This is a long story, so I'll start with the punchline. Dave at 13 and Crooks went above and…read morebeyond what a normal business owner would do to help us get our car fixed. Here's the story:
I am a Michigan native living in Columbus, Ohio. I was traveling through Michigan to visit family and felt my car shaking, so I exited the highway and ended up near 13 and Crooks late on a Saturday night. The owner, Dave, was about to leave for the evening but took a look at my car, diagnosed it with a bad wheel bearing on the front driver's side, but could not get the part until Monday morning. We left the car, found other transportation, returned home, and I drove back later in the week to pick up the car after it was fixed. I drove the car for another month or so and it was fine, and I thought that was the end of the story.
Skip forward a few weeks, and we were once again traveling through Michigan, this time up north - to Black Lake near Cheboygan. We made the trip up there (7 hours from home) with no problems, but took a short day trip to the U.P. and the car started shaking again. This occurred the day before we were supposed to head home, and we needed to be back in Columbus on Sunday for a variety of reasons - one of which was that my wife was flying to California for business on Sunday afternoon.
I took the car to Main Street Automotive in Cheboygan, where the owner there - Paul - immediately diagnosed a wheel bearing problem on the same wheel (front driver's side). I called Dave at 13 and Crooks, who agreed to pay for the repair with no arguments. However, it turned out that somehow during the original repair, the threads on the axle became stripped, and the nut that holds the bearing and wheel in place wasn't holding. In other words, the new wheel bearing was fine, but the axle was damaged. It is unusual for this part to fail, so literally no parts dealers - not even dealerships - in the State of Michigan or any adjoining states, carried this part in stock and it had to be ordered. This meant we couldn't get the car repaired until Tuesday the following week (this was now a Saturday morning when we were finding out this information). If that was the case, we would have had to rent a car and drive home, and then make the 14 hour round trip to pick up the vehicle after it was fixed.
However - somehow Dave at 13 and Crooks tracked down the only part in the State of Michigan (a refurbished one) at Detroit Wheel and Axle, purchased it, and arranged to have the part driven up to Cheboygan - a 4 hour trip one way. It arrived at 4:30 pm that Saturday, the fantastic gentlemen at Main Street Automotive - who kept their shop open for us - made the repair, and we made it home early Sunday morning. Dave paid for the repair, again without hesitation.
Considering the circumstances, this repair was as painless as could be expected. Can't thank Dave at 13 and Crooks - and the guys at Main Street Automotive - enough for their help and professionalism.
If I lived in Royal Oak - I'd have found my go-to auto repair shop for certain.
