Before professional mechanics started becoming mainstream in some big cities in Nigeria, the majority of Nigerian car owners took their vehicles to roadside mechanics. For the longest time, roadside mechanics in Nigeria were popularly known, and still are in most parts.
What this means is that they’ve gotten the opportunity to work on more cars in Nigeria than most professional mechanics in the country have. But, why do most Nigerians take their vehicles to roadside mechanics? The idea is that they are faster and could charge less for car issues.
While there could be some truth to that, it doesn’t mean that it’s completely true. On the other hand, working with roadside mechanics in Nigeria means you have to deal with some of their attitudes that are unprofessional and are a complete turnoff for many car owners.
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In this article, we highlight these attitudes of roadside mechanics in Nigeria that are turn-offs to car owners in the country.
- Wrong or Inaccurate Vehicle Diagnosis
If you’ve worked with roadside mechanics in Nigeria for a long, you’ll realize their attitude of wrongly diagnosing a vehicle on purpose. Why? It’s a strategy to keep ripping off car owners by playing on your lack of knowledge about your vehicle, and forcing you to bring the vehicle back every time for one more repair. However, some of them know they don’t know the actual issue, but propose an issue they know could be closely related only to bring you back later.
Car systems these days need a lot of proper diagnoses but we can’t blame them for not having enough resources to pull modern-day diagnostic tools and types of equipment that put the minds of their customers at ease.
- Zero Personal Hygiene & Unkempt Environment
Most of these guys are always covered in grease and they extend this habit onto the handling of their customer’s cars while working to the extent that any random person can tell that your car just left a mechanic’s workshop. They leave the tough grease stains everywhere in the interior components of the car like seats, roof, and steering.
Most of them wear overalls that have tough grease stains and they lie down around cars so when it’s time to enter a car to start it up or check something, they carelessly move within the car while their unclean overall is staining every nook and cranny of the car.
While mechanics are not meant to be on a hospital level of cleanliness, they should at least be conducive enough for owners who bring their vehicles there.
- Carelessness with Personal Belongings
Most roadside mechanics don’t take inventory before they start repairs on our cars, they just start working. So you can’t hold them responsible if anything goes missing except you make them take an inventory by force and you drop some very strict warnings and that’s just very unprofessional.
They don’t care about important basic items contained in your car, so they toy with anything they see. From personal sunglasses, perfume bottles, aux cords, Bluetooth mp3 players, writing materials, shoes, and anything at all. What is worse, almost anybody can walk up to your car within the workshop because there is no restriction on working areas.
Oftentimes, car owners get their vehicles back and realize many personal belongings are now missing with no trace. In most cases, even the mechanic cannot account for them. However, placing boundaries on customer vehicles will restrict the number of movements made close to the vehicle for safety reasons.
- Messing with Car Fuel
This is as Nigerian as it can get. In fact, due to the nature of Nigerian mechanics messing with car owners’ fuel, many car owners prefer driving their cars to the mechanic when the fuel is almost empty.
Some steal car fuel, they drain the petrol/diesel for the gas tank for personal use, or they take more than needed for repair and waste the rest. When you pick up your car they tell you the gas was consumed because of a road test.
Road tests are meant to last for several minutes but because of their unprofessionalism, they could even take your car on joyrides to family events, church, and visits of very long distances.
- Biases in Repair Charges
Roadside mechanics vary their charge according to how rich/poor the car owner appears to them. They look at the worth of your shoes and wristwatch and then charge even for basic services like maintenance.
The average Nigerian roadside mechanic will charge you for a repair based on what they perceive of you. If you come off as wealthy to them, your supposed wealth adds to the cost of the vehicle repair. Oftentimes, you realize that a car spare part your mechanic helped you purchase is costlier than its original price.
- Abandoning Car Repair for Long Periods
Have you ever sent your vehicle for a minor repair at a mechanic shop and had to come back every few days because of that vehicle? Well, that’s the nature of car repair in Nigerian roadside mechanics. They often abandon vehicles for leisure. In other cases, they abandon a vehicle to repair another vehicle they believe they could milk more money from its owner.
- Claiming to Know It All
Chances are a roadside mechanic in Nigeria will agree to repair your Lamborghini. There’s nothing beyond their ability to repair. Why do they do this? Oftentimes, they use these cars as their “lab rats.” They get to learn more about the vehicles. In the end, it’s either the repair is haphazard or they finally reveal it’s beyond them.
Conclusion
There are so many quirks associated with roadside mechanics in Nigeria. The reality is that this won’t stop many from taking their vehicles to them. They are convenient for many car owners, and many will continue to bear with these attitudes just like everything Nigerian.
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