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SALT LAKE CITY -- A Salt Lake County business took a new approach to helping a single mom in need, and what she learned could save you money.
Car repairs never seem to be a $20 fix. Instead, they can drain hundreds of dollars from our bank accounts. But what if you could fix it yourself?
Two weeks ago, calling Cynthia Garcia's car a rolling wreck would have been kind.
"It was leaking oil, no heater," Cynthia said. "They found other problems: power steering, oil change, brakes in the back needed to be re-shoed."
As a single mom, out of work and suffering from heath problems, Cynthia didn't have the money to fix it. So when she saw a contest where the winner got their car fixed, she figured she didn't have anything to lose. To her surprise, she won.
"Good things like this don't happen," she said in disbelief. "It was a bad year. It was a really bad year."
But this wasn't a traditional contest. It was run by The Wrench-It Center in Salt Lake City -- a do-it-yourself car repair business that rents drivers, tools, workspace and a mechanic if needed.
"If you don't know what you're doing, you're asking to be taken advantage of. We're all about crossing that threshold at the door and saying come in and learn," said Zachery Anderegg, owner of The Wrench-It Center.
Mechanics worked side by side with Cynthia and her daughter, teaching them how to fix the problems in her car.
"I learned how to put them on instead of going to the dealership and paying them to put them on," said 11-year-old Cecelia Marsh.
"This will save me a lot of money," Cynthia said.
When it was all done, Cynthia had the chance to thank everyone from the mechanic to Napa Auto Parts.
Then, there was one last surprise. Cynthia's family didn't have the money to celebrate Christmas, so Best Buy gave Cynthia's daughter an iPod. Both she and Cynthia were overwhelmed.
"You're grateful to everyone, and I don't know how to reciprocate on this," she said.
Cynthia told KSL News she's confident she could perform the same repairs again. What's more, she could teach other women how to do it.
E-mail: sdallof@ksl.com
