Drop off and take the train

Why this works

A lot of people put off car repairs because they can’t lose a day to a waiting room. 2 and 1/2 Mechanics is at 1345 Marchand St in Cyrville, Ottawa, about 300 metres from Cyrville station on Line 1 of the O-Train. That is roughly a four minute walk. You can leave the car with us in the morning, be on a train a few minutes later, and come back for it after work.

This post walks through how that goes in practice, so nothing about the morning is a surprise.

Book the night before

Online booking is open around the clock at the booking page, so you can set it up at eleven at night when you finally remember the noise. Pick the service, or choose Other if what you need isn’t listed, and choose a day.

Then add the vehicle. You can scan the VIN with your phone camera through the windshield, or type the year, make and model. Describe the problem in your own words, and be specific about when it happens: cold or warm, at what speed, turning left or right, after rain. You can attach up to four photos, which is handy for a warning light, a leak on the driveway or a tire that looks wrong. Choose drop off as the way you’ll leave the car.

Drop the car off by 9am

On the day you booked, bring the car to the shop by 9am. The doors open at 8am, Monday to Saturday. Park in the lot in front of the three bay doors under the sign and bring the keys inside.

If anything has changed since you booked, like a new noise on the way over, tell us at the counter. It takes a minute and it can save an hour of looking.

What to leave in the car, and what to take

Leave:

• the key or fob that starts the car
• the locking wheel nut key if your car has locking nuts, since tire and brake work stops without it
• the other set of wheels in the trunk or back seat if you booked a tire swap
• a note on the dash if there’s anything we should know, such as a door that only opens from inside

Take:

• your house keys and anything else on the same ring that you need during the day
• valuables, work laptops and anything you’d miss
• a garage door opener or parking pass if it lives in the car

Getting to Cyrville station

The station is on Cyrville Road, about 300 metres from the shop, so the walk is over before your coffee cools. On Line 1, trains heading west take you toward the St. Laurent Centre and on through to downtown. Trains heading east go toward Blair and Orléans.

In winter, dress for the walk anyway. Four minutes at minus 25 is long enough to regret leaving the gloves in the car you just handed over.

Waiting nearby instead

If you would rather stay close, the St. Laurent Shopping Centre is about a kilometre west of the shop. That is a walk of a little over ten minutes, or the next station west on the train. There is food, coffee and somewhere warm to sit with a laptop.

The phone call before any work starts

Once the car is in, we look at it. For a booked oil change or tire swap, that usually means doing the job and noting anything else we spot. For a problem, a noise or a warning light, it means finding the cause first.

Then you get a call. Salim, or whoever is working on the car, tells you what is wrong, what it costs to fix, and anything that can safely wait. No work goes ahead until you say yes. If you’d like to see what we found, the old parts are kept for you to look at when you come back.

Two things make this go smoothly. Put a number in the booking that you’ll actually answer during your work day, and if you can’t take calls, say so in the notes and tell us the best time to reach you. A car waiting on an answer is a car that isn’t getting fixed.

Parts sometimes take time to arrive, and sometimes they don’t. A customer once told us he had spent three weeks hunting for shift cable bushings for an older car, and we had them in under half an hour. We tell you on the call how long the parts should take.

Picking it up

The shop is open until 5pm Monday to Friday and until 3pm on Saturday. Saturday is a real help if your weekday schedule is packed: drop off by 9am, and you are not fighting the weekday commute on St. Laurent Boulevard to get back for it.

When you come back, ask to see the parts that came off. We are happy to walk you through what failed and why.

A few kinds of jobs that suit drop off

Nearly anything can be a drop off, but some jobs fit especially well: a diagnosis of a problem that only shows up when the car is cold, a full synthetic oil change before winter, or the general repairs that tend to pile up on a list in your phone. When you’re ready, book a time and choose drop off.