As many of our customers know, I have a huge spot in my heart for single parents and try to help them with their vehicles, having many stories of my own about my car breaking down as a single parent. In fact one of the reasons I started my garage, was the feeling I would get when trying to explain what I thought was wrong with my car.

“What does it smell like?” asked one mechanic. “How do I know? It just smells bad and wrong, not like fresh bread or pizza,” I answered. After opening the garage I would try and broach that question with some frame of reference; does it smell like plastic burning or melting – electrical or (one of our favorites!) plastic bag caught on the catalytic converter.

Over the years we have fixed and given away many vehicles to try and assist single parents in getting themselves to work, or getting their kids to school, sports, and other extracurricular activities. Most recently a single parent needed to get her daughter to Children’s Hospital for treatments. Her daughter has a condition “Brittle Diabetes” which I knew nothing about until Sue called. Her car was broken. It was misfiring and stalling; she couldn’t get more than a couple blocks at a time.

This last year’s recession had slowed our garage down considerably and we were working hard just to keep the wolves at bay. So when Brianna told me about Sue, I sort of – okay, I ignored it. Not something I am proud to say now. A week passed and I answered the phone only to come ear to ear with this upset woman. “You were suppose to call me back.” “I have never spoken to you before,” I answered. “Oh,” she said realizing who I was. “Well, your daughter was supposed to have you call me.” “Yes, and she told me, but we have been short staffed and I haven’t had a chance.” True and not – we had finally gotten busy at the same time as one mechanic went to school, Murphy’s Law. Sue explained what was happening, I told her that we would have to start with reading her engine computer’s codes and we could do that on Saturday. “Okay, where are you located?” she asked. I told her North Vancouver and I could hear the disappointment in her voice. “I guess it will have to wait, I don’t have enough money for gas.”

She came in on Wednesday, we were swamped, but Dilly read the codes (garage lingo for communicating with a customer’s car from our scanner to start the diagnosis) – misfire in cylinder 4. She pulled the spark plug for cylinder 4 and it looked good, nice and brown, no signs of anything wrong. (Another blog topic – spark plugs, the story they tell.) A common problem with Sue’s type of car and these symptoms is the ignition coil – a very expensive part on this engine. We checked for parts $275 used. “I cannot afford that,” she said. Slowly I went to bring her car out of the garage so she could take it. I started it, it stalled, started again, stalled, started it again, put it in reverse to get out of the garage and at the alley it stalled again. “How am I going to let her drive like this?” I wondered.

I pulled the car up out front, took the floor mat and seat cover into the front office, and set them down. With out saying a word I turned and walked out the door, her keys in hand. On a hunch, I went next-door.
“Hey Sal, do you happen to have a coil pack for a Chevy 2.4 Quad Four?”
“Does it look like this?”
“Yes, how much do you want for it?”
“Try it, see if it works first.”

I went back to the front office took the floor mat and seat cover, drove Sue’s car back into the garage and installed the new/used coil. I started it up, no stalling, and no check engine light. I drove it back out front again and went back to see Sal next-door.
“It works, yay! So, how much do you want for it?”
“Well, what are you charging the customer?” he asked.
“I’m actually not charging her, she is a single parent with little money,” I tried to explain. “Then I am not charging you,” he said, waving me out.

Returning to the front office, I handed Sue her keys – “It’s your lucky day girl.”

The next week there was a card in the mail that touched my heart and made me realize how much value our garage has – fixing cars and being part of a caring, great community. It said:

Sandy – You have made me have faith in people again! Thank You So much from the bottom of my heart. You saved the day – Sue xo