Auto mechanics in a low budget shop in Vietnam

One thing that I have noticed from living in South East Asia for a little while is how much cheaper things are just in a general sense as far as services are concerned. Goods like cars and computers and what not are about the same price here as they are in USA, but when you start looking at other things such as clothes, drink, food, and even dining out, the cost in Vietnam is significantly lower than in the United States and I presume most of the western world.

Nowhere is this more evident than when you start talking about services such as getting said car, computer, mobile phone or whatever, repaired. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that there are generally less regulations, taxes, and also expectations of wages among the Vietnamese people. I have had a car over here once and was just amazed at how little getting car repairs, especially routine maintenance is.

I recently noticed that a building was being torn down, presumably to build another cement high-rise of sorts (get ready for a year's worth of noise!) in my neighborhood and I walked on the property after they cleared it because I noticed something odd in the background.

I would imagine that most people have been in an auto-repair shop of some sort in the west and been exposed to those massive (and likely very expensive) hydraulic lifts they have in the center of their perfectly clean service department. Well, this place didn't have that at all.

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This was just how it was in all the service centers that I ever went to when I lived in the west and well, this might be a big part of the reason why the repairs were 10 times as expensive. While there is no doubt in my mind that the workers probably have much better job satisfaction rates in their temperature controlled environments there is no denying that a hydraulic lift is probably gonna cost a bunch of money.

Vietnam (and other surrounding countries) do, in fact have the types of service centers in the middle image but if you are on a budget, you are probably looking for the place that dug a hole in the ground and made a ditch under it or the mechanic to walk under your car and do the work that way. If you think about it, this, in most situations would accomplish the same thing, especially if we are talking about something as simplistic as an oil change. Most of the important bits on a car are down the center anyway so this seems to be a fantastic economic option for mechanics that want to open a low-cost garage.

I should also point out some of the only decent spray graffiti that I have seen in the city and this specifically is a shoutout to @jack.russelle . This guy (or girl, or group) have pieces all over the city and is probably the only non-crap that exists here as far as I can tell.

At least I presume it is the same guy because there are pots of noodles all over the place. I'll have to remember to get photos of all of them so we can compare and contrast.

Do you live in a place where this sort of low cost ingenuity takes place?

I know that for me, if i can pay 1/4 the price for a less-than-perfect looking service center for having the same job done, I will gladly forego the perfectly sanitized interior. Hell, you can even have a dirt floor for all i care.