Walk's Auto Service Center

I’ve been meaning to write a post about Walk’s Auto Service Center in State College PA for quite a while. Here is the story of my first experience with the fine folks at Walk’s. First, some background for the story.

During the summer of 2005, while I was living in Montgomery County (PA), my car elected not to start a few times on hot days. It would turn over once or twice, then just shut down. Since my automotive skills are on par with my nun-chuck skills (I have none), I was stumped after realizing the battery was not the problem. So I took the car to an unnamed auto shop. And that day the car ran fine, the mechanic looked at it, found nothing wrong, and still managed to charge me something. My car behaved the rest of 2005 and in early 2006, during which time I moved to State College.

In the summer of 2006 the trouble started again. Turning the ignition in my car was like rolling dice. I took it to two auto shops in State College. Both of them “solved” the problem for nominal fees. The problem was not solved.

On July 27, 2006 I went grocery shopping. It was a sunny, hot summer day (in the mid-80s). When I returned to my car with my groceries it decided not to start. Thankfully I was only a quarter mile from my apartment, so I simply made three walking trips to shuttle the groceries home. As I made these treks back and forth I decided one of three things was going to happen within the next two days:

A. I will destroy my car with a sledgehammer. While it would have been very gratifying, and good for the soul, it also would have been terribly impractical. Plus, aside from this random petulance my car had served me well.

B. I will sell my car and get a new one. This was tempting and a real option.

C. I will get my car fixed. The most practical option, and my first choice. However, I had attempted this option three times already and had nothing to show for it but an ill car and bills.

I decided to try option C. I looked up towing companies and found Walk’s Auto listed. They came, picked up my car, and hauled it back to their location. I described the symptoms to a mechanic, he promised to call me as soon as he had a diagnosis.

I got a phone call a couple of hours later. Diagnosis: My car was experiencing periodic failure of the PCM relay.

I’ll admit, I had little faith that the problem was solved. I’d been given diagnoses by three different mechanics in the past year, and all three of those were not accurate. I think I had a right to be skeptical.

My car was repaired and ready to go the following morning. And it was genuinely repaired. Problem solved.

And that is the story of how I became a fan of Walk’s Auto.

Their prices aren’t the lowest in town but they are fair. I’d rather pay a bit more for solid work from a mechanic that I trust than a bargain rate somewhere else. Plus they have online coupons available for many services, and they offer a discount to PSU students for labor costs.

In the past three years I’ve had two instances of extraordinary service from Walk’s in addition to The Diagnosis. On one occasion a veteran mechanic saved me a considerable amount of money by replacing a seal on a part I thought I’d have to replace (this is a story in itself). On another occasion a mechanic stayed late at the shop to finish a few minor details of my car’s inspection because he had promised I could pick up my car that evening.

Thank you Walk’s, I appreciate it.