What Crashing My Rental Car Taught Me About Learning

I had a great holiday in America a few weeks ago with my wife and brother, touring New England. I was particularly pleased when I picked up my rental car to find it was a Jeep Patriot - a very chunky looking 4 x 4, just the sort of thing I could see myself driving round America in.

What I'd forgotten was how stressful it is to drive abroad!

Actually, driving in America is relatively easy. The roads are long and straight. There are virtually no roundabouts, just junctions with lights. Compared to the UK, the roads are pretty quiet.

But, of course, things are still very different.

I was sitting in the "wrong" side of the car, I had to look right instead of left to see the rear mirror and the controls were on the "wrong" side.

I was driving on the "wrong" side of the road!

Traffic lights hang down from overhead instead of being mounted on poles.

You can turn right on a red light (sometimes) if there are no pedestrians crossing.

We covered 6 states in 2 weeks but the state I most remember was the state of anxiety.

The reason being, I spent the two weeks in a condition that is sometimes called "conscious competence". This is where you have to really concentrate on what you're doing all the time.

Suddenly, it was as if I was learning to drive again. I knew what to do but I had to focus and think about it. If I had to turn left from the highway into a side road, I just had to think about it for a second to make sure I was in the right place and turned into the right lane.

I found I was concentrating so much on watching where I was going that I forgot to look in the rear mirror. I felt slightly nervous taking my hand off the wheel to turn the radio on or glancing across to the satnav.

I wasn't sweating with panic or anything, I just wasn't ever completely relaxed about it.

And then, having driven over 1,000 miles across New England, I had an accident in a deserted car park where mine was the only vehicle there.

I was reversing into a parking space next to a wall and staring into the wing mirror to make sure I was far enough away from the wall beside me. I completely forgot to check in the rear mirror, where I would have noticed the air conditioning unit attached to the wall behind me getting closer and closer. The first I knew about it was when I heard an almighty crash and the sound of shattering glass.

What does my experience tell you about learning?

    Being in a state of "conscious competence", which is very common when you learn a new skill, is quite stressful. As a trainer, you should be aware that your learners may be feeling anxious during this phase of learning.
    Even when you have learned a skill to the extent that you can perform it routinely, changing the conditions in which you perform it can take you back to the learning stage. If you are teaching people skills, you may need to give them support to help them transfer those skills to new situations.
    Being in the "conscious competence" stage can make you prone to mistakes because your attention is so fixed on certain elements of the task that you can miss others. If you are supervising people who are trying to apply newly-learned skills (or to apply their skills to new situations), be prepared for them to make mistakes.

Auto Repairs Should Be Done by Professionals

Most people, at some point in time have car trouble. It is a reality that many people dread having to deal with. They don't just dread this circumstance because of the inconvenience it causes, but this feeling is also the result of their seemingly limited financial supply. The last thing they want to do is spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars at an auto mechanic shop. Therefore, they try to go at it alone.

After attempting to fix the problem using their limited amount of expertise, they soon find themselves in worse shape then when they started out. They end up messing things up and creating even more issues. Besides the fact that they don't have the necessary skills, the average person also doesn't have the right tools to conduct auto repairs. On the other hand, professionals have everything they need at their disposal. Anything that they don't have readily available, they usually have the ability to get it.

There are also those who wouldn't think to try to fix their vehicle on their own. Instead, they go around shopping for the best deal they can find. They don't care if they use a professional mechanic or not. In their eyes, they are saving money. Little do they know, they may actually be putting themselves in a greater financial bind. Just because something costs less, doesn't mean it's always the better deal.

What if someone were to bring their car to the unlicensed neighborhood mechanic? They bring their car home and for about a week it seems to be working perfectly. However, they soon find that the work was done improperly and their car no longer runs the way it's supposed to. Unlike a professional shop, the unlicensed mechanic didn't offer them a warranty. Therefore, they are just out of luck and their money has basically been thrown down the drain. So, they are forced to go somewhere else and spend even more money. If they would have gone to a professional in the first place, they could have actually saved money.

Auto repairs should be done by specialists because it gives the customer a better chance of getting the quality results that they desire. Auto services usually have high quality workers, with years of background knowledge and experience. They have a proven track record, which allows the potential customer to know that they will be in good hands.

Auto Body Shops and Custom Work

When you think of auto body shops, the first thing that pops into your mind is usually a place where you bring your car to after you an accident that needs some sort of collision or damage repair done; you might also think that an auto body shop is a place where you would bring your car to for some minor touch up work for various scratches or dents that have mysterious migrated onto your car. Thinking these things is by no stretch wrong but another thing that auto body shops perform is custom car modifications.

The realm of things that can fall into the category of custom automotive work are endless. Everything ranging from body kits to mufflers and even paint jobs can be perform by your local body shop providing they have the proper supplies and equipment for the job. As with all things, some auto body shops have a better reputation then others when it comes to do custom work. A good thing to keep in mind is the workload of the garage you are planning on visiting on any given time. If the body shop you are trying to use is full of customers, they might very well be able to do the work but the turn around time would be long. If the reputation of the shop is good enough then it is worth the wait and going through the hassle of making other plans while your car is being worked on.

After you have decided on the type of work you would like to have done to your car, you should specifically ask one of the auto body shops you have in mind if they can perform the job. If you have a fancy car that requires special tools of mechanical knowledge then it might be out of the realm of possibility for certain garages. It is also well worth it to research the auto body work shop you are planning on visiting in terms of any complaints filed against them before you bring your car in. The best way to do this is by looking on the Internet for reports filed against the shop you are interested in.

Before any custom work is done to your vehicle you should ask upfront for a clear cut estimate and to be telephoned if any extra work needs to be performed that is vital to the success of the original job request. If you have found a good garage, they would not do any extra work without your prior consent or agreement.