by Thomas Fong and Quong Duong

Car Care Ministry

Sooner or later, something will break, wear out or fail on every car. The LBC Car Care Ministry is designed to help teach and assist you in taking care of your vehicle. We prefer to deal with any car issues when they are small and easy to fix – not when your car has broken down and is smoking on the side of the road. So Ben Franklin was quite correct when he said that “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Through this ministry, we desire to teach you how to maintain your vehicle and to spot issues before they become problems. It is also a way for us to train up other men and women in the “dark arts” of automotive repair. Additionally, it allows us to get to know you better and fellowship with you as your car gets repaired or serviced.

The members of the car care ministry have extensive knowledge on cars from fixing their own vehicles and many other people’s vehicles as well. We’ve had experience with performing oil changes, replacing brakes, suspension and shocks, timing belts, clutches and many other common repairs. If your car needs maintenance, we probably have performed the service before and are very familiar with how to do it.

As an extra wonderful benefit, we can help you save hundreds (even thousands) of dollars on car repairs. Labor costs are usually the most expensive component to most auto repairs and we don’t charge for labor. Since this is a complimentary service provided to our church members, we encourage that you take the money that you save and bless the church with it. For an estimate of what car repairs typically cost, go to www.repairpal.com. For example, replacing the front strut/shock absorbers on a 2000 Honda Civic would be around $500, with the labor cost comprising about half that cost. Parts and labor for work on non-Asian cars will run higher.

Something to keep in mind is that we are not professional mechanics, nor are you paying us (although food is always appreciated), and we are doing our best to fix your vehicle with the parts that you will purchase and the tools that we have. So, please do not feel like you owe us something (or vice versa) when you come. Rather, we ask you to come and be blessed by the way our church family can serve one another with the gifts and talents that God has provided us. We would love to serve you in this tangible way!

Another thing to consider is that there will be situations where tools break or other parts may break in the process of repairing your vehicle. If this happens, please be gracious towards us and keep in mind that you will need to absorb any additional parts costs. Donations of new tools would also be very valuable to allow us to continue to bless the church family with this ministry.

Unfortunately, we can’t interface directly with your car to know if and when it needs some type of service or repair. So like a yearly physical exam, we need you to come to us to get the vehicle inspected and/or diagnosed. This is really important because we are not available at all times to immediately fix your vehicle, so it is crucial that preventative maintenance is done to avoid larger catastrophes.

Please email carcareministry@lighthousebc.com or talk to Thomas Fong at church in order to schedule a mutually agreeable time with the team to get diagnosed and serviced.

Some helpful guidelines:

• Do come to us to get your car diagnosed before it breaks down
• Don’t just drop off your car, but Do spend time with us
• Do come with an attitude to learn more about your vehicle and how to maintain it
• Do bless the church with the money that you save on your vehicle repairs
• Do come for maintenance and repairs (oil change, shock replacement, oil leaks, brakes, tire rotations, etc…)
• Don’t come for modifications and enhancements (lowering your car, engine swaps, cold air intakes, etc…)
• Do buy your own parts. Remember labor is provided, not the parts
• Do trust our judgment and workmanship. We won’t trick you into buying things or getting unnecessary repairs.