It has been a while since I’ve written anything on our blog, mostly due to being busy with life, kids, and other aspects of the shop. I haven’t been short of ideas, in fact, I have so many things I want to write about that it can be hard to focus on one long enough to get my words out in a way they make sense.
This month we have been very busy, which is good for our bottom line, but when things get busy we get heart-breakers. I am talking about the old car or truck that has been hanging on for years and then the owner starts to notice things are rough and they maybe are overheating. This person may be on a fixed income with no savings and now they have a car that is plain old worn out. Worn out where, even the engine repair would realistically only buy them another year before the transmission died, or it needs a complete brake rebuild. I hate my job when I have to tell people their car is dead, and then give them an estimate that is completely out of their reach. I have to do this a lot and I am never going to get used to it.
But this month. Man, this month has been rough. A couple of days ago we had a car come in that wasn’t shifting right and then lost 4th gear. The customer, Maz, said the check engine light was on for bad solenoid in the transmission. Sure, doesn’t sound too bad (if your a mechanic, if not this sounds like gibberish) and I proceeded to confirm the code by making sure the wires, computer, etc were o.k. I opened the hood and noticed the paint was stripped from the metal around the battery. UH, OH. The battery had at some point leaked acid, and somebody (prior to the current owner) sprayed water on it which spread the acid into the wiring harness for the transmission. On top of that the transmission control computer is directly under the battery and it too was corroded. Virtually every connector was eaten by the acid to the point I was surprised the car ran at all, especially since this car uses a network called CAN which relies on clean connections to transmit communications between computers.
At the same time I was trying to wrap my head around how much damage a BATTERY had caused I got a phone call that no shop wants to get.
“Hey, this is Soanso, and I just spent a ton of money on my truck with you guys and it has a blown engine and I am stranded out of my towing range”
I talked to Soanso and a shop had done a compression check and found low compression on adjacent cylinders (one and two) and assumed a blown headgasket. I spoke to the mechanic and again to our customer about what lead up to the loss of power and it sounded like burned valve. Great. We JUST did a valve adjustment. I talked to Freddy and he said the only valves that were tight were 3 and 4 and nothing the truck had done during our inspection alarmed him that there may be a valve issue other than having 280,000 miles on the ticker.
I get off the phone with Soanso and the phone rings and it is Maz wanting to know what we had found with his car. I honestly had no way to tell him how bad it was, other than to tell him it would be expensive and that I had no easy way of estimating the damage without doing more research and consulting an auto electric specialist.
I put together an estimate that is over half the vehicle’s worth and call Maz the next day. I RUINED his day. I got a text from somebody who knows Maz telling me so. What was I supposed to do? Low ball him and stick him with the bill after spending an outrageous amount of his money? I know I ruined his day, but thanks for reminding me since I take such joy in making sure my customers are unhappy….
Today Soanso came into the shop to develop a game plan to see what to do about the truck. He stated how angry he was and how hurt he had been since he trusted us and felt betrayed that his truck had left him stranded. It felt like a kick in gut and even though I know we did nothing wrong, I felt incredibly responsible. He stated that everyone he talked to told him he should ask for his money back and never come back to see us, including his parents but he stuck up for us. He said he trusted us that it was not our fault and defended us to everyone even though his initial feelings were betrayal ( it must be dusty in here because I got something in my eye). I felt at that moment like hugging the guy like I have had to do while breaking the news to single Moms, Grandmas, and people down on their luck. That hug would have been for me though since after all these years of people saying they come to us because they trust us, it hasn’t hit me like it did just then.
I thanked Soanso, shook his hand and told him thanks, but I couldn’t tell him how much it really meant to me. I felt completely humbled, and very grateful to be able have a customer like him.
These are two of the eight or so heartbreaks this month, but I can tell you that as much as I HATE telling people their truck or car is dead, I truly do feel honored that people out there trust us. Thank you to all of our loyal customers for trusting us, it truly does mean a lot to us.
