How to Choose an Auto Shop

There are some choices in life that are really difficult.

Like whether to put both socks on, and then your shoes, or to put on one sock and one shoe, and then the other sock and the other shoe.

Life is fully of tricky choices.

I arrived at church this past Sunday to discover that I had a flat tire. A guy friend changed it for me because I was in a skirt, but then by the time I got home, my spare was flat as well.

It was clear that I needed to take action.

Here's the deal, though. There are two auto shops within about a mile and a half of where I live. The one has the advantage of being near Walmart, having updated decor, and employing a beautiful, young, blue-eyed mechanic.

And when he looks at me with those baby blues and tells me that my air filter is clean and that my windshield-wiper fluid is full, my heart just starts beating, and I want to kiss him right then and there.

But then he tells me it's $80 to run the diagnostic test that will tell me why my engine light is on, and, if I ever thought I loved the blue-eyed mechanic, I realize with heart-breaking reality that he will never be good enough for me.

So I cross the street. To the other auto shop. The one that plays the Christian music station all day long and has the bleached-blond receptionist and the tall, skinny mechanic in a jumpsuit that looks like it's never been washed.

I took my car there to get the tire fixed. I really don't know much about cars. Put gas in them. Stop the car when the oil light comes on. Keep a flashlight in the glove box and your gun under the seat. I always figured that if you had a flat tire, it was flat, and if it was flat, you bought a new tire.

And you never buy just one new tire, you always have to buy at least two. At least, this is how my non-car-minded brain works.

So you can see why I was surprised when the mechanic came out of the shop after only fifteen minutes.

"That'll be $13.70," he said. "We fixed the flat, and we fixed the spare."

"Thirteen-seventy?" Are you sure you fixed it?

"Yep. You had a wood screw in the tire, so we took it out, plugged it, and put some air in your spare. You're good to go."

I think he mistook my amazement that the problem could be fixed so easily for disappointment that I didn't have to lay down $200 for a new pair of tires. I thanked him prettily and went on my way.

There are a few lessons we can learn from this story:

1. If you must do annoying things like wasting money on your car when you could be buying a new computer or pillow-top bed or a hot air balloon ride, try to find an auto shop that has mechanics with beautiful blue eyes.
2. If, once you find that auto shop, despite the fact that you're sure it was meant to be between you and Beautiful Blue, he tries to fleece you anyhow, move on, you deserve better.
3. In the end, it's not really looks that matter anyway. Go for the bleached-blond and the dirty jumpsuit guy. They're honest, capable, and even if they're not beautiful, at least you'll have money left when you leave.

 

 

Comments

[Katie-Beth]

We chose our auto shop because it was called Mike's and most people not related to Michael call him Mike. We have kept going there for 8 years because they seem honest and don't try to rip us off.

[Darcy]

Yeah, that's why I like this Affordable Automotive place. The are honest. They do good work. And they don't charge an arm and a leg.