When your car breaks down, or just needs some routine service, you might get a little nervous. Your car’s so important to your life, you need to back on the road as soon as possible – with the problem fixed right the first time.
If you’ve ever checked into some of the technician training Patterson Auto Body professionals receive, you may be surprised at how much knowledge and skill goes into diagnosing and repairing a modern car. Let me give you some perspective. Today there are four cylinder engines that make more power than the V-8’s in luxury cars twenty years ago. I mean a new V-6 Toyota Camry could beat Sonny Crocket’s Ferrari in a race to sixty.
Our engines are more and more powerful and at the same time their fuel economy keeps inching up – even with steep gas prices. And they’re so reliable. This is all due to engineering. But the advances come at the price of simplicity. The modern cars are so much more complex from a mechanical standpoint that it makes your head spin – not to mention the electronics.
Some cars have several networked computers controlling most of the engine functions and many other vehicle functions as well. Motorists take all of this sophistication for granted – but somebody has to fix it when it breaks. It’s a real challenge for our technicians to keep up, but we work hard to stay ahead of the technology. It requires a high level of commitment on the part of the technician and the service center as well.
In addition to the training, there’s the financial commitment to purchase the diagnostic and repair tools. Our technicians receive training through a combination of formal classroom training, training provided at Patterson Auto Body by parts and equipment manufacturers, on-line courses and home study courses.
There are many independent certifications available at Patterson Auto Body all the way up to Master Technician. The ability to repair your vehicle requires a strong combination of training and resources. No one can know everything, so we subscribe to data services, technical libraries and even on-line communities that can help them when they run into a difficult problem.
It’s like those medical diagnosis shows on TV. Here are the symptoms – what’s the diagnosis and treatment? Diagnosis is every bit as much an art as a science. At Patterson Auto Body, we want everything to be simple, straightforward and cheap – but sometimes it just isn’t.
So try to be more relaxed next time you bring us your vehicle. You’re in good hands.
