::Barloworld ::Car services and the demise of fixers
Largely, car services have become much less of a headache in modern cars. Today, cars are made mostly by robots, many of its inner workings are governed by computers and they cannot go “out of tune” anymore. If something is wrong, the mechanic plugs in the diagnostics machine, the car reports whatever is amiss and the offending part is yanked out and replaced.
Of course, today’s mechanics have turned into “fitters” and are no longer “fixers”. They are trained to find a fault and replace a part. In years gone by, mechanics used to boast how they toiled over some old banger that would not run well until they ran the gremlin to ground and fixed some little bit in the heart of the carburettor with a soldering iron and a piece of wire. They used to derive a lot of satisfaction out of tuning a car just right – a service was not just a mind-numbing monkey-see-monkey-do exercise. Therefor as time changed the procedures of mechanics, time also changed the routine of car services.
Of course, modern cars need less attention, therefor fewer car services. Come service time, a mechanic has to replace the filters and the oil and that is it, most of the time. Spark plugs last a very long time, there is no timing to set, because the engine management computer takes care of that, and there are no valve clearances to set, because hydraulic valve lifters have become the industry norm. There is no carburettor to tune, because those are now against the law thanks to emissions legislation. When he is done, the mechanic resets the car’s computer and the customer is off for at least another 15 000km. Some oils last 30 000km, as apposed to 5 000km in the bad old days.
Even of the financial side, drivers generally have a painless experience. The majority of mid-range cars today have service plans included in the purchase price, which means that the client would have no initial maintenance expenses.
Car services have certainly become a much more efficient exercise, as they need to be, with so many cars on the road that has to make it through the system at regular intervals. It still a shame about the fitters, though.
