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Comment by ozim | Hacker News Reader

To be fair i don’t think there is a business where I can make an appointment in the same week.

I have ICE and getting basic oil change must be week in advance even when I call, I never get “we can book you tomorrow”.

Heck gettin haircut in my area they have calendars blocked so you have to plan with a week in advance. Super annoying as I have a simple cut and most of time it can be done in 15mins. Ok washing down cut hair is useful so maybe 18mins.

But I get frustrated I cannot just walk in, hotels, restaurants, hairdressers.

At lest ordering food online is usually an hour so no need to wait a week

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What on earth do you mean???

AAA is exactly that business: call-out roadside assistance for flat/dead batteries, breakdowns, tows etc. They have 65 million members in North America. Response time varies greatly by day/time-of-day/your location/dispatching company, traffic but typically < 1.5-2h. https://mwg.aaa.com/ (And T-Mobile was even giving free AAA membership in 2024.)

Also look at this discussion on r/TeslaModelY "Do you still need AAA?" comparing reliability and response times: https://www.reddit.com/r/TeslaModelY/comments/17ju1z2/do_you...

Basic oil change is typically while-you-wait in non-peak hours; where on earth do you live? some 'services desert'? I've even gotten while-you-wait smog testing done within 45min out-the-door.

I am not sure where you live but in most of America you can get an ICE vehicle serviced in minutes. I always go through one of those express oil changes, usually they get me all setup 10 mins once I roll in, don’t even have to get out of the car.

Last time I went to one of those, they managed to overfill my oil by two full quarts and it was leaking oil while parked in my garage. I’m hesitant to go back. The auto shop I prefer, that has employees I trust, mostly does “real repairs” and is booked out months in advance. There are tire places around here that offer oil change services as well. They are typically booked out a week or so. I mostly change my own oil as a result and only have the shops do it when I have other work lined up as well.

I own a 2006 lx470, and a 2002 ls430. I own old cars. If I have a problem, and I want maximum convenience, I can drop the car off at the dealership pretty much whenever I want and they set me up with a nice loaner for the entire duration of the repair. I can do this whenever I want, without any scheduling headaches. But I have to pay the dealership premium for this experience.

If I want to be more cost effective, I call my local repair shop and they usually have me sorted within the week.

Out of curiosity, where do you get your oil change done?

The local mechanic here can do it the same day, and they're next to a restaurant. Last time I did an oil change and tire rotation I just grabbed lunch while they worked on it.

The dealership for my car is perpetually booked though, and my experience reflects what you mentioned.

I had an issue with my Toyota where it was making a really loud rattling noise before a big drive I had planned the next day - called a local garage and dropped it off an hour later, got it back end of the day.

You live in an extremely atypical place that doesn't generalize at all to the rest of the US. I've never lived in or visited an American city where I couldn't get something basic like an oil change or haircut with no notice. If one place is busy, go a half mile to the next place and they will probably have time for you. Is this post just a humble brag about how you live in Manhattan or some other expensive outlier location?

>>To be fair i don’t think there is a business where I can make an appointment in the same week.

....where do you live where that's true??? I just checked with my local Volvo garage - I can get an appointment tomorrow. Checked with our local Volkswagen garage - I can get an appointment on Wednesday. And all the big name "express service" chains like Kwik-Fit or ATS will see you while you wait. That's literally their entire business model.

>>Heck gettin haircut in my area they have calendars blocked so you have to plan with a week in advance.

Again, where the hell do you live. I know my wife has to book a hairdresser because she usually spends 4 hours in there, but I have never in my life had to book a haircut, you pop over, wait 15 minutes max, maybe 20 if it's busy and you get a haircut.

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