Berkeley Auto Repair & Smog

This week my car died on the hill by Berkeley lab - the guy who came out from AAA, Ray, asked me where I wanted him to take the car. I'm relatively new to the area and didn't have a place in mind. He said he had a friend, Saul, at a shop close by and gave him a call to see if he worked with Subaru's. Ray was awesome - gave me Saul's number and told me he'd safely get my car there (this is late in the evening when shops are closed).

The next day, Saul checked out my car, gave me a thorough explanation of what he thought was wrong with it and all the steps he took to diagnose it and get the car working.Then he told me that he thought the non-working part was covered under Subaru's emissions warranty, so why don't I first check to see if Subaru will replace it for free before he tried to find a replacement. When Subaru told me they would charge $209 just for diagnosing, I had a frank conversation with Saul who said the car was running now, but it would probably still be worth it to pay the fee and get it diagnosed, as he was 80% sure that it was an issue with that warrantied part.

This whole time, the car has been parked at his shop, he's answered all my calls and texts, and has given me a whole host of options for fixing my car that keep my budget and finances in mind.

As a woman who is used to shitty misogynistic car mechanic experiences, I appreciated Saul's honesty and kindness. And, as a woman of color with a "non white name", I really appreciated how he took the time to learn my name and pronounce it correctly every time - this may sound random or irrelevant but it's a really important marker to me of the types of people I want in my community. At the end of the three days of our car being in his shop, Saul said that we didn't owe him anything since the car was running again and that he was happy to help us out in this situation. I feel so grateful that the kind AAA employee, Ray, connected me with Saul, and that I now have a reliable, kind and helpful car mechanic in Berkeley. It was such a positive, uplifting experience in the middle of a very shitty week (and month and year) - I'm grateful to have folks like Saul in my community!

Nafeesa A.