Car Trouble

Here's the deal, my van has been having some problems lately, you know the story, first the fuses short out, then the battery dies, and being stuck on the side of 485 on the hottest day of the year with two hours to get to s DJ gig is pretty shitty in and of itself. Ok, that being said, having car trouble pisses people off, its inconvenient, and expensive. Add to this little equation the mechanics, and the guys who work the front at auto shops. These guys tend to be the lowest of the low, making up figures, jacking up prices and preying on the general public's all around ignorance of cars, how they un, and how to fix them. I know I know my lack of knowlegde concerning fixing vehicles is a point of embarassment for me, I don't know much, I can jump a battery and change a tire, but that's about it.
The entire experience of car trouble is a terrible one, the worst part of which is dealing with the mechanics and the slezzeballs at the counter (not all shops are like this and if you know of some good one's in the Charlotte area, please let me know). Why is this the worst part...because its completely avoidable. Nobody likes to feel like an idiot and nobody likes to feel like they're being ripped off, but that is exactly how I felt after taking my van in the other day, and I took it into a AAA Center, you would think they would at least have their shit together, but they didn't and the sales guy behid the counter knew about as much as me, but still tried to charge me way more for some pretty simple repairs, that is insulting aggravating and a waste of my valuable time.

So here's the thing, I'm obviously a little heated about this episode, and it got me thinking. What if there were a place where anyone, men, women, teenagers, whoever could take their cars, be made to feel like intelligent human beings and valuable customers, all while having their vehicular troubles repaired at a reasonable price within a reasonable amount o time. Where te people at the front were not salesmen who make a certain percentage for evvery little upsell, but customer service specialists, whose only goal is to ensure that you, the customer is completely satisfied. Do you think a place like this would do well? Would it have franchise potential? For lack of a better term, let's call it the Starbucks-ification of auto repair. Would you go there?

In the meantime, I need to make friends with some mechanics, so I can at least stop being ripped off by strangers.