Colorado Springs auto shop assists drivers who can’t afford car repairs | Subscriber Content

The working day Stephanie Knox brought her automobile to Adam & Son Vehicle Mend and Assistance was the day her luck altered.

Adam & Son statements to be the initially and only social effect car repair shop in the nation, providing packages that provide the local community by products and services and donations.

Knox, a receptionist at Peak Vista Group Well being Centers and a mother of two ladies ages 7 and 4, misplaced her household and was hit by a sequence of overall health concerns which includes a heart assault prior to the age of 35.

“Everything that could have absent wrong in my globe went completely wrong,” Knox stated.

So when Knox acquired a utilised car or truck with an unexpected oil leak, her luck didn’t look to be having much better.

“I was truly cautious how much we would generate with the leak,” Knox explained. “We did not go a lot of areas right up until I could get it mounted.”

That was right up until her engine gave out.

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“Driving a single day, I listened to a loud cluck and I was like, ‘You’ve bought to be joking.’”

The very first car mend shop Knox brought her car to informed her it would price tag $7,000 to fix her car or truck — the motor necessary to be rebuilt.

“My jaw hit the floor,” Knox reported.

Knox could not afford to pay for a $7,000 maintenance to a vehicle she bought approximately 4 months prior, so she took her vehicle in for a 2nd opinion at Adam & Son.

The news was the similar, but this time the result was different. The employee aiding Knox advised her she could utilize for a plan the store ran called the Stranded Motorist Fund.

“He was my angel in disguise,” Knox stated.

The Stranded Motorist Fund is one of Adam & Son’s social effect applications that helps individuals in the community who just cannot pay for automobile repairs get their auto fastened.

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“It was in 2020 when we noticed a great will need in our neighborhood below. Persons just could not pay for to deal with their cars,” mentioned Dan Adam, the business’ founder and proprietor.

“It’s genuinely difficult to be a assistance adviser standing in front of a purchaser and you can see it in their eyes, they are not able to afford to resolve their car, and it occurs really continually.”

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And so the Stranded Motorist Fund was fashioned. It is sustained by grant cash, fundraising and shopper donations.

Regional organizations, including colleges with mom and dad who can’t get their kids to course because of to car problems, have attained out to the Stranded Motorist Fund for aid. Relocating ahead, Adam hopes to not only aid with nearby wants, but grow the Stranded Motorist Fund nationwide by partnering with other car stores.

“What we do not want to do is just offer a handout and it doesn’t resolve anything and they’re back again future 7 days looking for a lot more aid,” Adam reported.

“What we actually want to glance for is any person that if we can get their auto set, they can maintain their job or get employed and it can preserve them heading … which is our excellent recipient we’d like to help.”

Considering the fact that its inception, the Stranded Motorist Fund has supplied $80,000 worth of repairs, in accordance to the business’ internet site.

But the fund was not the initially social affect dimension of the business enterprise. Adam commenced by fundraising for charities, clubs and businesses by donating 3- and 5-pack oil changes that businesses could then promote to earn income.

Due to the fact then, the business’ social effect initiatives have grown to aid the Trifecta Method as nicely as the Spend it Ahead System, which offers prospects who receive a discounted an opportunity to “pay it forward” by donating to the Stranded Motorist Fund or the Angels of America’s Fallen. Adam & Son will match donations up to $100.

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Adam & Son was regarded for its social impact initiatives by the Springs-centered National Institute for Social Impact, earning Social Impression Startup of the Year in 2022.

“There are so many gains to staying a social affect organization,” Adam stated. “Really for us, it’s possessing a business enterprise built about solving a difficulty.”

Adam & Son solved Knox’s dilemma of a $7,000 car or truck repair service that loomed more than her head. She was approved by the Stranded Motorist Fund, and Adam & Son rebuilt her motor for $200.

“(It) drove like it was new,” Knox claimed. “They went higher than and over and above to make it something specific for me.”