Yonkers Auto Zone located at 286 South Broadway, continues to permit car repair in the customer parking lot. Last year, Hamlet Hub detailed a wide scale operation of ad hoc car repair operations on the premises under the watch of an Auto Zone security guard. Casually discarded empty oil containers were strewn about the lot and both oil and transmission fluid were spilled on the pavement waiting to be washed into a nearby street drain. http://news.hamlethub.com/swyonkers/life/1243-yonkers-autozone-hosts-toxic-waste
As a result, the lot was cleared of repair activity and the toxic materials cleaned up. But as the swallows return to Capistrano, the auto street repair vendors returned to the Auto Zone parking lot.
The hydraulic jacks are back, the customers arrive and business goes on. A mobile auto repair van has taken up residence in the rent and tax free zone, offering huge discounts to savvy shoppers. Many are unlicensed and in the event of a bad repair job, untraceable if the car owner wants the mistake corrected.
AutoZone is not the only place where this is happening. Many other auto part stores are experiencing car repair camps. However, the store owner can get stuck with the bill if the mechanic doesn’t pay a fine that police may issue to the unlicensed repairman.
Company spokesman Ray Pohlman for AutoZone says that they know this is going on. “We don’t condone it at all but it’s very hard to police,” Pohlman said.
The word is out and the buzz is percolating. If you want an inexpensive car repair job, go to the Auto Zone parking lot at 286 S. Broadway in the Yonkers downtown business district.
