Ask Lemmy

But how can they _assumef that I can even afford a cab, well Uber these days, when I’m about to have them hundreds of dollars getting my busted-ass, POS car fixed?

Because they're not your parents, and its not their job to be responsible for you between the time you give them your car and when they contact you to tell you its ready for you.

The shop's statement of "you can come back in 3 hours to pick up your car" isn't saying "we know you have other resources for transportation during the time when we're working on your car" its the shop using a social shortcut to say "your car is unavailable to you for 3 hours while we work on it, and we have no need of you until then. You can go away for 3 hours and it won't interfere with our work".

Because that's what 90% of their clients do.

Why does a realtor/bank make you put your address on the application to buy a house? If you're buying a home, why would they assume you already have one?

Honestly, I don't think they "assume" that you'll do anything other than give them a car to work on and pick it up and pay when they are done. Whatever happens before, after and in between, isn't their problem.

Do you get shitty at pilots for landing the plane and just assuming everyone on board is good to get home from the airport, or would you like them to pay for 200 cab fares as well?

It's their job to fix people's shitty cars, not their shitty life admin skills.

They don't. My local shop has a waiting room with coffee, sodas, Wi-Fi, and seating/desks. Plenty of people (myself included) bring their work with them to the shop while their car is fixed. Also I've definitely seen people driving around loaner vehicles from dealerships before which is kinda a solution?

But you're right that it sucks that our society has designed places where it's impossible to get around without a car. My car shop is a short bus ride from my house or a slightly longer walk. If I take my car to the dealership, which is farther away, home is a bike ride away or I can go to the shops nearby. I'd guess this is the case in most denser urban areas except maybe some US cities which are just terribly laid out.

The same car mechanics that usually have seating, coffee, TV etc for people who can't leave to use while they wait..? You can also idk walk somewhere and grab a bit to eat? Don't be mad at the mechanic because your car is broken and you don't know how to fix it lol, also most shops that I've been to have offered me a ride when I live in the area and they aren't too busy

They assume that, by driving your car to them and paying them to repair it, you are an adult who can actually figure shit out for yourself.

You CAN leave. If you have one car and that’s your mode of transportation then you realistically have only a few options to supplement your handicap of being car less:

• ride share
• gig economy (doordash/grubhub/etc and Instacart/gopuff, etc)
• work from home
• public transportation
• rental car
• loaner car if at a dealer and they have any available
• take sick days until your vehicle is repaired

What would you do? The repairs depend on what is wrong and sometimes those symptoms can be a menagerie of things that require troubleshooting what the actual root cause is. That takes time. Not to mention they may not even be able to check your car today at all. They have other customers with similar or worse issues all wanting their vehicle fixed ASAP as well and might also be a one car household.

Do you have insurance? See if they will cover a rental for you while your car is in the shop. Otherwise, find one of those other options above and figure things out.

Yes, a car is expensive and when it goes down then you are forced to find other ways to ensure you can make it.

What's the alternative if it's going to take hours/days to fix your car? It's not so much of an assumption as it is a necessity. Some dealerships have loaner cars but that also comes with wildly inflated repair costs.

You can still walk, can't you? (PleaseHaveLegs,PleaseHaveLegs,PleaseHaveLegs...)

That’s the advantage of taking your car to the dealership, the dealership in my area gives you one of their brand new cars from the lot to drive around while you wait for your car to be fixed. It’s a sly trick that eventually works and gets you into a new car.

A big reason for it is you bring your car for service. It's going to take time. They have a bunch of cars to get through, they'll look at yours, determine what you need, sell it to you, then order parts. In the meantime the tech has moved on to another car while they wait. You're sitting in the waiting room wanting to know WHY IN THE HELL IS HE NOT WORKING ON MY CAR??!?!?! I'M SITTING HERE AND YOU'RE WASTING MY TIME!!! Then you're mad it took half a day to get the parts in because the parts supplier had to run across town to get the parts and you leave a bad review. That bad review wasn't fair and it hurts the shop.

At the end of the day, it's not worth working on your car under those circumstances. You admit your car is a POS and you're broke. That also means your car is going to need a lot of shit you can't afford so you're going to pick the bandaid to keep it going. Then a few weeks later something else breaks because you put the bandaid on it and now you're mad and blame the shop. More crap the shop has to deal with when it wasn't their fault or problem in the first place.

Perfect timing on this post!

• I chose my “normal” garage partly because I can walk to it
• I occasionally have friends or family who can help
• otherwise I’ll just wait

However for the first time ever, I just got a loaner car from the dealer. Their estimate was they’d be done by last Wednesday but they haven’t started yet. Meanwhile the loaner is equivalent to my vehicle and it’s warranty work - they’re just making it damn expensive for themselves

Where I'm from most shops loan you a temporary vehicle while they work on your car. You only need to top the tank when you tske it back. Very convenient. Not that I could even afford to own a car myself.

What would you like them to do instead? How much extra are you able and willing to pay them so that they can do that and stay in business?

I live in a Finnish midsized town with a population of roughly 80 000 people. My repair shop offers to drive you where you want to go, but you're in charge of the way back to the shop when they call to say your car is fixed.

It's a great service, and it guarantees my loyalty to that shop!

Some places DO offer to take you somewhere, which is super cool. But face it, to take you back home and then bring you back again when the car is finished is cost prohibitive for a normal shop. They would have to have at least one extra vehicle to do this, a dedicated driver and insurance to cover what is essentially a completely separate service. They are a car repair service, not a shuttle service.

What this means is you actually can’t afford to own a car and are trapped in the corpse of a long dead society that once would have enabled you to own a car.

Yeah I feel you here. They kind of look at me like what you're going to stay? As if I'm the weird one for not having a personal driver to come get me at all times of the day. Like bitch no I don't have that option. My options are sitting in your lobby or Trek miles through the 110° heat back to my home.

Most people call in someone who can take them somewhere else and bring them back when the car's ready

My shop usually offers to drive me somewhere. Also helps to live in a country with viable public transportation. And higher tier shops even have cheap car rentals which often even tie into people's insurance.

I'm leasing a car. I went for service last week and they had free coffee and coffee bread while I waited.

I think that should be put in law for all repair shops. :) It's the little things.

Most people have a limit to the amount of time they're willing to sit in a shop lobby.

this is a good example of when it helps to have friends.

I usually try to plan a few foot-based errands in the area while they work on my car: maybe the pharmacy for my meds or some toothpaste, the bakery for a couple of these cupcakes my daughter loves, browse the bookstore, talk with the tea shop owner.

We're always in such a hurry and complain about missing the 'community feeling' of 'the old days', yet we never spend the time to just walk about the community, doing errands instead of "running errands", casually catching up on events and goings-on. I like to use my time for that kind of thing.

when I'm about to have them hundreds of dollars getting my busted-ass, POS car fixed?

As someone who has only ever driven broken down POS, I feel for you OP. Focus on getting it running, not making it perfect. Wishing you well and hoping it's cheap! <3

Don't you have public transport? I usually take a bus to a gallery or cafe, and the mechanic phones or texts to say my car is ready. The repair place also has a few chairs and a free coffee machine, so you can sit and wait if you'd prefer. It's noisy but interesting. Maybe they have a break room where you could wait?