from The News-Enterprise

When it comes to a vehicle purchase, it is a significant investment for owners.

On Saturday, a clinic geared to women taught them how to care for and maintain their investment as they participated in a free Car Care Clinic at Swope Mitsubishi in Radcliff.

Organizer Michelle Mitchell said she was inspired to hold the clinic in which six women took part by “a lot of flat tires.”

“With the ice cream parlor I was on the highway and a tire blew on my way back and it was getting late,” Mitchell said. “I was already nervous and scared because I had changed tires on a regular car before but on a trailer it was kind of scary.”

Mitchell had to talk herself through the steps of changing the tire to get through the stressful situation.

After the experience, she shared about it on her Facebook page and had several women mention they wish they shared her knowledge. After doing it again for her son’s car, sharing it and getting the same response, she thought a partnership with Swope could be the key to spreading knowledge.

“They’re always involved in the community and unbeknownst to me, (Carl Swope) talked about the program he had already a long time ago,” Mitchell said. “I get very excited seeing all ages doing this. I know I feel empowered, because I thought I knew a lot of things but I still learned stuff today off of this.”

In the 1960s, Swope said his father, Bill Swope, participated in a Chrysler Corp. program teaching women what to do if their car broke down.

“The world has changed considerably since then,” Swope said, adding he now employs technicians who are women. “(The class) was really all about you understanding what we’re talking about here: What happens if you get a flat tire? How do you change a flat tire? What do you need to check on your vehicle from time to time if you haven’t been to the dealership such as fluids?”

The program was a mainstay during the time, but eventually discontinued.

“Honestly, I think a reason it has fallen by the wayside is cars are a lot better today than they were back in the ’60s,” Swope said. “In the ’60s they broke down a lot and it was important to know maybe why the car broke down. We didn’t have cell phones.”

The clinic was what Swope said could be a rebirth of the teaching outreach to the community.

“What’s more important today is our cars have gotten so sophisticated, they’re really computers on wheels,” Swope said. “In today’s car environment, when we deliver a car, all the customer really wants to do is go home and enjoy their car. They don’t want to sit around for three hours and learn what every little thing does. So the best thing that we do is this kind of a program, not exactly this, but we do what’s called the second delivery.”

After the customer has the car for a week or two, Swope says they come back to learn more about it and its maintenance, much like the women were learning to do Saturday as well as learning what to do in a roadside emergency.

“This is similar to that,” Swope said. “It’s learning things about the car might be a mystery to you at this point, but also what’s the best way to maintain your purchase because these things are not inexpensive.”

It was an opportunity Andrea Powell said she didn’t want to miss.

“It’s geared towards ladies and anytime you want to teach a lady about cars, I’m all about it,” Powell said. “I drive for my job, so I need to know what’s happening and what’s going on and feel confident when I’m in my vehicle.”

Powell said she learned so much that if she revealed all of what she learned, she was afraid her husband wouldn’t assist her with her maintenance any longer.

“I feel confident I can at least change the tire, not a quick as my young friend here,” Powell said with a laugh pointing to another participant. “I feel like I know how to do some things and how to check things to make sure my car is in good condition.

“Before I do the road trip, now I know what I need to check, too,” Powell added. “Make sure I have the spare and jack, make sure my tires are good and fluids are good to prevent the breakdown on the highway, so that’s even given me preventative measures to take.”

Mitchell also hopes the knowledge the women learned will be shared.

“They’ll be able to take this and educate their family members and friends and let them see it’s really not that hard,” Mitchell said. “It allows them to take pride in what they have and what they invested in their vehicle, which is a very important purchase. If we have a guy in our life, most of the time those breakdowns occur at the most inconvenient times, when you’re two hours away and it’s super late at night.”

Mitchell’s biggest takeaway from the session was learning more about routine maintenance and how it can prolong the life of your car or its components, such as the tires. She also enjoyed watching the other women have those “lightbulb moments.”

“(I’ve enjoyed) everyone having a comment saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that,’ and the ‘that’s why,’ ” Mitchell said.

Powell said if another class is taught, she’s ready to participate.

After watching the women learn from the experience, Mitchell said she could see it becoming more.

“I needed to see if there was even interest and there was, but hopefully this can grow,” Mitchell said, as she expressed appreciation for Swope and the dealership’s service department staff, Service Manager Clyde Mizell and technician Michael Elliott, who helped teach the clinic. “I think we can build on this.”