Joshua Rideout

I've worked for two major retailers. One known for higher prices and low volume. They had around 50% margin but would lose money on clearance items everywhere except the department that I was in charge of and the auto repair facility. The other is known for low prices and had a 20% margin or less, and made up for it in volume. They didn't lose money in any department.

I had a customer come in, a young high school kid with his first car, his parents had bought him a used camry, which in my opinion was an excellent choice. He complained of a small clunk when turning. Right away I thought swaybar bushings, I've owned two camrys from that generation and know them inside and out. I take it for a test drive and start to hear the clunk and feel a tiny amount of play in the wheel, now i'm thinking tierod ends, they were pretty durable on the camrys but they do go bad. Less than an 1/8th mile down the road the steering shaft disconnects and I loose all steering input. I bring it to a stop and manage to get it to the side of the road by going back and forth like austin powers.  It ended up that the bolt holding the universal joint to the lower shaft had backed out.  That could have easily ended tragically for this young man, and that lesson taught me to take no chances and investigate everything no matter how little, it could save someones life.