A lot of negative tales surround the largely prevailing road-side mechanics. The common reasons behind these are their relatively low skill level also, their adamant resistance to the wind of change-which has created some technical complexities requiring more technical knowledge to deal with today’s sophisticated car systems.

But just like every other human related activity with imperfections, these mechanics have strengths one has to reckon with. If at any instance you’ve have dealt with these road-side mechanics, you won’t hesitate to concur with this. In this article we were able to draw up some of these strong-points which might not be too visible but are very much in play.

Ability to improvise

Typical road side mechanics here in Nigeria have numerous unconventional methods they employ to get things done. They can literally swap engines without having to hoist (with metal chains and stand) these very heavy motors; the same applies to even large-sized gearboxes. They might shorten the lives or even ruin the lower engine-mounts in the process but at the end of the day, the job is done and everyone is happy! Their improvising skills really stands them out and helps them keep their prices low with very fewer equipments, ease of mobility and basically, lower overhead(running cost) for their businesses.

Good costumer relationship

Just like any small business, these mechanics strike-up meaningful interaction with their customers which can turn out to be long-standing relationships especially when involved parties don’t abuse such overtime. Some mechanics can barely afford even half a car, but yet are entrusted with very expensive cars. While some car owners don’t even double-check prices of spare-parts or even inspect them before replacement. These are just a few examples of how deep these ties can get. From a business minded perspective, getting customer feed-back is very easy in this setting and the same applies to taking note of areas of customer dissatisfaction. Most road-side mechanics ride on this advantage without even being aware, the problem always lies in the likely abuse of this liberty and business advantage which ideally, should be leveraged upon.

Unbridled Technical guts

This sometimes lands them in trouble and to get out, they might even fabricate stories implicating you the car-owner; this can be very annoying. But on the bright side, this noted technical gut to attempt unfamiliar technical activities is an innate engineering asset you can’t just buy-it’s simply priceless. When these mechanics push beyond their self/condition imposed limits and take calculated steps in attempting to solve car problems, it shows their dedication to the profession and willingness to learn. This isn’t a thumbs-up for mechanics that go around fiddling and almost rendering useless their customers’ cars because of their desperation for money; I am just pointing out what constitutes the underlying drive forsome of these hardworking mechanics.
source:http://www.autobaseafrica.com/the-strengths-of-road-side-mechanics/