Serious question. I only have the one car. I know there are people with more money than sense that have more cars than they can actually drive at a time, and that there are couples who may or may not be able to drive their SO to the mechanic. But how can they _assumef that I can even afford a cab, well Uber these days, when I’m about to have them hundreds of dollars getting my busted-ass, POS car fixed?
Don’t you have public transport? I usually take a bus to a gallery or cafe, and the mechanic phones or texts to say my car is ready. The repair place also has a few chairs and a free coffee machine, so you can sit and wait if you’d prefer. It’s noisy but interesting. Maybe they have a break room where you could wait?
Most places in the US aren’t reached by public transit.
Not everywhere has decent, if any public transport, especially if they’re in a more rural area. And not every repair takes less than a day to fix.
Don’t you have public transport?
No.
What’s the alternative if it’s going to take hours/days to fix your car? It’s not so much of an assumption as it is a necessity. Some dealerships have loaner cars but that also comes with wildly inflated repair costs.
I can only assume OP wants the shop to taxi them home. maybe back when the car is ready? Most fixes on the range of hundreds of dollars take several hours, or days depending on the availability of parts/tools.
Shops fix cars, driving customers is an added value I wouldn’t expect from most car shops. More so, if you committed to pay a few hundreds for a repair when it’s ready, it’s reasonable to assume you have enough money to go home on your own. A bicycle is always an option, though.
You CAN leave. If you have one car and that’s your mode of transportation then you realistically have only a few options to supplement your handicap of being car less:
- ride share
- gig economy (doordash/grubhub/etc and Instacart/gopuff, etc)
- work from home
- public transportation
- rental car
- take sick days until your vehicle is repaired
What would you do? The repairs depend on what is wrong and sometimes those symptoms can be a menagerie of things that require troubleshooting what the actual root cause is. That takes time.
Do you have insurance? See if they will cover a rental for you while your car is in the shop. Otherwise, find one of those other options above and figure things out.
Yes, a car is expensive and when it goes down then you are forced to find other ways to ensure you can make it.
I’ve also thrown my bike in the trunk and then biked home. Easy option for those able to bike and live close enough. Also, lots of cities now have bike share stations all around.
Also, you know, getting friends and family to give you a ride.
Most people have a limit to the amount of time they’re willing to sit in a shop lobby.
My shop usually offers to drive me somewhere. Also helps to live in a country with viable public transportation. And higher tier shops even have cheap car rentals which often even tie into people’s insurance.
Do they assume that? I have an appointment scheduled tomorrow and plan to wait in their lobby.
They prefer that.
It is one thing if you are getting an oil change or tire rotation, it is another thing entirely when you have a check engine light or an electrical problem that needs diagnosis and there is no way of knowing how long it will take to find out the issue. Even worse is when it is an intermittent issue that the customer can’t narrow down to certain conditions.
Also your appointment will be more like a doctor’s appointment if things are busy, you car will be brought in when a qualified technician is available and not immediately after you hand over your keys.
Most people call in someone who can take them somewhere else and bring them back when the car’s ready
this is a good example of when it helps to have friends.
Yeah I feel you here. They kind of look at me like what you’re going to stay? As if I’m the weird one for not having a personal driver to come get me at all times of the day. Like bitch no I don’t have that option. My options are sitting in your lobby or Trek miles through the 110° heat back to my home.
But how can they _assumef that I can even afford a cab, well Uber these days, when I’m about to have them hundreds of dollars getting my busted-ass, POS car fixed?
Because they’re not your parents, and its not their job to be responsible for you between the time you give them your car and when they contact you to tell you its ready for you.
The shop’s statement of “you can come back in 3 hours to pick up your car” isn’t saying “we know you have other resources for transportation during the time when we’re working on your car” its the shop using a social shortcut to say “your car is unavailable to you for 3 hours while we work on it, and we have no need of you until then. You can go away for 3 hours and it won’t interfere with our work”.
Perfect timing on this post!
- I chose my “normal” garage partly because I can walk to it
- I occasionally have friends or family who can help
- otherwise I’ll just wait
However for the first time ever, I just got a loaner car from the dealer. Their estimate was they’d be done by last Wednesday but they haven’t started yet. Meanwhile the loaner is equivalent to my vehicle and it’s warranty work - they’re just making it damn expensive for themselves
The dealership probably gets reimbursed by the manufacturer for that loaner (and the warranty work).
I usually try to plan a few foot-based errands in the area while they work on my car: maybe the pharmacy for my meds or some toothpaste, the bakery for a couple of these cupcakes my daughter loves, browse the bookstore, talk with the tea shop owner.
We’re always in such a hurry and complain about missing the ‘community feeling’ of ‘the old days’, yet we never spend the time to just walk about the community, doing errands instead of “running errands”, casually catching up on events and goings-on. I like to use my time for that kind of thing.
