Open-Air Repairs : Street Mechanics Work Cheap, but to Police, They’re a Problem

In the crowded neighborhoods of the Pico-Union district west of Downtown, Henry Ignacio Mendoza says he is the leading “battery man” in the street mechanic trade.

For $20--less than half of what you would pay at Pep Boys--Mendoza will sell you a new car battery and install it.

Working diligently under the hoods and on the bodies of cars on residential streets, men like Mendoza seem harmless. But to Los Angeles police, auto parts salesmen and some residents, these street mechanics are a problem.

Because they charge so little--about $10 for an oil change and $15 for a tuneup--street mechanics have become a popular alternative to traditional auto repair shops. But because they have neither licenses nor insurance to perform the work, they are not complying with city laws and their clients have no guarantee of satisfaction, police say.

“They are not accountable for anything,” said Ruben Lopez, an auto theft detective in the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division.

Street mechanics are a key link in the stolen car and car parts trade, authorities say.

To help police investigate auto-related crimes, auto repair businesses in Los Angeles are required to keep records of the make and model of every car they work on and the name of the person who brings it in. But because street mechanics do not keep such records, they are a natural outlet for car thieves and dealers in stolen car parts to launder their wares: Car thieves can have a car painted over, and merchants who deal in stolen parts can make a sale without fear of being traced.

People involved in hit-and-run accidents--especially drivers of unlicensed taxis, known as bandit cabs--often pay street mechanics to repair their cars, thereby avoiding authorities, police say.

“If (bandit cabbies) hit something, or someone, they just get it fixed right away,” Lopez said.

Many street mechanics try to solicit customers outside the Pep Boys store at Hoover Street and Washington Boulevard in Pico-Union. The store’s employees said street mechanics steal many prospective customers--sometimes approaching people who just received estimates from Pep Boys mechanics and offering them lower prices for the same services.

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About 40 street mechanics work near the Pep Boys store. Police visit the store so often to listen to complaints about street mechanics that they were given a designated parking spot.

Street mechanics also pose an environmental problem, frequently releasing toxic chemicals into the atmosphere, dumping car parts and spilling battery acid and motor oil in the streets where they work, police say.

“These people have no concern for the areas they work in,” Sgt. Spike Valencia said. “When they change your oil, they just pull the drain, and it flows down the street and into the gutter. If they replace your alternator, it ends up under the nearest tree.”

Police officers have been exposed to battery acid, and the LAPD hazardous materials unit has had to remove waste left by the mechanics, Sgt. John Egan said.

Police receive calls almost every day from residents complaining about street mechanics. Several Pico-Union neighborhood groups have complained to police and to City Councilman Mike Hernandez’s office.

“They are a big problem in this area,” said Egan, who serves as the Rampart Division’s community liaison.

The average street mechanic earns about $300 a week, but as in other businesses, word of mouth is crucial, and those who develop a good reputation can bring in up to $500.

Some street mechanics specialize in body work, while others are more at home installing batteries. Street mechanics refer customers to the expert in the type of work they need.

The men usually own their tools, although some rent more expensive equipment. Some set up elaborate work sites in the streets.

“(With) some of the guys, the ones who are more sophisticated, it looks like an Union 76 station,” Egan said. “They have pneumatic tools, engine hoists and all the equipment that a garage would have.”

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Street mechanic Edgar Monterde insists that despite police characterizations, most of his peers are honest, hard-working Latin American immigrants with years of auto repair experience who came to the United States and were unable to find work.

“There are a few bad ones that give us all a bad name,” said Monterde, 32, a former body shop worker who has been a street mechanic for seven years. “Some guys leave a big mess behind, and others ask (clients) for extra money to buy a needed car part and never return, but most are decent people.”

Mendoza, who says he has been harassed by police and fined several times, added: “There is nothing wrong with what I do, but (police) treat me like a criminal. Don’t they have better things to deal with?”

They do. In the LAPD’s Rampart Division, where police are overburdened and violent crimes occur every day, street mechanics are a low police priority, Egan said.

Usually all police can do is cite street mechanics for illegal dumping and repairing a vehicle on the street, Egan said. Those charges lead only to fines, and the street mechanics continue working, although sometimes on a different street.