‘Super crazy:’ mechanic shop flooded with service calls

With the first major snow and the first bitter cold snap in the last two weeks, phones have been ringing off the hook at many mechanic shops in Regina.

Kelly Miller owns the Minute Muffler on Victoria Avenue and said “it’s super crazy” at the shop and they’ve had more than 30 cars getting a fixed in a day.

“Quite a bit of tire work, a little bit more than normal,” Miller said. “Quite a bit of stuff like thermostats and making sure block heater cords are working properly and testing things for winter.”

Miller added for the most part people have booked their appointments in advance.

“There’s some people that are proactive, and there’s some that aren’t,” he said. “I think because we’ve had two years of basically no winter or very little winter that (people) aren’t in their normal routine.”

Miller said this year he thinks we’re back to a “normal Saskatchewan winter” but it was a shock for some people to realize how quickly the snow arrived.

He added if you hear a problem with your car, especially in winter always take it into a mechanic.

“Usually if there’s a noise unless it’s something like ice buildup or some kind of road debris that got stuck in a place it shouldn’t be in the vehicle — usually there’s actually a problem,” he said.

“Whether (the noise) comes and goes it’s probably going to come back … generally when a noise starts a person should try to figure it out or it will just end up costing them more money down the road.”