What can a mobile mechanic do at my place?
Plenty of what a car needs between workshop visits can happen on a driveway: testing and replacing a battery, a routine or logbook service, and working out why the car won't start. RAC WA says its mobile mechanics do the same logbook service items as its service centres, with one exception: wheel rotation and balancing need a hoist at a fixed centre.
Clutches, gearboxes, wheel alignments and anything that means lifting the whole car belong in a workshop. A good mobile mechanic will tell you that on the phone, before driving across town to find out.
What's particular to a mobile job in Townsville
Working in the heat
Townsville's mean maximum across the year is 28.9 degrees, and a car in full sun is hard to work on. A carport, garage or patch of shade makes the job easier, so mention one if you have it.
The wet season
Most of Townsville's rain falls between November and April. In those months a mobile service goes better under cover, so say if there's a garage, or ask the mechanic which time of day suits.
A spread-out city
Townsville runs from the Northern Beaches down through Kirwan and Douglas, with Elliot Springs planned to the south and the 19 km Ring Road bypassing the inner suburbs. The postcode in the card is where the car sits, so the job reaches someone who works that side of town.
Cars on Magnetic Island
Magnetic Island is 8 km offshore and the vehicular barge is how a car crosses. If yours is on the island, put that in the note so the mechanic can tell you straight away what's possible.
A flat, safe spot
RAA asks for a flat spot that isn't on a public road, with room for a trolley jack, before its mobile inspectors start. It's a sensible rule for any mobile job, and a driveway beats a busy kerb.
A mobile safety certificate
If the job is a safety certificate for a sale, it has to come from an approved inspection station, and some of them come to you. Queensland's Find an AIS search can show only the stations offering a mobile inspection. Safety certificates in Townsville has the rules.
Before the mobile mechanic heads your way
- Can this job be done properly where my car is, or will it need a hoist?
- Do you need shade, power or room on both sides of the car?
- Will the written estimate list parts and labour separately?
- If you find something bigger, will you call me before doing more?
- What's your ABN, and are you insured for work at a customer's home?
Where we'd start
If the car won't start or it's due for a routine service, we'd go mobile and skip the tow or the half-day off work. If a red warning light is on or the car has overheated, we'd leave it switched off where it is and say so in the note, so the mechanic arrives knowing what they're walking into.