OT: Are There 24 Hour Auto Repair Shops Where You Live?

No open pump unless an attendant is present. There are two stations right at the highway exit that are closed at midnight. Nearest 24 hour is about 10 miles north.

Same with Costco. I rarely get gas there, because there's always a line out the parking lot. And why would I, anyway? They have that stupid one-way line rule. The price is hardly ever lower than any other gas station. They don't even have window washing squeegees. So, I'm basically paying a membership fee to wait in a long line for poorer service.

Is that a state thingie or a local fire marshal showing off his power?

There are a number of 24-hr stations in town that are manned as they're convenience store operations but the co-op and distributor pump islands aren't cut off overnight so if you have the key/combination you can fuel there at any time...the oilpatch companies and farmers would riot if not able to, I'd think. :)

I've not checked at the smaller stations that do close whether they also cut off the pumps or not; never thought to try to see.

What's stupid about it? Make's a great deal of sense to me.

Costco is always $0.30 to $1.00/gal cheaper around here. That's $5 to $16 dollars savings on a fillup (compared to the most expensive in the neighborhood - granted those two stations are always $.50 higher than most of the rest.). Go before the warehouse opens and there is seldom a line a the pumps (open 6a -> 9p, while the warehouse is 10-8). My warehouse has 20 two-pump lanes that can accomodate

If you only buy gas, and the gas prices aren't substantially less than non-costco gas, then why did you buy the membership in the first place? Food, pharmacy alone easily pay for the membership.

I've never seen any problems at any of the regular gas stations around here that allow 2-way access. Occasionally you'll see a landscape truck and trailer clogging up a lane, but other than that people seem to know how to navigate it so that all the empty pumps can be used.

At Costco, there are always pumps at the front not being used because A. Soccer moms in behemoth SUVs park too far away from the pump to allow anyone to go around them to use the front pump. B. Soccer moms in behemoth SUVs or grannies are too afraid to use the center "lane" to move ahead of cars to the front pumps, even though there's plenty of room to do so.

So you end up with empty pumps that would otherwise be used if people could pull in from the other side.

I'm not driving to Costo at 6am just so I don't have to wait in line when there's a station 1/2 mile from my house that never has a line. And like I said, around here, they are never any cheaper and sometimes more than other station, like Kroger, where you actually do get a discount for shopping there and they have 2-way lanes and window washing squeegees.

Who said I only buy gas? I didn't. The point is, you're paying a membership fee so things should be better than places you don't pay a membership fee. Same with their tire center. Discount Tire always ends up beating their price and is always faster. Their checkout lines are always long. It's the only place you have to wait in line to get OUT of the store, when they check your receipts when you're leaving. We love Costco, don't get me wrong. Their return policy alone is worth the fee. But they have some very quirky aspects that could really be improved from a customer service standpoint.

On 10/9/2018 7:38 PM, dpb wrote: ...

Back many years ago, the pumps were left unlocked and everybody had a running account book in the office they wrote down what they used. There was a cash box for through traffic folks to leave their "donations".

When gas prices got high, unfortunately temptation (and outside knowledge of availability) also grew and "shrinkage" got too high to be able to continue tradition.

That's probably the theory at Sam's too. But as they say; In theory, reality and theory are the same. In reality, theory is something completely different.

Maybe at Sam's, but at the BJ's I frequent, theory and reality are very much the same.

As far as 24 hour repair shops,there are truck shops open 24 hours.

Would a 24 hour truck shop replace rotors and pads on a 07 CR-V at 8PM?

How many 24 hour / 8 pm repair shops would have the parts in stock ? Huh ? ... now we're looking for a 24 hour parts supplier - with a comprehensive inventory and night-time delivery .. John T.

The 24 shop that my daughter went to in Maryland replaced her rotors and pads at 8PM. That was the point of my question. Would a *truck* stop do that. Huh?

DAGS 24 autozone near me

They exist.

Yeah, I'm sure they do in highly-enough populated/traffic areas...out of the metro Atlantic corridor and perhaps S Cal and similar areas I suspect they're few and far between for the shops that are anything more than minimal.

Your daughter was most lucky to have the incident where she was, methinks...out here it might be a half-hour to even see a light alongside the highway, what more a shop! :)

Yep - that's why all the regular-hours repair shops need to wait for parts - thise dang 24 hours guys are hogging them ! lol John T.

Depends how busy they are, if you have the parts, and how hard up you are. Likely depends how well you know the guy, or who you know - so I can't say definitely yes or no - - - - At 8PM you could still find partd here in Waterloo - less likely in Elmira

It happened right outside of Baltimore. She only had about 1.5 hours to go and she would have reached her destination - the Marine base at Quantico. Once there she would have had access to the base auto shop, but I couldn't chance letting her continue. As I suspected, it was a frozen caliper and it had already destroyed the rotor.

She was on the way there with her girlfriend, whose father was retiring after 25 years in the USMC.

My BJ's solved that problem: No front pumps.

There is a single row of pumps with hoses on both sides. The hoses are long enough to reach both sides of (most) vehicles so it doesn't matter which side of the vehicle you fill up on.

The entry and exit lanes (the roadway perpendicular to the pumps) is way too narrow to allow cars to come from both directions. A single car waiting to come in from the other direction would block the roadway and no one would be able to move.

As far as the stations that have front rows and allow access from both sides, what happens when you are at the back pump, pumping that last half gallon into your tank and a dually pickup with 2 empty 25 gallon tanks swings in to the front pump? (yes, I'm exaggerating). If there is a vehicle behind you, you're stuck until the dually is done filling his tanks. I hate when that happens. ;-)

That can't happen at costco[*], they leave three lanes of space between the islands, so the rear car can leave early, or the next waiter can take the front pump before the rear pump is finished.

Half the time, they don't do it because a giant truck didn't leave enough room or the person driving thinks their car is twice as wide as it actually is and is afraid to go through the center lane.