The demand for maintenance and refurbishment at the end of the year of many motorbike owners has increased sharply, making motorbike refurbishment shops in Hanoi always busy.
Lunar New Year is the time when motorbike owners want their "beloved vehicle" to be the most beautiful and healthy to enjoy the spring after a long period of operation, so this is often the "harvest" time for garage owners.
Early in the morning, Mr. Le Van Dong’s motorbike repair shop at 167 Kim Nguu Street (Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi) was packed. In the yard of about 50 square meters, there were dozens of motorbikes but only 4 workers. Outside, customers were still sitting and waiting for their turn.
Mr. Dong said that since the beginning of the month, both the owner and the 4 mechanics have started to "get into the groove", the number of customers repairing and maintaining motorbikes at his shop has doubled compared to normal days. Normally, the shop receives about 10-20 motorbikes/day, now near Tet it has increased to 30-40 motorbikes/day.
“These days, the workers have to work until 8pm before they can rest. Normally, it’s only 6pm. But sometimes they still can’t finish the job in time, so they have to leave it until the next day to pay the rest,” Dong shared.
Coming to the garage for car maintenance, Mr. Dong said that each customer's needs are very diverse, some people just change the oil, change the air filter, tighten the chain, and tighten the brakes simply, but there are also people who want to check everything, disassemble the spare parts and replace the degraded ones. "Normal customers often have maintenance packages for operating parts or change fuel. As for young people, they often bring their cars to decorate such as decals, change light bulbs, install disc brakes, adjust the clutch, fix the exhaust pipe...", Mr. Dong added.
In addition to checking the condition of the car and maintenance, many customers also have the need to do things like decals and paint the car body, so this service has also flourished. Along Cao Ba Quat Street (Ba Dinh District, Hanoi) - a place famous for car refurbishment and decal services... is also very crowded in the days near Tet.
Mr. Nguyen Hung, owner of a car wrap shop here, said that recently the demand for car wraps and renovations has increased dramatically. Every day, the shop receives about 30-40 cars for wraps, more than during last year's Tet holiday. The workers are always working but still can't keep up with the work.
He also added that the most popular vehicles are Honda SH, Vision, Air Blade, Yamaha Grande, Janus, Piaggio Vespa... The price for decals for the entire vehicle ranges from 300,000 to 1,000,000 VND depending on the type of vehicle and the quality of the decal paper.
“This year, customers prefer to apply cement white decals or PPF anti-scratch stickers instead of just regular plastic stickers. The trend of applying decorative stickers with ornate patterns has decreased significantly, customers tend to apply simple stickers with sharp lines to enhance the car’s appearance,” said Mr. Hung.
In addition, Mr. Hung also said that the car painting category is also chosen by many people, not less than decals. Car owners can request to paint the whole car or paint a few details to create highlights, mix paint colors according to their preferences, and even change the car's fairing and car body to change feng shui. The price of painting the whole car ranges from 2-3.5 million VND depending on the car model, of which Piaggio is the most expensive.
Refurbishing and beautifying your vehicle is a very normal thing and helps the user's motorbike become new and more attractive during Tet. However, due to the high number of customers during this time, many shops increase prices or force customers to replace spare parts. Therefore, to ensure and save on vehicle repair and maintenance, vehicle owners need to know some notes to have a happy and complete Tet holiday on their trips.
Regarding this issue, Mr. Le Van Dong said that depending on the vehicle's distance traveled (ODO), the vehicle owner can have a suitable vehicle maintenance plan.
For newly purchased cars, or cars with ODO under 10,000 km, the car is still relatively new so the owner only needs to replace the engine oil, differential oil, air filter and coolant without having to intervene much in the drive system.
For vehicles that have traveled over or under 20,000 km, in addition to checking the above items, you should also check the vehicle's cooling system, belt and chain more carefully. These are the main transmission parts of the vehicle, if used for a long time, they can wear out and break, causing the vehicle to move sluggishly. Therefore, when the chain is loose, it needs to be tightened, similarly, if the belt is cracked, it needs to be replaced soon.
For vehicles running over 20,000 km, because the vehicle has been in operation for a long time, the vehicle's parts such as the clutch, belt, brake pads, spark plugs, etc. are worn out and degraded, affecting the movement process and need to be replaced. In addition, other equipment such as tires, lighting systems, and electricity should also be carefully checked and replaced if there is a problem to ensure safety.
In addition to the above maintenance milestones, Mr. Dong also said that car owners need to pay attention to regularly checking tire pressure and brake system after a period of use. Fuels such as engine oil should also be replaced before Tet, especially if they have been used for more than 1,500-2,000 km to keep the car running smoothly.
In addition, Mr. Dong also reminded car owners that when going for maintenance or refurbishment, they should choose a genuine center or reputable store to ensure quality. These places have full equipment and genuine spare parts, helping customers feel more secure during the inspection and maintenance process.
“Genuine, reputable centers will have warranty commitments and easily trace the origin of genuine car parts. In addition, they have a system to record the car’s maintenance history, which can help car owners check the items their car has been maintained to avoid waste,” Mr. Dong shared.
TH (according to VNA)