Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Moses Obroku: Nigerian Mechanics Can Kill You
We
just love to hate them. They are that group of people we wish we never
relate with, but really cannot do without. They are mechanics, and the
ones in Nigeria are a special breed; with most of them out to do you in,
squeeze as much money as they possibly can from you through purchasing
spare parts and having very little regard for your safety or indeed your
life. Paying serious attention to mechanics in this part of the world
and their antics is critical to your health, safety and overall survival
as an automobile owner.
And it
doesn’t matter if they appear top notched, sophisticated, located in
some highbrow area and rather expensive to patronize; or they are the
run-of-the-mill, dirt and grim type located by the road side in some run
-down shanty town. Most Nigerian mechanics are incredibly incompetent,
and regardless of the state-of-the-art gadgets some of them parade in
their shops, your car can still come off worse with an aggravated
problem than what took it there in the first place; while leaving a hole
in your pocket as well.
That they
charge cut-throat prices for spare parts is not the problem. But why
can’t they just procure the genuine parts even after collecting so much
money? And if the problem is with the importers of automobile parts, why
can’t the mechanic association petition the Standard Organization of
Nigeria, to insist that such bad marketers be sanctioned?
Nigeria
is one of the few countries in the world where you go to purchase
something and the seller excessively declares it as ‘original’. My usual
reaction is ‘please do you have the fake?’ While they quickly decline
that they do not sell fake products, they still go ahead to bring other
variations of that item with equally varying prices, leaving you more
confused than you were before the encounter. And the price margin
between the ‘original’ and not so original is no joke! On the issue of
brake pads, their various costs and the number of times you may need to
replace them before you get the right ones; we shall discuss that
another time.
Mechanics often collude with spare parts sellers to inflate the prices
of auto parts. As it is, they determine what the problem is with your
vehicle, proffer the solution, tell you what needs to be bought, suggest
who to buy it from and generally tell you how much it cost. It sure
feels like mechanics have the yam, the knife and even the firewood;
leaving the hapless car owner no choice but to cooperate. Even if you
change your mechanic, the drama just continues at a different location.
Occasionally when you go to the market with them to get the spare parts,
the advent of mobile phones in Nigeria has made it easy for them to
call ahead and fix the price with the seller whom they will eventually
lead you to. When you think of it, it appears mechanics around here have
personal vendetta against vehicle owners. It looks like the sleeker and
pricier your car is, the greater the level of squeezing you get.
My brother in Abuja once asked his mechanic to get another engine for his former car several years ago. The cost of the engine as stated by the mechanic came to about 120,000 Naira. After it was purchased, complete with receipt as proof for amount paid, he (my brother) felt an urge to go to the auto parts market and verify the cost of that engine. Randomly walking into a shop, he bargained for that type of engine and the seller told him he would sell for 80,000 Naira – and write whatever sum my brother wants on the receipt! (just in case he wanted to make some quick cash) As proof of that kind of arrangement, the seller brought out his receipt book and showed him a similar transaction carried out a few days before. To his shock, he was looking at his name, vehicle and chassis number on the book. Apparently, his mechanic had bought the engine for 80,000 Naira and not 120,000 Naira as stated on the receipt he presented, a truth which was only revealed by sheer providence.
What is perhaps worse than the deviousness and greed of mechanics is their carelessness that could be fatal. Sometimes, they fail to re-attach parts properly, fail to reconnect wires they loosened, advice you to remove the thermostat of your car (as if the manufacture was wrong to have put it there in the first place), they can work with your vehicle tools like wheel jack and spanner and fail to put them back in the car or replace them with someone else’s. And most annoying is the grease they smear all over your car just because they worked on it.
My brother in Abuja once asked his mechanic to get another engine for his former car several years ago. The cost of the engine as stated by the mechanic came to about 120,000 Naira. After it was purchased, complete with receipt as proof for amount paid, he (my brother) felt an urge to go to the auto parts market and verify the cost of that engine. Randomly walking into a shop, he bargained for that type of engine and the seller told him he would sell for 80,000 Naira – and write whatever sum my brother wants on the receipt! (just in case he wanted to make some quick cash) As proof of that kind of arrangement, the seller brought out his receipt book and showed him a similar transaction carried out a few days before. To his shock, he was looking at his name, vehicle and chassis number on the book. Apparently, his mechanic had bought the engine for 80,000 Naira and not 120,000 Naira as stated on the receipt he presented, a truth which was only revealed by sheer providence.
What is perhaps worse than the deviousness and greed of mechanics is their carelessness that could be fatal. Sometimes, they fail to re-attach parts properly, fail to reconnect wires they loosened, advice you to remove the thermostat of your car (as if the manufacture was wrong to have put it there in the first place), they can work with your vehicle tools like wheel jack and spanner and fail to put them back in the car or replace them with someone else’s. And most annoying is the grease they smear all over your car just because they worked on it.
Not too long ago, my perfectly functioning car which self-indicates when
the oil should be changed was worked upon by my mechanic. Since it was a
working day, I arranged with him to take the car from me while I was at
work, so he could do the oil change routine and return the car before
the close of business. Sounds like a good plan right? When I got home, I
decided to check that he returned my tools in the car as well as clean
up the trademark ‘mechanic grease’ from within and without the car. When
I was done, it was dark, and rather than be satisfied that the car was
now clean and my tools were intact, I became restless. Something didn’t
feel right. I opened the hood of the car, everything looked good there. I
checked all the lights they were working. I decided to take a
flashlight and check the tires, it was then I saw it. The front tire,
passenger side was missing two bolts! Two other bolts were loosened and
fell off as I touched them, and the last bolt was the only thing holding
the tire because all the tires are fitted with one locking wheel nut
each that requires a key to open them. That discovery made me taste bile
in my mouth.
If God is not with me,
and I wasn’t naturally vigilant, it is that kind of negligence from my
mechanic that causes tires to fly off fast moving vehicles, causing
avoidable accidents. Who knows how many other unsuspecting vehicle
owners have been maimed or killed by acts or omissions from their
mechanics? When I confronted him later on, my mechanic blamed my
loosened tire on his apprentice who failed to screw it back on and
expressed his deepest apologies.
Now
we know Nigerian mechanics can cause tragedy to us, we must be on guard
and take responsibility for our safety. We must now study our vehicle
manuals like our lives depend on them and get very familiar with our
vehicles, ensuring things are in order. Especially when they just return
from the mechanic’s; considering there are no ‘fake or original’ spare
human body parts or lives available anywhere to replace the one we have.
It would be monumental tragedy if anyone gets maimed or killed due to
the greed, incompetence or negligence of some mechanic chap.
Photo Credit: Dreamstime | Linda Johnsonbaugh
No comments:
Post a Comment