Bookmark Donateacar.ca
Follow Us
Vehicle mechanics are key to the vehicle donation process. Donate a Car Canada is grateful to the dozens of honest and generous crews that serve with us. In every province, every day, there are admin teams, tow guys, and fix-it professionals that ensure the highest donation outcomes possible for any charity in Canada!
Mechanics: making a difference everyday
Chances are, you are in some way dependent on a bunch of metal wrapped around an engine. ‘Maybe you have four wheels under you; maybe you have just two. You might be a whiz with a wrench and a whatsit? Or, like me, you may be wholly dependent on a professional that is. Sometimes this dependence gets me into a questionable relationship with a shady dealin’, unpopular mechanic!
More often? I’m met with skill, knowledge, and this-is-just-what-stuff-costs integrity.
Donate a Car Canada is (so!) privileged to be served by over 100 agents across Canada. Some of our agents are in the office, some are on the tow trucks, and others are under the hood. Some? Well, they wear all three caps for our donors, and our donors love them!
Others have a completely unique role in Canadian giving! Erol’s Auto in Cochrane, Alberta is one such company. Our relationship with Erol’s is unusual. They do not actually provide us with tow or re-sale support. What they do do is refer us donors. A lot of donors!
Since as far back as 2014 this trusted and well-respected shop has been assisting their loyal customers in car donation. That means they and their clients have impacted dozens of Canadian charities with end-of-life vehicle donations!
Not only do they keep cars on the road with ethical service and cheery customer care, they help local causes when the vehicle is ready to come off the road.
One mechanic offers some perspective
Recently, one Erol’s mechanic offered some thoughtful insight into their unique role. The photo tells part of the story! But they also wrote,
“If you’re dating or married to a mechanic and they tell you they are mentally exhausted when they come home from a shift, before you brush it off as whining or an excuse just understand the amount of moving parts they deal with on a daily basis.
Not only do our backs, hands and feet hurt, but so do our minds. We exert our minds on diagnosing the most complex of issues that no one else can and some jobs can become such a pain that it ruins our spirit and morale for a whole day or week.
Then we use our experience and common sense to quote the job without being unfair to the customer or ourselves. We put together a parts list, price the parts, and check availability only to find 1 or 2 parts are backordered and now the job goes on the back burner and that time and money is lost for that week.
We deal with warranty companies and customers letting us know that we aren’t doing our jobs right and are charging too much, as if we don’t have families to feed just like them.”
Pushing paper, cranking cranks, wrenching wrenches
They go on to say, “We handle just as much paperwork as we do wrenches and if anything gets out of organization, it feels like the whole world is backing up behind us and getting back ahead is an impossible feat.
People will tell you to never take work home with you. They’ll tell you to ‘leave it at the gate when you leave’. All of this is not possible for a mechanic. The job requires us to retain an amount of knowledge, experience, training, expertise, and work ethic that most will never experience in their lifetime and that is not something that can just be turned off when we clock out, which is why you’ll notice most any mechanic you meet can not relax and sit still for very long outside of work. There’s always work to be done whether it be at home or on a side job.
The stress and workload follow us everywhere we go but it’s something most of us have learned to live with and that’s what makes us such a rare and dying breed. If it was easy, everyone would do it! Thank a mechanic next time you see them.”
In praise of the mechanics that keep us rollin’
Are you feelin’ it? Just a little? That wave of, “Ooooh. I didn’t know that.” What if for every shady mechanic you’ve ever been taken by, there are a dozen hard-working and honest professionals? Folks just doing their best work. Their life’s work. And most certainly a critically important work! Like the crews at Erol’s.
Around here? We are grateful!
If you are ready to donate your unused, unwanted motorcycle, van, truck, SUV, or car, we have crews at the ready to serve in every province!
Whether your donated vehicle is re-sale ready or rolling toward retirement, it’s likely vehicle mechanics will have eyes on it at some point. And our 100+ agents will do right by you, and by your charity!
Click the big red button below to donate. ‘Prefer to talk to a funny and caring human? Call in to 1-877-250-4904. Then, wait just a day or two to get a call to arrange your free tow. Next? Sit back and wait for your tax receipt to land in your in box!
You are also invited to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. There you will be able to keep up-to-date on posts that showcase amazing donors and charities in every province in Canada!
