When taken in for automotive service a car goes through three basic steps:

Step One: Identifying the problem.
It's important the mechanic or service department are fully aware of what the vehicle is doing that is out of the norm. Quite often, it's the description that the customer supplies that helps lead the mechanic to at least the general area of where the problem lies. By being detailed in their description of the problem can actually save them money. If the mechanic is left with a sort of "looking for a needle in a hay stack" type of situation then its going to cost the customer a lot more money.

 Once the general problem area is identified the automotive service that is required will be determined and a professional in this field will be assigned to look into it. It has to be determined as to the exact cause of the complaint. With vehicles quite often one common complaint can relate to many different areas of the car.

 Step Three: Repair

 At this point this is where the automotive service with or should supply an estimate on what the cost is and what the problem is. It should be detailed as to what it covers in depth. This way you can avoid the added costs or the shock of some huge repair bill.