My name is Ter
rell Brinlee. I am a child of the late 90’s—where I saw the rise the internet, and a teenager of the early 2000’s—where I saw the changes of a post 9/11 America take place. I was raised in a southern Baptist church where I was respectfully indoctrinated and first introduced to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by whom I stand blameless in front of the creator Jehovah.
As an artist by nature I am a singer/songwriter pianist, and have been making music for the past 11 years. I also host the website: “This Intangible Existence” that features my music, the art of other local artist, current events, and commentary on everyday life.
In 2009 I moved to Atascocita with my sister and her husband and started my life over. I left South Louisiana as an Acadiana wet-Lander and became a suburban 20-something in pursuit of a better way of life and the opportunities that Texas offers.
I kicked everything off quickly by getting a job at Panera Bread, where I worked the register. I was working for 17 days straight, and on my second shift of the day when a couple came in for dinner. The man ended up coming back to my register to let me know that thei
r soup was cold, and plates were dirty. After correcting this and a small bit on conversation the lady at the table asked how long I had been working there. “Six weeks,” I replied, and then Lynn Beckwith offered me a position of employment at Beckwith’s Car Care.
With that I was quickly injected into an industry that I was far less than familiar with.
Entering as a typically uneducated consumer with hardly any automotive knowledge (other than that of a standard oil change) I was upon a mandatory new paradigm that quickly corrected my understanding. One of the first things I was to learn about is what is known as diagnostics.
With the rise in computer technologies in the late 70’s and its integration into vehicles, It is one of the most commonly priced products among shops today; I have come to find that it is also the most misunderstood product that is purchased by the average consumer.
Diagnostics is famously know for its relationship to the check engine light that is shown on the dashboard of your car whenever the computer has detected an issue among the many sensors that are placed throughout vehicle. This alert is also seen as an amber colored “service engine soon” light or an illuminated picture of an engine.
One of the first steps taken in the Diagnostics process is pulling codes from the PCM. These codes indicate a general area of where the problem is affecting the vehicle. The codes can reflect individual sensors or malfunction within system operations (such as burning too much fuel).
It can be easily paralleled to the concept of health care. In the same fashion as a human would say that his head is hurting, the codes that a vehicle shows is the same as you or I pointing to our stomach and saying, “this hurts”.
Many of the auto parts retail stores offer a basic scan at no charge—as they should. However more often than not this is only done to help further justify a sale to the “do it yourself” customer. This would be as though you went to the doctor, told him your head hurt, and his reply being, “we need to replace your head.”
Here, the problem occurs whenever we believe that the machines that man made are smart enough to tell us what is wrong with them. The information given by a basic scan tool that only reads codes is extremely vague and at times highly interpretable.
More sophisticated scan equipment with features like reading data from a vehicle in real time, can be up to $5000 per device, and can cost anywhere from $700 to $10,000 a year in software upgrades. It is also important to remember that there is no one scan tool that can read from every make and model or run the many different kinds of test needed to properly identify the problem at hand.
Any good doctor, after learning of his patients aliment would first ask himself: “why is this happening?” before he gave you medicine or went into surgery. In order for him to better know the answer to this he would send you through a number of tests: blood work, x-ray, MRI… etc. All of which the patient is completely financially responsible for.
So weather it’s your Cooling system, Transmission, Drivability, or a Check Engine Light, it is very important that you have a properly trained experienced technician using the appropriate equipment and technology to properly Test and Diagnose the problem affecting your vehicle. At Beckwith’s Car Care we have this, along with the knowledge to advise you on how to avoid the “break down syndrome” with regular maintenance and service.
As Americans over the past hundred years we have developed a beautiful love affair with cars and trucks. I see it as the cardiovascular system of our bodies, the high ways and side streets have become the veins of our society and economic structure, allowing the life blood force behind the architectural organs that sustain our existence. We humans, like nuclei in a single blood cell depend on our vehicle more than we ever have.
Vehicles take us to hospitals to keep us alive
Vehicles take us to church so that we can give back to our Creator
As a Millennial Artist from the age of the internet, I never thought that I would find myself in the automotive industry, let alone learn of the philosophical implication that is involved.
At Beckwith’s Car Care we don’t wear white coats, we don’t have a stethoscope around our neck, and we won’t be affected by the oncoming health care bill that could be imposed on the country.
But, we are your Blue Collar Doctor for the “you” outside of you. We take extreme concern with every vehicle that comes into our bays, and with a guarantee by Lynn Beckwith herself you can be assured that you will be given a bed side manner that tops any shop or hospital you have every been too.
And I’m proud to say that thanks to dirty plates and cold soup, I love what I do.
For more information on Beckwith's Car Care or The Greater Houston Business Connection please see the following links.
