Saturday, January 12, 2008

Stop, In the Name of Love

904367.jpgIt amazes me how cheep people are. Cheep and stupid. STUPID. In the last 2 days Ive worked on 2 cars that were unsafe to drive due to the condition of their brakes. One car came in with all 4 of its tires slashed and while I was putting new ones on for them I noticed that the front brakes were wearing unevenly. Curious as to why, I took the drums off the rear and discovered that they were completely destroyed. I wrote up an evaluation and let the CSA know. He called the customer and explained the danger involved in driving the car without work being done. The customer didnt seem to care about his or other drivers safety and declined the work.

Today a woman came in to have a battery put in. When the tech pulled the car in I could hear the brakes from across the shop. I looked at the rotors through the rims and saw that they were seriously mangled. I convinced the customer to at least let me do an evaluation of the brakes. Once again the brakes were fried and could cause serious injury to either the passengers of the car or others on the road. I had to personally show this woman the problem with her brakes and explain that she could die if she drove her car out of the shop. It wasnt until I pointed out that her kids could die that she finally decided to get the work done.

Let me tell you, you may not trust mechanics, but most of them are honest and are just looking out for your best interest and the well being of your car. There are two things that you should never go cheep on and those are brakes and tires. The brakes are what make you stop. They do not get better through time. If your brakes are making noise then you need to have them checked. The sooner you have them checked the less it will cost you to have them fixed.

2 comments:

sinner said...

I'd listen to you seriously if you said i needed a break job done. It's the mechanics who imply we might die if we don't change a wiper blade... on the passenger side.
Cost would only be $30.......

before you defend mechanics, the wiper blade we had, we bought from them just 3 months or so before that, when we actually did need replacements. When we went to meijer later that day, we were pissed that we could get new ones for only $10 bucks. Their a rip off and their assholes, great!

If any joe schmoe were to run into these types of mechanics more often than the "caring" mechanics, then they probably just shut their ears off and don't even listen when going in for other reasons wrong with their cars. they probably don't like getting hassled like that and think whatever you're saying is bullshit to get more money.

katohater said...

i prefer the term "automotive technician."

the reality of the situation is that people think they are getting ripped off by auto repair places because they are. wiper blades don't cost that much and are the easiest thing you can do on a car, but it's about the convenience of getting it done by someone else quickly while your car is already being worked on. if you had any sense at all, you wouldn't bring your car in to be worked on, you'd work on it yourself. (also, i could be convinced that not having a working wiper blade in michigan would be considered a death sentence.)

people just don't want to believe anyone could be looking out for them. it's not mechanics who have instilled this seed of doubt, it is the beautiful workings of capitalism. a car repair shop can only concerned about one thing: the bottom line.

you can read about this and other things in my new book: "how i pooped a gold nugget that looked like jesus and the fortune that followed."