Comment by bandyaboot
2 years ago
I think independent mechanics tend to opt for earning goodwill in this situation rather than charging fair value for a quick and easy fix. Objectively, he provided more value than someone who might have spent several hours of troubleshooting time, but customers don’t necessarily think logically about it. So it ends up being better for the mechanic to earn that goodwill rather than appear “greedy”.
Some do the freebies because that’s who they are, and the free publicity is just a secondary effect. Some do the freebie because they know the publicity as the primary reason. I feel like this experience was the former.