SAVING TIME

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 34, 2 October 1931, Page 5

SAVING TIME

CO-OPERATION WITH MECHANIC BEST WAY TO SECURE SATISFACTION. CARRYING OUT REPAIRS. It is unfortunate, but nevertheless true, that sooner or later every. own-er-driver has to give instructions for the carrying out of repairs or adjustments (writes an English motorist), but the delay and inconvenience while the car is laid up can he considerably reduced if proper arrangements are made heforehand. The man who uses his car only for weelt-end runs is in the habit of loeking the garage door on Snnday evenings and forgetting all about motoring until the following Friday, when he begins to plan the week-end programme once more. Then he suddenly recollects a mysterious engine knock, a noisy tappet, or a squeaky spring. The car is rushed at once to the repair shop with instructions that "it must be ready for the week-end."

C' Best Time for Repairs. The repair shop is crowded out already with other jobs, also wanted for the week-end. Neither mechanic nor foreman has a fair chance of doing the work satisfactorily, while a road test is simply out of the question. The car may or may not be properly repaired; but if the owner has a broken week-end the garage foreman is invariably blamed, whereas the fault lies as much with the owner-drvier as with the foreman. How much easier it would be for everyone concerned if the car were taken to the agent's shop on Monday morning, so that the garage staff could trace the trouble methodically, put it right, give a proper road test, check oil and battery levels, test the tyre pressures and hand over on Friday afternoon a thoroughly "vetted" car which will ensure a trouble-free week-end for the owner. In most repair shops the beginning of the week is never so busy as Friday and Saturday forenoon. To obtain the best service the owner-drive.r should bring in his car on Monday or Tu.esday, when there is less rush.

Car in Dock. Many motorists use the car as a means of transport every day between home and office. When repairs are being carried out at a garage owrk may he held up for two or three days while spare parts arrive from the works; meanwhile the owner is losing time hy travelling in tram or hus, or he has a iong walk. If, for instance, the battery is being given a fresh charge, the owner can arrange to call when there is a service battery available, have it fitted while he waits, and continue to use the car until his own battery is ready. When the engine is due for de-carbonising and valve grinding, the owner can arrange to leave. the car at 8 o'clock one morning, the workshop foreman will have mechanics detailed to hegin

at once, and the job can be completed | by five o'clock the same day. If no previous arrangements have been made the car may lie untouched for four or five days nntil a mechanic has finished another job, and during those four or five days the owner is deprived of the use of his vehicle quite unnecessarily

When- leaving the car for repairs, loose tools, rugs and floor carpets should be left at home. It is not that one distrusts garage hands; on the contrary, they are usually a most obliging and honest body of men, who are always ready to help the owner-driver and to explain what has caused the trouble and how it may be prevented from recurring. But in a large garage there are people moving in and out all day long; and it is some of these people who seem to canse tools to disappear mysteriously. One may not discover the loss until a roadside adjustment is required, and one may be held up for hours on this account. If there is a lock on the tool-box there is no need to take any further precaution; bnt any tools not under lock and key should be left at home.