TRUST

Merriam-Webster defines trust as, “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” My trust in trust is being tested this week. This past weekend, my wife and I took a trip to Alexandria, VA to see some friends and attend the Carolina Panthers v. Washington Redskins game (the game is another story). About ten miles from our friends house, a warning message flashed on our dashboard which said, “Transmission fault, Service NOW.”

As a self-proclaimed “car guy,” I was a bit alarmed by the service now message as opposed to a service soon message. Quickly, my wife was on her smart phone looking up what this message could mean. The vast internet suggested it could be a wide-range of things. It could be a minor malfunctioning sensor (we could only hope), or it could mean that the transmission was in serious trouble and about to fail. Except for an occasional rough shift at speed, everything seemed fine. 

Upon arrival at our friends’ house, I tried to diagnose the problem to no avail. Being late in the day on Saturday, we left the vehicle sit and would address the issue later. On Sunday, I started the car, put it in drive and found no warning lights activated and that gave me a bit of repose. We would head out early Monday and see if we could make the 400 mile drive home without issues. Not so. Within about ten miles, the transmission warning light came on accompanied by a check engine light. My wife went back to the smart phone to find a Ford dealership.

Wary of the nightmare stories from other stranded travelers swindled by the few mechanics that give all other mechanics a bad name, we arrived at Cowles Parkway Ford. There we met a service representative named Joshua. Allaying my fears, he presented himself as likeable and trustworthy. Soon Joshua had a mechanic “run the codes” and came back with the bad news. The torque converter is shot and likely the transmission fluid pump too! 

This is where the trust comes in. After a short conversation, we had to trust Joshua’s word. He said, “it would be best to leave the vehicle with him and have them install a new transmission.” This was a big, inconvenient, and expensive decision and we put our trust in Joshua. We rented a car, continued our journey home and will go back this weekend to pick up the repaired vehicle.

In a very short timeframe, Joshua gained our TRUST. In the bible, Joshua accompanied Moses to the top of Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments. I hope “our” Joshua espouses the values promoted by those commandments and deals with all of his customers fairly and squarely – I have no reason to believe otherwise. I like to think I can trust most and for me trust equals:  

Truth

Reliability

Unquestionable 

Solid

Tenable

See you next week!

Dan