If you plan to hit the road during the summer season, make sure your vehicle is in tiptop shape.

Experts say it may be hard to find the right auto repair shop because some vastly outperform others and there are huge price variations from shop to shop.

In most cases, they say consumers with newer vehicles would be best served at the dealership.

But Kevin Brasler, executive editor at Washington Consumers’ Checkbook, said those with older vehicles may not need to go to the dealership for service. The consumer group rates auto-repair shops in the D.C. area and has tips for what to look for.

“The reason is that, overall, independent shops get considerable higher rates than dealerships when we survey customers about their experiences,” Brasler said.

Brasler told WTOP they also found that independent shops charge a lot less for repairs than do dealerships.

He advised telling the technician fixing your vehicle what the exact problem is, instead of just guessing at it.

Another thing to consider before getting any work done on the vehicle:

“Insist that the shop provide you with a written estimate before doing any repairs and require that it check with you if it finds that costs will be higher than what it estimated,” Brasler said.