To avoid the niggling suspicion the mechanic has overcharged you, or worse, not done the work you've paid for, choose the busiest mechanic you can find, says a Queensland University of Technology economics researcher.
Professor Uwe Dulleck, from QUT's School of Economics and Finance, researches expert services - services provided by such people as doctors, lawyers, builders, taxi drivers, appliance repairers and mechanics. These providers know more about the quality and type of service customers need than the customers themselves.
He has found through scenario-based, computer experiments that 90 per cent of people in the general population fall into three categories.
"Forty per cent of people want to do the right thing by all their customers; 20 to 25 per cent are selfish and do want to rip you off, while a third group of people has a 'Robin Hood' approach - if they deem a customer is richer than they are then it is okay to take advantage of them, but if the customer seems poorer, they will not. The other 10 per cent don't fit any pattern," Professor Dulleck said.
"It might sound strange but if providers are busy they have no reason to overtreat or overrepair because they don't have spare time to fill. In other words, they won't say they have to do the brakes or take out your tonsils as well.
"The aim of this research is to investigate the incentives and disincentives that drive people's behaviour. We look at the outcomes of people's behaviour to find the best use for scarce resources, be it the scarce time a car mechanic can spend on repairing cars or the medical resources available to treat Australians. This can be an important input into the design of market regulation and policy-making."
Professor Dulleck said it was difficult for people to know which category their proposed service provider fell into.
"Consequently, we have seen the growth of codes of practice - the first of which was the Hippocratic Oath - to give customers some sense that the provider adheres to some ethical principles. It is in the customer's and the provider's interests that the code is adhered to," he said.
"We have also seen the growth of professional organisations who undertake to uphold standards and investigate complaints made about their members - again this is to give both customer and provider a level of protection.
"Guarantees and warranties are another way providers give their customers assurance that they at least ensure that their problems get fixed. If any form of liability of sufficient service by the provider can be ensured, the market in many cases will solve the inherent problems.
"We all have to deal with people who have more knowledge than we do every day and there are various ways to verify that the work has been done, and that it hasn't been overcharged.
"Busy mechanics, for example, have no incentive to overtreat your car but could overcharge. To help get around this you can ask for the replaced part to be put in the boot and ask their hourly rate and length of time to fix it beforehand.
"Providers who do overcharge could be shooting themselves in the foot because if they are found out, word-of-mouth and the internet will be used to air the customer's ire."
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media, 07 3138 1841 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
** High res photo of Professor Dulleck available for media use.
