A recent medical scare forced me into the patient seat, giving me a closer look at the customer side of health care than I ever wanted. Sitting in that hospital waiting room, I couldn’t help but notice how much the practice of medicine mirrors the business of auto repair.
The Diagnosis is Familiar
The diagnostic processes are very similar. Take differential diagnosis and diagnosis by exclusion. In our bays, a classic differential is a “crank, no-start.” Because an engine needs fuel, spark, and compression to fire, a tech builds a list of potential causes and tests each one. Does it have fuel, spark, and compression?
Diagnosis by exclusion, on the other hand, is your absolute last resort. Think of a nightmare parasitic draw. You systematically pull fuses when applicable and split the electrical circuitry down until, purely by process of elimination, the root cause is left standing. It’s why so many techs view themselves as automotive “doctors.” Some shops even throw that appellation right on the building sign.
Where Health Care Gets it Wrong
But while our industry can admire medicine’s structured training and objective standards, the medical profession could learn a hell of a lot from us about customer service. To put it bluntly: If my numerous hospital experiences are typical, health care service absolutely sucks.
The sheer inattention to detail and total lack of accountability when they repeatedly dropped the ball left me floored. I checked out of that hospital with one inescapable conclusion: If I ran my repair shop with the same negligence they ran their hospital, my doors would have been chained shut by the end of year one.
Modern medicine seems utterly consumed by volume. In our world, we call it scalability. They herd patients through the system at breakneck speed to maximize billing while the quality of care plummets. A toxic hubris has taken over medicine because, frankly, patients have nowhere else to go. Monopoly breeds laziness. There’s zero urgency unless it’s time to collect the co-pay.
Don’t Make the Same Mistake
Worse, I see these exact, ugly traits creeping into our own industry. There’s a growing air of entitlement among a certain subset of shop owners. They refuse to itemize invoices into transparent categories like parts, labor, and shop supplies. Why? Fear. They’re terrified a customer might have the audacity to ask how their hard-earned money is being spent and some conflict might result. They don’t want to waste time educating the consumer. To them, the client just isn’t worth the effort.
That mindset is poison. The remedy is simple: Pay attention to the details. Make people feel welcome the second they cross your threshold. Have your service advisor review upcoming appointments and dig into vehicle service histories beyond the last oil change. Want to feel like an absolute fool? Tell a customer they’re due for spark plugs based on mileage intervals when your own shop replaced them 9,000 miles ago.
Engage your customers. Ask them if they have questions. Show them respect, even on the days they don’t return the favor. Everyone can have a bad day—but your shop’s culture shouldn’t be the cause of it.
