July/August 2019

I ’ve been running rough recently. Well, when I say “me” – I mean my car. One of my cars. The one that lives at the garage. It starts, it goes, it stops and I can use it. But it doesn’t feel right. I’m a professional, so with my professional hat on, I took a look at it. Professionally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with it, so I professionally had a little scream under the bonnet so no one could hear. It’s been a long week. It started out okay. Monday morning, we opened, and we had a mixture of jobs through the door. Some involved basic on-the-calendar servicing, some MOTs and a few of the more complex and challenging diagnostic jobs that keep things interesting. Things were busy, but we were running low on teabags. As it happens I fancied some air, and as I was doing MOTs and had a gap I elected to buzz across to the nearest shop in the car, buy the teabags and buzz back. I had a lot on my mind though. I hopped in the car and drove over, but it just did not feel right. I drove back – only two or three minutes – and yes I know it did not get chance to warm up properly, but I know this car. I’ve had it for quite a few years, it is technically worthless but it does very well for me, plus we use it as a courtesy car, for those customers we are feeling courteous towards. I knew I would not get chance to look at it until the end of the day, or the next. Tuesday came and went. I was irritable all the time, did not know why. In terms of takings it was actually becoming an above-average week. But I was still not feeling it. Wednesday, more of the same. On Thursday late, I was able to give the car a thorough going-over, finding nothing. At home that evening, Mrs P observed: “You are becoming a little obsessive-compulsive in your old age.” I harrumphed and headed for bed. Best night’s sleep I had all week. On the Friday, I had cause to use the little car again. I was expecting the worst, but it felt oddly fine. I felt oddly fine too. It was a great end to what turned out to be a really good week for us, plus Saturday morning. We have all had days when the car does not run right, but really the problem is us and the car is the same. It made me think about dealing with customers. Sometimes your customers are happy and amenable, while other times they are more difficult. The trick as the garage is to provide the same excellent level of service every time, with everyone. If you provide a clean environment, keep the customers informed, make sure everything is always done to a high standard and always keep this going, you will be doing well. There is always room for improvement, that is the challenge. The trick is to be that happy and reliable car, always starting, always ready. If the customer has an issue, just keep ticking over in your excellent way. They will come around eventually. ROUGH DRAFT 66 AFTERMARKET JUL/AUG 2019 TEABREAK: MEMOIRS OF A MOTOR MECHANIC www.aftermarketonline.net