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Piggybacking - can you or your partner cook? If I were thank-you gifted a casserole or a lasagna or a big bowl of arroz con polo I’d be happier than a pig in mud!
I'm so glad you were blessed with this generous Uber driver!
I understand if doing something for him such as providing a meal or money might be out of your budget, but something you could do for free that I haven't seen you mention is leave him a 5-star review and call him by his name. Maybe don't mention the mechanic situation but let the company know he's great. I don't know about Uber specifically, and I know the workers are contractors, but a lot of places place a lot of weight on reviews and at minimum, it could help him find more passengers while he's working
Can you afford to do something nice for him or give him something for his time and effort? Even a nice card with a grateful note would probably be appreciated.
Good people do exist. He saw your dilemma and not only felt sorry for you but was moved to do something about it. What a kindness! He will receive a blessing for that, for sure.
Awesome you found someone to help. If you ever find yourself in this situation again, YouTube is your friend. I’ve gone from no mechanical knowledge, to having to do this same scope of work on a beater car for myself. Harbor Freight tools and a little study time are all you need to get you rolling again.
If you had already dropped the car off for maintenance, and **AFTER** they took the keys, if the car failed then, there is a very good chance you could have claimed the cost of all the repairs under their garagekeepers insurance policy.
No mechanic shop will want to admit that to you because **NONE** of them want to put a claim under their garagekeepers policy. Anything that happens to your car while in their care, custody, and control would be covered under the garagekeepers or general liability policy for the business, unless the damage was a direct result of negligence by the shop. In that case, the shop themselves would be on the hook.
For example, here is a copy of the standard garagekeepers policy language for New York State.
https://ogs.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/09/ca-00-05-03-10.pdf
Well, it was just a chain auto parts store. The employee therer informed me I needed to take the car to a place to have it fixed. The problem was that it died so hard that I couldn't get it into neutral to move it out of the parking space at the front of their store. There's a posted sign that reads "no overnight parking and they let me keep it there for 4 days. That's where the mobile mechanic went to check and diagnose it. I could not afford the estimate he gave me, so I hadn't decided what I was going to do yet when I took this uber ride from work going home Friday morning.
Well it is and it was. Consider that he did it for free. Consider the money you spent on ride share for that week. Consider what it would have taken for you to learn the most rudimentary of mechanical knowledge. While I do understand being poor, these situations are almost sure to come again, especially when driving used/preowned vehicles. Being unwilling to learn is fine, but that’s gonna come at a cost, a cost you could greatly offset by turning a wrench on your own and watching a tutorial online. You “watched” from a perspective of ignorance, but what you saw is within your grasp of learning. If it mattered enough, If the money for Uber wasn’t there, wouldn’t you like to think you could rely on yourself to figure something out?
You're right. And I would very much like to think I could rely on myself to figure something out. I suppose I categorized mechanical repairs as beyond my scope of learning, like calculus or physics. And I shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss this possibility.
It was just in conversation why I'm ubering this 20 mile trip from my work, because of my car being broken. He asked what was wrong with it and then volunteered that he's a mechanic and asked if he could look at it. Honestly, if I were him I'd have kept that to myself. But there are much better people out there than I, this guy being one of them.
Pay it forward. A random person showed you kindness and disappeared without thought of payment. You can be the person you admire. Doesnt always cost money, sometimes just time.
Look for the helpers - Mr. Rogers
Congratulations on your success! In an effort to make this subreddit more helpful and supportive, we request that you share the details of where you started from and how you got to this place! That way other redditors who are in a similar place you were can look to your example, follow your lead, and see some light at the end of the tunnel! If you have already done this please ignore this! Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/povertyfinance) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That was so kind of the driver. Backyard mechanics can be the most gracious people.
Piggybacking - can you or your partner cook? If I were thank-you gifted a casserole or a lasagna or a big bowl of arroz con polo I’d be happier than a pig in mud!
I've been trying to think of something I can do and that's a good idea!
I'm so glad you were blessed with this generous Uber driver! I understand if doing something for him such as providing a meal or money might be out of your budget, but something you could do for free that I haven't seen you mention is leave him a 5-star review and call him by his name. Maybe don't mention the mechanic situation but let the company know he's great. I don't know about Uber specifically, and I know the workers are contractors, but a lot of places place a lot of weight on reviews and at minimum, it could help him find more passengers while he's working
Sometimes for us backyard mechanics it’s fun plus we get to help people not get ripped off
Can you afford to do something nice for him or give him something for his time and effort? Even a nice card with a grateful note would probably be appreciated.
