One SheCanic’s #MeToo moment outlined in book

March 21, 2018
Even mechanics can spark their own #MeToo movement. That moment came in the form of a car care book, authored by Patrice Banks, owner and technician of a vibrant all-women’s auto repair shop.

Even mechanics can spark their own #MeToo movement. That moment came in the form of a car care book, authored by Patrice Banks, owner and technician of a vibrant all-women’s auto repair shop.

Banks spoke about her 2014 book, “Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide” with National Public Radio about a phase in her life when she felt helpless and fearful of having to consult male installers about routine vehicle repair. Will readers feel baited into the national conversation about sexual intimidation and coercion? No. Instead, this book transcends the women’s marches that took to the country’s cities this past January. Banks leverages a forceful pragmatism through personal empowerment, which is why the auto care industry can benefit from her insights.

Expect a playful narrative that exudes a conversational banter between two girlfriends meeting over a glass of wine. Within the confines of a dysfunctional household, raised by her single mom who prioritized transient boyfriends over holding down a full-time job, Banks established a support system of mentors who enabled her to forge an educational pathway in engineering.

Meanwhile at age 16, Banks obtained her first car that she abused partly out of ignorance, partly out of fear of consulting a repair shop. It fostered a thorny relationship with her local repair man, concedes Banks. Some blame went toward the shop who treated her as a ditz, but in hindsight, she regrets delegating the diagnostic work to her buddies while it was just as easy for her to pop open the hood.

This cautionary tale shifts forward by relating her frustrations with other women who set themselves up believing that they know less than the guys. Two reasons why Banks left her six-figure engineering career to launch her auto clinic is that she aspired to take full control of her life and give back to other women.

While researching possible businesses to start, she asked her female peers, “What do you wish you know about that you usually have to pay a man to take care of?” Hands down they said car and truck repair.  From there asserts Banks that “77 percent of drivers believed women are likely to be misunderstood and/or taken advantage of when bringing their cars in for service.” With a dearth of female mechanics, explained Banks to National Public Radio, she became one, and ultimately named her business Girls Auto Clinic Repair Center.

Herein lays a missed opportunity to invite dispirited men to ride along the same road that Banks traveled. While she earns kudos about addressing the fear and anxiety factor, newly licensed teen-boys, and older males can also fall onto the auto airhead spectrum. Shame does not discriminate by gender.

Given exploding technological updates, aspiring car pros cannot possibly know everything that appears beneath the vehicle’s shell. Therefore, sensitive male readers should forgive Banks’ oversight and embrace the two remedies that she prescribes:  the importance of treating the vehicle with deference and finding a competent mechanic.

For remedy one, Banks introduces the SheCanic, someone who is knowledgeable about car care as she is with her own body.  As the analogy goes, the SheCanic “doesn’t try to be her own physician, but she wants to know how to maintain her health and prevent sickness and disease.” How does this work before establishing ties with the repair shop or the installer? A SheCanic at her best knows what to see, listen and feel her way inside and around her vehicle. From there, an empowered SheCanic develops a maintenance regime to minimize repair costs while extending the life of her ride. 

Given Banks’ mechanical engineering background, “Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide” simplifies the complex anatomy of the modern car under 150 pages compared with repair manuals that can run thousands of pages. And applied fundamentals ― engine systems, computerized modules, transmission systems, emission controls, brake parts, steering & suspension, climate controls ― will help anybody regardless of gender, age, and above all, to master the vocabulary to engage the service tech.

Keeping the health care analogy in mind, remedy two explores how to vet a compatible tech, which Banks coins as the primary care technician (PCT). For shop owners and their installers, this is wonderful SheCanic advice for $25 (the book’s price) to understand the customer’s path to purchase.

One critic confided in me that Banks favors dealerships over independent auto repair shops. As it stands, Banks requires her PCTs to nurture a bedside rapport with the customers. To temper personal biases, “Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide” lays out a pro-and-con check list of the different types of repair shops in the market. And for good measure, Banks implores the reader to never jump around from tech to tech to save a few more bucks.

Next, weigh the elements of respectful communication. Is the Primary Care Technician listening to the customer’s concerns and answering those? A skilled PCT will diagnose the root cause, map out an action plan, and forecast potential expenses so that the motorist does not wilt from sticker shock. If that mechanic projects impatience, then Banks advises that it’s time to find another PCT willing to explain the unexplainable. In other words, consider someone with the aptitude to relate to a five-year old how the integrated mechanical systems function. Otherwise perhaps, the PCT may have a poor understanding of general vehicle care.

Another trait to seek in a PCT is whether the urgent repairs take priority over the rest. In short, advises Banks, the ethical individual will put the motorist’s safety and the car’s health ahead of the non-urgent fixes that represent additional expense.

 Finally, never take it out on the PCT without collecting every fact because like being treated by a physician, PCTs are an ally. An empathetic PCT understands the stress associated with the cost of ownership and the anxiety of being talked down to.

Rightfully so, respect, care and compassion are certainly one theme that every SheCanic deserves. And while Banks never introduced the similar notion of the disempowered male motorist (call it HeCanic), would the author have considered the PCT’s Hippocratic oath – whereby they swear to treat the ill car, comfort the motorist, preserve personal dignity, and to teach the best practices of vehicle maintenance to the next generations within the auto care industry? That pledge would for sure boost the #MeToo movement to universal appeal across the vehicle repair space.

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