I think this might read as a little tone deaf to the economic reality of many people.
Also mechanics are often in semi-industrial areas where the most community you’ll get is a homeless encampment and maybe a taco truck
A lot of these replies are tone deaf. Not everyone lives in a place where walking, biking, or even ride share is viable.
I think overall the responses are not tone deaf and are fairly reasonable. Most mechanics shops (aside from a minor two garage shop) that I have been to throughout my metroplex over a long period of years and multiple cars have jobs that take days due to analysis, buying parts and install. Unless I call ahead and schedule a very specific task where I know just taking in a book for 3 or 4 hours will work, I’m walking to the nearest bus stop, riding my bike or calling a cab. There are maybe 6 chairs and 15+ vehicles sitting outside or in bays from my experience. The customers are typically not sitting in the lobby. I think the OPs expectations are a bit off.
Nah, I have to disagree. People in general are FAR too eager to declare walking and biking as not viable. But the cars! I’ll get run over! But the walk! It’s more than two blocks, how can I survive without driving! Etc.
But this is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re assuming everyone lives in the cities and suburbs while forgetting that there are people who live in rural areas and are more than 10 miles from the nearest shop.
Do you get shitty at pilots for landing the plane and just assuming everyone on board is good to get home from the airport, or would you like them to pay for 200 cab fares as well?
It’s their job to fix people’s shitty cars, not their shitty life admin skills.
Hell yeah, I’d like them to pay me £200 to get me home. Who doesn’t want free money? ✈️
Then the tickets would go up by £200 each, and you wouldn’t have the option to take the train or something else.
I mean…who steals a train???
Because that’s what 90% of their clients do.
Why does a realtor/bank make you put your address on the application to buy a house? If you’re buying a home, why would they assume you already have one?
Honestly, I don’t think they “assume” that you’ll do anything other than give them a car to work on and pick it up and pay when they are done. Whatever happens before, after and in between, isn’t their problem.
Whatever happens before, after and in between, isn’t their problem.
OP is looking for Jim Bob’s Auto Repair & Adult Daycare
Clearly an overlooked business model
Adding on to this: the repair shop I take my car to is too far from my house for me to walk or bike back, so I just walk the shops in town while they work on my car (unless they tell me ahead of time it might take more than one day to diagnose+repair, in which case I ask a friend to drive me back home after dropping off the car).
It’s less that they “assume you can leave”, but rather that it isn’t really their problem. They need an uncertain amount of time to work on your car, depending on the issue being repaired, and you can leave if you want to during that window.
If there’s nowhere for you to walk/bike to nearby, you just gotta sit and wait, which I’ve done on a handful of occasions. Just sitting in the lobby and reading some outdated magazines for an hour or two. It’s boring, but what can you do?
Adding on to this: the repair shop I take my car to is too far from my house for me to walk or bike back, so I just walk the shops in town while they work on my car
in washington, oregon, california, nevada, arizona, new mexico, texas, illinois, new york, new jersey, pennsylvania, georgia and florida; the best car shops tend to be in the industrialized areas with no shops nearby and while the most overpriced car shops are nearby other shops. i hope you’re not spending too much $$$ on your repair bills.
Nah, I just live in a rural area. There’s closer shops to me, but a very honest local business I’ve been going to for years is a bit further away and it’s worth the extra distance for their service. They’re a fantastic shop and they’ve always done great by me.
I’ve been going to for years is a bit further away and it’s worth the extra distance for their service. They’re a fantastic shop and they’ve always done great by me.
i’m convinced that there’s some undiscovered natural law out there that says a mechanic’s artisanship is proportional somehow to their distance and inconvenience for you.
an of course half the city has heard about them before you, so they’re completely booked for the next decade or so. lol
Businesses that can get by on convenience, natural visibility, and first-time clients alone don’t need to have good quality.
Businesses that are inconvenient to reach will die quickly unless they have something else (i.e. price or quality) to make up for the inconvenience.
Yep! These guys are booked solid around the clock. I have to schedule well in advance any time I want to take my car to them, unless I want to camp out and be the first customer when they open at 5am. Worth it, though. They’re good people.
Thats an interestingly specific list of states.
Why those specifically?
that’s where i’ve lived and got to experience to joys of paying too much for car repair
In addition to this, I also added into my post that there is no guarantee they will even look at your car today or tomorrow. Other customers and problem difficulty can delay their timeframe to even start diagnosing.
when I’m about to have them hundreds of dollars getting my busted-ass, POS car fixed?
As someone who has only ever driven broken down POS, I feel for you OP. Focus on getting it running, not making it perfect. Wishing you well and hoping it’s cheap! <3
