“Have Tools Will Travel”

MADISON – Should your means of transportation breakdown or need some type of repair, Bill Wingard is the man to call as he has the tools and will travel to you to correct the issues of your automobile. In other words, he’s a mechanic who makes house calls.

“I have 100-percent confidence I can make the repairs needed as I feel I give the customer a different side of the mechanic’s world for the transparency I offer,” said Wingard. “I want the customer to know they have not been lied to nor cheated. I show and explain to the customer everything I am doing.”

Wingard calls his service Axlesworks Mobile Service. To contact him, customers are asked to call him at 256-836-3553. He normally speaks with the customer to find out what’s going on with their automobile, loads up his necessary tools, plus additional tools for a potential tool needed. His coverage area includes all of Madison County and into the Athens area. He said he likes about a 30-mile radius.

“I found out it’s more economical to go mobile than to rent space for a garage,” said Wingard. “I transformed from the way people came to me, to me going to them.”

Wingard turns 37 this month and has five children, which includes three daughters and two sons, ages ranging 4-15. His two boys, ages 9 and 10, enjoy cars, the speed and what he does as a mechanic, which all started for Wingard when he was a mere boy growing up in Lacy’s Springs just south of Huntsville. He attended Brewer High School where he graduated early and became married and started the family he currently has. His real fascination for cars, engines and the pure excitement of a good automobile, began when he was eight years old as his Aunt had a boyfriend who was into cars.

“I visited several street races he was a part of and saw the exciting atmosphere that surrounded those race events,” said Wingard. “At the time, I was into dirt bikes as they were fun and recreational, but with the cars, I got locked into the mechanics of cars. Growing up, I bounced from car to car by having one, repair and/or fix up, and then get rid of those. I guess I’ve had 125 cars in my lifetime and I have cycled through cars and I usually do it as a project. Currently I don’t have a project, per say. This mechanics business keeps me busy.”

The traveling mechanic idea is very simple- customer contacts Wingard, they discuss the issues and schedule a time and place and he arrives on time and gets to the source of the issue very quickly. “I’m willing to buy the parts, but prefer taking the customer with me to buy them as I use my mechanics account and get the parts at a discount. The customer pays that amount only. I do not charge extra for parts. I want to make sure customers don’t get screwed over.”

His forte as a mechanic is certainly wide-ranging. He specializes in engines, but can handle almost any other part of the automobile. He has a special diagnostic computer he uses to help narrow down where issues are occurring. His tools are all battery power, so no electricity is needed. “Through my diagnostics analysis, I usually know what the real issues are and how to repair them,” added Wingard, who stays in top physical shape for his work as a mechanic by working out with weights and doing cardio five days a week.

Minor scrapes and bruises come along with the work of repairing cars, but at least twice more serious incidents occurred. He explained, “I was working underneath a car on the transmission when the old rusty pins that help hold the unit in place gave out and broke causing the transmission to fall directly on my forehead. I was knocked unconscious and somehow soon got myself from underneath the piece of the car. I suffered a concussion. Another incident occurred when a jack stand I was using to lift a car snapped in half and the car fell on top of me. My ex-wife was nearby and came to help lift the car, while I pushed up on the car just enough for me to crawl out from underneath. I suffered some bruised ribs from that incident.”

One bizarre moment he saw in his work as this traveling mechanic was when a customer said their car couldn’t brake properly. Wingard jumped right into checking the brakes and was amazed by what he saw. “There were no rotors in the back wheels as they had been totally destroyed. I was surprised they could even drive the car.”

Wingard’s life has included the last several years as a project manager and lead technician for a couple different companies including his current employer Tusco Incorporated where he’s the project manager over the business of perimeter security systems. Prior to that, he worked for State Systems, Inc. for eight years as lead technician and programmer of systems such as fire alarms and other programs.

His knowledge as a car mechanic is tip-top. His work is top-of-the-line and much of that enormous experience actually began when he was 13 years old. Wingard told of the time when he had an entire Honda Civic engine in his bedroom. He added, “My mom allowed me to take this engine, which was cleaned and free of oil, and put in my bedroom where I took it apart and put it back together hundreds of times. I learned the basics of an engine through that experience as a teen.”

His traveling mechanics equipment is always clean, up-to-date and easy for him to navigate. He makes house calls to perfection as he’s the man who will “have tools-will travel.”