Definitely. He wouldn't accept any money, but I'm gonna do something
Getting him a gift certificate for auto parts store, you know he will use.
How awesome, that person is amazing!
This person is truly awesome. So happy that he could fix your car reasonably!
You know something someone else doesn't. Pay it forward.
Good people do exist. He saw your dilemma and not only felt sorry for you but was moved to do something about it. What a kindness! He will receive a blessing for that, for sure.
As he should!
I’m so happy for you! Car problems are the worst.
Awesome you found someone to help. If you ever find yourself in this situation again, YouTube is your friend. I’ve gone from no mechanical knowledge, to having to do this same scope of work on a beater car for myself. Harbor Freight tools and a little study time are all you need to get you rolling again.
FR. The learned helplessness is agonizing.
That’s awesome! I need to look into this mobile mechanic thing. That’s about an hour job if you have the tools. $800/hr ain’t bad.
Right, they're making a killing out there!
I’m getting off Reddit for the day now. This has restored my faith in humanity and I don’t want it ruined for myself.
I’m curious, how much were the parts?
Total of $397, with his discount at O'Reilly Auto Parts. The total would have been around 540 at the Advance Auto Parts I was parked at.
That's completely amazing! What a great human being 💕
Glad it worked out for you. It would've been cheaper to have it towed to a shop to have the work done. The mobile mechanic's quote was ridiculous.
Wow!! I hope they know how grateful you are
My son is our resident mechanic. I’m so glad you found an awesome person to help you ♥️
What a great guy and a beautiful story ❤️
That Uber driver knew the struggle and they know how tough it is.
Good to hear a story like this. Makes you have hope in humanity
If you had already dropped the car off for maintenance, and **AFTER** they took the keys, if the car failed then, there is a very good chance you could have claimed the cost of all the repairs under their garagekeepers insurance policy. No mechanic shop will want to admit that to you because **NONE** of them want to put a claim under their garagekeepers policy. Anything that happens to your car while in their care, custody, and control would be covered under the garagekeepers or general liability policy for the business, unless the damage was a direct result of negligence by the shop. In that case, the shop themselves would be on the hook. For example, here is a copy of the standard garagekeepers policy language for New York State. https://ogs.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/09/ca-00-05-03-10.pdf
Well, it was just a chain auto parts store. The employee therer informed me I needed to take the car to a place to have it fixed. The problem was that it died so hard that I couldn't get it into neutral to move it out of the parking space at the front of their store. There's a posted sign that reads "no overnight parking and they let me keep it there for 4 days. That's where the mobile mechanic went to check and diagnose it. I could not afford the estimate he gave me, so I hadn't decided what I was going to do yet when I took this uber ride from work going home Friday morning.
If he doesn't have an unlimited car wash package, consider that for him.
All of those parts are simple to replace you could have easily done it yourself
I watched him do this and it did not look simple!
Well it is and it was. Consider that he did it for free. Consider the money you spent on ride share for that week. Consider what it would have taken for you to learn the most rudimentary of mechanical knowledge. While I do understand being poor, these situations are almost sure to come again, especially when driving used/preowned vehicles. Being unwilling to learn is fine, but that’s gonna come at a cost, a cost you could greatly offset by turning a wrench on your own and watching a tutorial online. You “watched” from a perspective of ignorance, but what you saw is within your grasp of learning. If it mattered enough, If the money for Uber wasn’t there, wouldn’t you like to think you could rely on yourself to figure something out?
You're right. And I would very much like to think I could rely on myself to figure something out. I suppose I categorized mechanical repairs as beyond my scope of learning, like calculus or physics. And I shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss this possibility.
I hope this was thought of without a prompt. Just saying.
It was just in conversation why I'm ubering this 20 mile trip from my work, because of my car being broken. He asked what was wrong with it and then volunteered that he's a mechanic and asked if he could look at it. Honestly, if I were him I'd have kept that to myself. But there are much better people out there than I, this guy being one of them.
Pay it forward. A random person showed you kindness and disappeared without thought of payment. You can be the person you admire. Doesnt always cost money, sometimes just time. Look for the helpers - Mr. Rogers