原文

John's car was making odd noises, 约翰的车发出奇怪的响声，

and with winter coming, he knew he had better get it checked. 冬天临近，他知道最好去检查一下。

But he was new in town and didn't know whom to trust, 但他刚搬到这个镇上，不知道该信任谁，

so he did the smart thing first. 所以他首先做了件明智的事。

He asked his coworkers and neighbors 他询问了他的同事和邻居

which shop they used. 他们都去哪家修车店。

One name kept coming up, so he took his car and his questions there. 一个名字不断被提起，于是他带着车和问题去了那家店。

How did they charge for labor? A flat rate or by the hour? 他们的人工费怎么算？是统一收费还是按小时计费？

Was there a fee just to diagnose the problem? 诊断问题是否需要单独收费？

Most important, 最关键的是，

he asked for a written estimate, 他要求一份书面估价单，

what was wrong, what parts were needed, 问题出在哪里，需要哪些零件，

what the labor would cost, 人工费会是多少，

and a promise to call him 以及承诺会给他打电话

before doing any extra work. 在进行任何额外工作之前。

The shop answered everything, and John drove away with a signed estimate he felt was fair. 修车店回答了他所有的问题，约翰带着一份他认为公平的、已签字的估价单离开了。

A car is one of those things 汽车是这样一种东西，

where it's easy to feel helpless 让人很容易感到无助，

and just pay whatever you're told. 然后就照单全收。

But John's whole secret was simple. Ask before and get it in writing. 但约翰的秘诀很简单：事先询问，并获得书面凭证。

A good question, asked early, is the cheapest repair there is. 一个好的问题，及早提出，是最划算的维修。