Reasons to Service Your Car During Covid-19

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Mark: Hi, it's Mark from Top Local here with Bernie Pawlik of Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver. And today we're talking servicing your car during the Covid-19 escapade. How are you doing Bernie?

Bernie: Doing well. Doing well, which is great.

Mark: So what would be compelling reasons to actually service your car during these difficult times?

Bernie: Well, obviously if your car needs service, you're gonna, you know, that's a compelling reason. If your check engine lights on or you're actually due for maintenance service, it's not wise to put that off because it will harm your vehicle. Also if there's noises, squeaks, squeals, grinding, sounds, anything, anything unusual of course, it's important to get that service. You know, many, while the world has really gone into lockdown, there's still many cars out there driving, and many of you still need your cars to keep going and go where you need to go. So those would be one of the compelling reasons for sure.

I mean, the other is, of course, if you're off and you have some time, and some money, this would be a good time to have your car serviced when you don't need it. If you've been putting off some noises or squeaks or you know there's some maintenance service, this as a great time to do it. We are open with a reduced staff but we are open and we're happy to help you out.

Mark: So what are the indications that your car might need service? What are the things that you would look for?

Bernie: Well as I mentioned, you know, things like your check engine light or there's a warning light on your dash, for instance, like maybe your ABS light is on, check engine light, certainly any strange noises are important to deal with and maintenance service. If a maintenance reminder comes on your car or your oil change sticker's up. And we are still calling for pre-booked appointments that we made. So you know, those are important things to deal with.
But certainly noises, you don't want to leave things too long and make them worse and cost you more money or you know, put you out of having to actually use your vehicle.

Mark: So, okay, what are you guys doing to actually protect people?

Bernie: Excellent question. So we put a number of procedures in place. Sanitizing your vehicle when it comes in and when it leaves. So we sanitize all the spots that anyone would touch. Steering wheels, gear shifters, keys, power window buttons, window knobs, door handles, you know, on anything we touch. So we sanitize that. We'd been sanitizing areas of our office that people touch. Wearing gloves, washing our hands more thoroughly than usual. It's a dirty business. So we wash our hands a lot, but we're washing them more and longer than usual. What else have we got? We've got a key drop-off slot. So if you really don't want to see us, I mean, we're happy to see people, but we, you know, do things at a distance. You can drop your key in a drop slot.

We can always put your key out in a spot where we don't actually have to contact each other when you go to pick your car up. As far as payments, we can do a credit card payments over the phone. We do keep our credit card machine clean so you can, you know, safely touch it. We can do, e-transfers.

A lot of our systems too, we do our inspections electronically, so we can email those inspections out to you. We can email estimates, you can approve everything. We don't actually have to talk face to face. Those are a few things that we're doing.

Mark: So what about if I don't want to see you guys at all? What if you do, are you doing any pickup and drop off of vehicles?

Bernie: We are doing that. We are definitely upping our pickup and drop-off service. So if you want to do that, we can certainly do that. You know, there are some restrictions and the best thing to do is just call us, you know, let us know you want to service your car and we can talk about how we can do that for you. You know, don't let, being stuck in home restrict you from, you know, having your car serviced because we can take care of that for you. The other thing is, you know, there's also an Enterprise rent a car behind us. So if you do need a car, they do have a preferred rates if you're having your car serviced. So you just need to let them know you're having your car serviced. They are open for business. I'm sure they've got sanitizing procedures going on as well, but you could always talk with them and see what they have to offer. So if you do need it, a rental car, that's available too.

Mark: So if you need to book a service for your vehicle in Vancouver and area, the guys to call are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them at (604) 327-7112. They're still running with a reduced staff but they are still servicing cars. Don't neglect your car just because you have to stay home. Thanks Bernie.

Bernie: Thanks, Mark. Thanks for watching. We look forward to taking care of you.