Car Chick repairs your car and answers your automotive questions

BY AMANDA TRAXLER

When she started out in the automobile service industry, Rebekah Fleischaker didn’t last long at her first job as a secretary.

“I got pretty bored, pretty fast,” said the owner of California Automotive, a Van Nuys auto shop. “So I started reading the mechanical labor books.”

Rebekah Fleischaker says consumers should be careful to make sure they purchase quality brake pads. Photo: Gabriel Acevedo

Fleischaker, a Studio City resident, who has a seven-year-old son and is the co-president of Riverside Elementary’s Parents for Riverside Drive booster club, said that after convincing her then-boss to teach her his trade, she willingly agreed to the one condition he attached to her education.

“He made me promise that if he taught me, that I’d teach someone else.”

A promise that Fleischaker has more than kept in the past 18 years, most notably through Carchick.com, a web site she set up about 10 years ago that allows any individual (even those who are aren’t customers) to send her car-related questions.

According to Fleischaker, the idea for the site was born after a customer called with a question.

“She said, ‘That’s why I call you, because you’re my car chick.’ ”

Friends in the biz adorn the wall of her shop. Photo: Gabriel Acevedo

While Fleischaker receives queries from men and women alike, she does note a difference between their communications.

“If it’s a woman, the questions they ask are very different,” she said. “They tell me the whole story, because often they feel like they’re getting ripped off. That’s the number one question, they feel like it doesn’t sound right.”

While that occasionally is the case, Fleischaker says that many times she just affirms that they’re not getting cheated.

Other times, she may educate consumers on subjects such as which after-market parts, which are less expensive than a manufacturer’s originals, can be swapped in a car to no ill effect. According to Fleischaker, oxygen sensors are NOT a case in point.

The interior of California Automotive and Jaek’s Automotive. Fleischaker's California Automotive co-operates within Jaek’s Automotive in Van Nuys. Photo: Gabriel Acevedo

“The connector is not just a plug-in,” Fleischaker said, emphasizing that the very small wires need to be exact to ensure the correct air/fuel mixture, which is key to a smooth-running emissions system.

In other words, this is not where you want to pinch pennies—which Fleischaker likens to “when can you go to Ralph’s and when can you go to Whole Foods.”

Consumers should go with a manufacturer’s original oxygen sensor, versus a less-expensive after-markets version—to keep their emissions system running smoothly. Photo: Gabriel Acevedo

Keenly aware that car terminology often seems like a different language, Fleischaker takes care with how she explains things to customers.

“I will talk to you on your level of understanding, and hopefully expand it a little bit each time.”

She even welcomes ‘uncomfortable’ questions, citing a story of a young woman who said she found a shop that would fix her engine for approximately half of Fleischaker’s quote.

Encouraging her to delve deeper, Fleischaker said that the young woman then learned that the shop’s quote was for a used engine, while Fleischaker’s was to rebuild the original. When the young woman asked the shop what they would charge to rebuild the engine, they returned a quote that was much higher than Fleischaker’s.

Fleischaker’s logo: Know Your Car Photo: Gabriel Acevedo

On top of educating and empowering customers, Fleischaker knows that at the end of the day—customer satisfaction is key.

“When you come here, you’re coming to our home,” Fleischaker said, “you’re our guest.”

California Automotive, which co-operates within Jaek’s Automotive, is located 14254 Oxnard Street in Van Nuys. For more information, call (818)780-4369 or e-mail carchick9@aol.com    www.carchick.com

Amanda Traxler is an L.A.-born writer with degrees in journalism from the University of Kansas and creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been rediscovering her roots since she returned to the area three years ago from the wintry Midwest.