Many people's lives rely on vehicular transportation, and many people live without specific knowledge of the inner workings of their vehicle. This exposes a vulnerability - taking your car to a shop when it needs repair. How can you be discerning about what your mechanic prescribes? How do you find a mechanic to trust?
Anecdotally, I recently stopped in for a routine oil change for my Toyota. Because I drive a Toyota, I trust that repairs are fast-standard-easy nearly anywhere I might choose to go. For oil changes, I have come to rely on Take 5 only because it is a convenient choice. (Also insert something here about how I find it uncomfortable to go to a car mechanics alone as a woman and have had several bad experiences doing so - at Take 5, I don't get out of the car, and it helps to alleviate the anxiety and has so far guaranteed a good outcome in this regard. There's probably more to say about that, but right now, I don't think this is the interesting part of my story). It is convenient, I know how much I'm going to pay, and they respect when I give them a "no" to their extra recommended services.
When I pulled in recently, I found that I was one of the many who had come in for "quick" oil changes ahead of holiday travel. It was a long line, even the mechanic who greeted me said, "There are two of us here, and we're training new people. It's gonna be a minute." So I was like, yikes, do I stay? Well, I needed it done, I had no where else to be, and the guy ahead of me moved up after 15 minutes.
It was finally my turn, and now the hero of this story arrived. His name was Tamethius. He was calm, cool, collected, and clearly running the show. He was engaging me with friendly banter while meticulously and with devout leadership teaching the ins-and-outs of the oil change maneuvers to the (very small in stature, female) trainees. He was not what I expected when I pulled in, seeing each of the three bays full with a line three cars deep on a holiday weekend, severely understaffed. The vibe in the shop could have been all huffs and puffs, grunts and grumbles. It wasn't. And on top of this, all of these people in an unspoken agreement are putting the trust of their own lives into his hands. The service he commands in his shop means the safety of these vehicles on the road. He wore that responsibility fashionably.
I told him, sincerely, as I left, "thank you for your good work." Simple words, but heavy with meaning when you can give them to someone and mean it. Especially when the job is routine and often thankless.
Do you have a good mechanic? Do you trust an individual or a brand? Did you teach yourself car maintenance so that you don't have to trust anyone? And my other question is, projecting into the future, will anyone casually learn car maintenance anymore??