Man Goes To Parking Lot Connecting AutoZone And Advance Auto Parts. Then He Goes Shopping

"You can get anything you need."

Man goes to the parking lot connecting AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts. Then he goes shopping

Photo by: moneymanthetowman

JT Wilson

By: JT Wilson

Sep 6, at 4:00am ET

Add Motor1.com as a preferred source in Google

Comment

A Texas tow truck operator drove through the lot shared by an AutoZone and an Advance Auto Parts on East Riverside Drive in Austin. There were a plethora of mechanics working on cars in the open with their jacks and toolboxes set up where the parking spaces are. According to him, there is almost no job that the freelance auto mechanics there can’t handle.

Money Man (@moneymanthetowman) runs a tow business in Austin and posts mostly about his own work. In his post, he says, “If you from Austin you know where we at. This is like the trap house of our mechanics. You can pull up here and get anything you need.”

He runs through the menu as he rolls past. “You can pull over here, get your AC fixed, you can come over here, give you some brakes put on your car,” he says, before adding tint, paint and a wash to the list. “Mobile mechanics on deck all day every day.”

Nothing is too big, per his telling. “Whatever you want, whatever you need, you can get it right here,” he says. “I’m talking about that take the whole motor out your car, that take your transmission out and put it in.”

Partway through he gets flagged down, and the camera catches a dispute over who has claim to a car. “You didn’t even know this car was coming, you just made that up,” he says. “You’re trying to steal the job. This car is not for you. Somebody else supposed to get it.” He asks for a number to check the claim against, reads it back, and closes it out: “You try to trick me.”

“A Mechanic Shop With No Shop”

The lot is not a secret, and Money Man is not the first to document it. The Austin American-Statesman published a piece about the same corner on Aug. 15, describing how “an informal auto repair market has taken root outside the AutoZone at 2237 E. Riverside Drive—a mechanic shop with no shop.” But Motor1 got there six months earlier, reporting on another creator’s footage of the same site.

The paper found out more about the business model that keeps the lot running. Cameron Chen was quoted around $2,200 for a repair, bought the parts himself for under $200, and paid a mechanic in the lot $200 in labor, saving $1,800 in the process. Mechanic Carlos Paredes told the Statesman his crew can see 30 or 40 cars on a busy day, handling brakes and rotors alongside transmissions and whole engines, and that they are there “Sunday to Sunday.”

Spectrum News 1 reported similar numbers on Aug. 24, with one customer putting his savings at 30% to 40% on most jobs and “as much as 50%” on larger ones, and another saying an alternator done in two hours saved him a rental car and a week without his vehicle.

What The Price Does Not Include

To be clear, the mechanics do not work for either store.

AutoZone’s corporate office did not respond to the Statesman’s request for comment, but store staff told the paper they are unaffiliated with the mechanics outside. The chain’s stated position elsewhere has been that it does not want work happening in the vicinity of its stores. A sign at a Georgia store told mobile mechanics not to work in the lot, but a spokesman told WSB-TV that policing the policy is difficult.

AAA Texas told Spectrum what a driver gives up at these prices, and passed on advice to check for certification from the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, to get a written estimate, and to get a written warranty covering parts and labor, with 12 months or 12,000 miles as the usual standard.

“Holla If You Need Some Welding”

The comments thread was mostly people who said they know the lot.

“That’s Udi, he a good dude, but this me in The Red Barron getting my brakes done at Evan’s,” wrote woody8680, who added that he had seen the filming happen and offered his own trade: “Holla if you need some welding done on ya trucks or anything else.”

What do you think?

View

Comments

Theblockgenius reduced the job dispute to one word: “Nosirskiiii.” Money Man answered, “Tried to pull a fast one on a real playa.”

Motor1 reached out to Money Man via TikTok direct message and to AutoZone and Advance Auto Parts by email for comment. We’ll be sure to update this if any respond.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motor1.com?

Take our 3 minute survey.

- The Motor1.com Team

Share this Story

GO TO COMMENTS

(

)

Got a tip for us? Email: tips@motor1.com

View all comments ( )

Popular

Driven: The Revuelto SV Is All Bull, No BS

Toyota's Next Mid-Engined Coupe Is Going Racing This Weekend

Alfa Romeo Has Had It With Huge Screens

Subaru Teases A New Manual WRX, But Only For Japan