Willie Nelson, the Country Western singer from Texas, sang “Momma, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.” Unfortunately there are mommas out there singing “Momma, don’t let your babies grow up to be mechanics.”

For a variety of reasons auto mechanics are not held in high regard as a profession in this country. The average car owner, when talking with his or her mechanic, is a skeptic: suspicious, fearful and ready to do violence. Or, when they find a good one they describe him or her in terms usually reserved for people who arrive on the scene in long white robes and halos. Both responses are unfair and inaccurate. These are emotional responses. Again and again the actions of a few crooked, lazy or incompetent mechanics/technicians color the character of the many.

There’s a reason for this. Joe Citizen’s reaction to his mechanic is not simply bad judgment or perversity. People react to events in direct proportion to their affect on survival. You hear a similar reaction if the bank ‘accidentally’ drops a digit. Then it’s “those dope smoking boneheads have screwed up my account again. You can’t trust banks.” It’s always they, them, those, all, etc. Note the use of generalities based on the screw-ups of the few.

How important is your car? In Los Angeles it is as important as bread. How well the car works absolutely affects quality of life, even survival itself. It shouldn’t be surprising how much emotion is vested in the condition of our cars.

That is one reason. There are others. For example, when we are ignorant about a particular subject, such as understanding how our car works, being challenged to understand things we know nothing about can evoke powerful reactions. These reactions are often irrational. Anger, fear, feelings of blankness, and despondency, these are common reactions to lack of understanding. Unfortunately our reactions are directed toward the person who places us in a position of not understanding. We look around for someone to blame. If the car owner is angry and frustrated, which is to say seriously emotional, it is predictable that too often the owner will select the wrong target.

These feelings and considerations add up to car owners saying very rude and frequently undeserved things about technicians. Having said this, let’s examine the mechanic in a modern vehicle repair environment. The first thing that comes to mind is that the mechanic’s job description has been utterly altered by the advent of technology. It isn’t just the extraordinary growth of computer-managed vehicle systems. Even purely mechanical systems in vehicles are many times more sophisticated than they were just ten years ago. A good example is the number of carmakers coming out with some form of all-wheel drive, and this is just one of many such ‘advancements.’

This is the technological environment. What about the mechanics employee/employment environment? There are so many good questions to ask. Here are a few. Are dealerships concerned about the well being of their employees? Do dealerships provide continuous and appropriate training for their mechanics? Is the widespread use of the flat rate pay system beneficial to all mechanics? What about training? It is an area where the author has considerable experience. The technological environment makes it imperative that serious efforts to train take place. Who pays for the training? What about tools? Here’s a little known fact outside of the auto technician world. Most technicians have to buy their own tools, and they ain’t cheap folks.

Finally, what if you bought a Lemon? The technician didn’t manufacture it. In our experience most lemons arrived at the dealership in that condition. All those recalls issued every year aren’t for problems caused by incompetent technicians. A few, and I mean a few cars probably have the defects they had on arrival made worse by someone working on it who either tried to get it done in the absurd hours assigned by the manufacturer for each repair task, or by a tech newly arrived from a technical school who has not yet learned to find his *&(*& without a flashlight. So I’ll say it again, we mostly sue manufacturers when they make a defective car, truck, motor home or boat that can’t be fixed. The reason we do this is because they made it, and theoretically they are supposed to stand behind their warranty instead of running like the CEO of a large manufacturer faced with an honest question.

I know a lot of master technicians. They are smart guys who talk straight and really like fixing things. They get a kick out of doing a nice piece of work that was difficult. They like winning and hate being lumped in with those who cut corners and aren’t dedicated to doing good work. So if you absolutely have to point your finger, point it in the right direction—after you cool down. And just for the record, I wouldn’t mind my sons being cowboys or auto technicians as long as they cared about doing it and don’t sing in a high, nasal voice.

www.normantaylor.com

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Tags: auto repair technicians. lemon law, california lemon law, lemon car, lemon law

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