Doncaster, from the hill down
A very hilly suburb
Doncaster is built around the top of 120 m Doncaster Hill. Hills work the brakes going down and the cooling system and gearbox going up, and a steep driveway tests the handbrake every night.
Doncaster Road and the freeway
Doncaster Road is the main east-west road, from Kew to Donvale. The Eastern Freeway ended there until December 1997, when it was extended 7 km to Springvale Road. North East Link will add 45 kilometres of new lanes along the freeway, anticipated by 2028.
Apartments on the hill
The top of the hill has high-rise apartments; the rest of Doncaster is low-density housing. In an apartment car park, check the building lets a mobile mechanic work there and that the van fits under the height bar.
Orchard country once
German orchardists settled Doncaster in the 1860s and 1870s, and it stayed orchards until the 1970s. The houses now stand where the orchards were.
What suits a mobile mechanic in Doncaster
A new battery, a service by the book, wiper blades, globes, a car that won't start in the garage: all routine at home. Work that needs the car lifted wants flat, firm ground, which isn't a given on a Doncaster slope. Clutch and gearbox jobs go to a workshop.
Choose "Come to me" in the card and mention the slope. Mobile mechanics in Melbourne covers what they carry and what they don't.
What we'd do
On a steep driveway, we'd move the car onto level ground before a mobile mechanic arrives, if it'll drive safely. If it won't, we'd say so when sending the job, so the mechanic turns up ready for it.