Tales of the Best Mechanics

"Ryan A." (rba) 04/29/2015 at 16:48 • Filed to: None

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Recently there have been a few posts about the worst mechanics. Let’s turn things around and share our positive experiences.

Several years ago there was a problem with a valve or gasket (I forget which) in our Nissan Altima. My dad took the car to his long time friend, Mohammed the Mechanic, who said he fixed a similar problem earlier this week on an Accord. Our mechanic said it’d probably take a few hours and he’d have the car back to us by the end of the day. He and my dad agreed upon a price — with the understanding that, since he hadn’t done this exact thing on an Altima, it might take longer.

He also sold used cars and insisted that we take the best car off his lot — a Lexus, rather than have my mom come pick us up.

Later that day we get a call from him, expecting our car to be ready. It’s not. Turns out our Nissan requires significantly more labor which may have included even pulling the engine. Not wanting to keep his loaner for too long (what if someone wanted to buy it?) we try to bring it back but he refuses.

A day or two later, when it is finished my dad points out that it simply isn’t fair to charge the initial price because the labor far exceeded what was expected. He knew that the estimate was just an estimate. Mohammed refused to take any more money.

This was not a one time occurrence, either. A lot of his business was selling reconstruction titled cars. He’d buy two (or three) crashed cars and piece them together. Everyone I knew who purchased a car from him got a long lecture on what a reconstructed title was and how it would be harder for them to resell. He also stressed that he couldn’t give warranties and would share the story about the customer who had a car of his only last a few months before the transmission failed. He genuinely cared that his customers were comfortable.

E. Julius > Ryan A. 04/29/2015 at 16:51

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Mohammed sounds like a good guy. I don’t have anything quite so exceptional, but Jason, my family’s trusted mechanic, always ran a clean shop and charged fair prices. The best though was when I messed up my front steering/suspension when I was in high school and he agreed to take a look at it for me without telling my parents!

Rainbow > Ryan A. 04/29/2015 at 16:52

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I can hardly remember the details, but when I had my Mustang it spent more time at the shop than at my house. On at least one occasion, they decided not to charge me for a repair because it wasn’t hard and they were doing good business anyway.

thebigbossyboss > Ryan A. 04/29/2015 at 16:52

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That’s pretty cool. Recently my car had an exhaust leak and emissions test coming up. Since emissions are now done in Ontario using the OBD II program, a check engine light is a fail. He said “fixing this stupid evap leak is a pain...I reset it, just keep it full up with gas, and you’ll pass”

And I did that and passed lol.

RallyWrench > Ryan A. 04/29/2015 at 16:52

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I’ve wanted to do just this, thanks. Too many pitchforks being held against the good guys lately. I can’t believe some of the things said in comments on those posts.

TheVancen- In Pursuit of a Greater Payday and Car Parts > thebigbossyboss 04/29/2015 at 17:10

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I hate the E test. Especially since if your car doesn’t have OBD II, like my Taurus, they still sniff it. Well, they might but I doubt they’d keep scan tools for OBD I around since its so old.

TheJWT > Ryan A. 04/29/2015 at 17:15

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When I was pretty certain that my car would never pass its required e-check, I took it to a mechanic who my family had been going to for years. In Ohio, if you fail and spend $200-300 on repairs, you can get a waiver. So I took it up to the mechanic after spending $150ish on some new parts, and he fixed the fuel pressure regulator and made up a receipt for the remaining amount. He didn’t actually charge me a dime. He’s a super nice guy, and the only mechanic I’ll go to.

Alfalfa Romeo > thebigbossyboss 04/29/2015 at 17:24

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Haha, that may or may not be what I did to get my car to pass a few months ago...

Tatanko > Ryan A. 04/29/2015 at 17:26

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In high school, I regularly had simple exhaust work done on my car at a local Monro garage. I changed exhaust components like underwear on that car, never satisfied, and brought all of my work to them. These days I would never do that, but as a cash-strapped kid in high school with only two pennies to rub together for car mods, they treated me SO WELL.

They never gave me a hard time about anything, always did EXACTLY as I asked them to, and even let me watch them work to assure me that they were doing as I had asked. The best part, though? They never charged me much, maybe $2o or $40, and sometimes they didn’t charge me at all. I think they genuinely loved my budding enthusiasm for cars.

I always made sure to run a box of fresh donuts by the shop on my way to school the day after they helped me with anything :)

boxrocket > Tatanko 04/30/2015 at 09:52

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Having worked as a mechanic for some time, the smallest sign of appreciation - verbal, material, or consumable - are always welcome. We're people too, with our own problems, so anything that makes the business relationship a two-way street makes it actually feel more like a relationship.

We had this absolutely sweet older solitary lady customer who I knew from when I worked at a nearby QuikTrip as a customer there as well, mostly because of her very distinctive red Escort wagon covered in Saint Louis Cardinals stickers and logos and flags. She was very generous with us: She'd bring us a cooler with QT-brand Gatorade-equivalents (Hydr8) on summer days when she was having her car worked on, and fresh doughnuts when she was a morning appointment. She never needed any major repairs from us while we were there. However, one time someone in a Chevy truck sideswiped her almost right in front of the shop, such that she was sandwiched between the truck and the passenger-side curb. Naturally, we all ran out to help - not just because it was her, of course - and made sure the truck driver stayed put until the police came and made an official report (he seemed like a flight risk). We pushed her car into the shop, looked over it and recommended that it go to a body shop. We all chipped in to cover her tow bill, and we insisted she take the shop Camry that we used for practice and training until her insurance set her up with a rental. Her insurance wound up totaling the Escort out, and she wound up buying a new yellow Focus hatchback, so I had the privilege of driving her to the dealership in the shop Camry when she picked up her new car. On the way she informed me that the insurance company had reimbursed her for the tow bill that we had paid for, and how she could pay us back, as each member of the team had pit in different amounts. It was about a $150 tow bill, and I don't think anyone put in more than $20, and no one expected or wanted to be repaid, as we'd all consumed well more than $20 in doughnuts and Hydr8s over time. I conferred with my manager via text while she was waiting for the new Focus to be delivered, and he said everyone was in agreement with my belief, and I informed her thusly. The look on her face was all the thanks we needed. She took delivery of the car, and I drove back to the shop. About a week later on a Friday, she brought the Focus in to have some mud flaps installed that she'd bought, which we didn't charge her for, but apparently it was a ruse to get the car in the shop: In the back was a full Qdoba taco bar, and the boss had managed to blank out any appointments for an hour so we could enjoy her token of appreciation of tacos and Hydr8s, which she had bought with the reimbursement check from her insurance company, despite our protests. She claimed it was for letting her drive the Camry for the few days she was car-less, so we let it drop as she was most insistent. So we installed the mud flaps, but the manager had a surprise for her from us: The customer had picked yellow for the Focus because she's as big a Steelers fan as she is a Cardinals fan, so we had special-ordered Steelers stickers and flags (hard to get that sort if thing locally) to complement the new car, and we all - her included - had fun putting everything on her car, notably a 3'x3' logo on her hood. She was so proud of that car! Even though the dealership had included their "free maintenance" service with the car, she still took it to us.