Customers I love!

The kind of customers I love are the ones that already have some knowledge about their cars. They check the simple things like fluids, maintenance on time, and they hear and feel their vehicle.

For example, this morning a lady came in. We’ll call her Sue. Sue had a 2005 Chevy Impala. Sue noticed abnormal noise coming from her car when she turned to the left side. She said it was a whining noise. I asked her to come with me for a road test. I was driving; while we were driving straight on the road I noticed the car did have the whining noise. When I turned slightly to the right, the noise disappeared, when I turned slightly to the left, the noise got loader. I then told her that she needed front-left wheel-hub-bearing. When I apply the brake I noticed a pulsation on the brake paddle. I asked Sue when the last time she had the brake job on her vehicle was. She told me a different mechanic changed the brakes for her. When the car was back in the garage, we planned on changing the wheel-bearing and inspect her front brakes. While inspecting the brakes we noticed that she had frozen brake caliper slide bolts. The other mechanic did not fix this problem when he changed the pads. This was the cause that bent her rotors. We then fixed everything and Sue left happy with no noise.

 

Brake Rotor and Calipar and Wheel Bearing

 

The reason for this example is that Sue knew there was a problem with her car, but she did not tell me what to do, she simply told me what the problem was. She left the problem to the experts.

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Trust your Mechanic’s Knowledge!

Most of the time customers come into my garage and they want to guide me on what to fix on their car. They feel like they already know what the problem is, especially when they get advice from a friend or neighbor. People like to compare problems, when they do they end up giving the wrong advice.

For example, a customer came last week. We’re going to name him Jim.  Jim had a no start problem on his SUV 2007 envoy. Jim asked me how much it would cost to change a fuel pump. I asked him if someone had already checked his car for the no start issue. Jim said that his cousin checked his car and told him that he had the same issue with his SUV and the mechanic just changed his fuel pump and his issue was solved. I then told Jim the price ranged from $600-650 (parts and labor) and that I would be more than happy to do it for him. Later that day the car was towed to my garage. I called Jim, asking him for his authorization to do a diagnostic on his SUV. A according to my knowledge and experience, a no start problem has more thousands of possibilities. A diagnostic would help us find the exact reason for his problem. But Jim said no, because there was a $60 fee for a diagnostic. I respected his reasoning, but I still did it for him anyways. I spent 45 minutes working on the car, and I found out that he had only a short in the wiring that was in the power to the fuel pump. The fix was simple, and the car started perfectly. I called Jim to tell him his car was ready. When he came to pick up his car he found out that his bill was only $75 which included that diagnostic fee. Jim later apologized for the tip he gave me and promised to let “trusted” mechanic do the job.

 

This is the fuel pump module and its location.

Most mechanics love people like Jim; they will do exactly what the customer tells them. That does not mean that the customer is always right.

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