Caring Batesville folks turn car breakdown into ‘pleasant experience,’ traveler writes

The caring folks of your town made a car breakdown into a pleasant experience. 

Early on the afternoon of Monday, May 5, my brother and I were returning to Kansas City after driving to New Orleans for Jazz Fest. On I-55 about 15 miles south of Batesville the radiator of my high-mileage Honda Civic cracked and the engine temperature red-lined. Where were we forced to stop there was a crew mowing the interstate. We got our first break when one of the crew leaders kindly assisted us by helping to diagnose our radiator problem and suggesting places nearby where we might have it repaired.

We avoided needing to have the car towed by watering the radiator in stages until we could reach Batesville. Our next break was finding help at the service department at the Pride Hyundai dealership. A service manager there named Richard made us feel that our problem getting home was now his problem, and that he would do everything he could to help us. Despite our arrival after 3 p.m., he immediately arranged for a new radiator to be sent from Memphis so the part could arrive before his shop closed that day, and for his mechanic to start removing the cracked radiator. He told us that we should be on our way again before lunch the next day.

We got our next break when we conveniently rented a car at a very good rate at a Hertz rental agency that had recently opened at the Hyundai dealership. We also found reasonably priced lodging at the Econo Lodge. The weather was beautiful, and we spent a lovely late afternoon and evening rambling around your town and Oxford.

Next morning we returned to the Hyundai shop shortly after nine, bearing donuts for the service department. By that early hour, the mechanic had already replaced the radiator and the car was being test-driven. After paying charges totaling only $315 for the complete repairs, we hit the road before 10 a.m., before Richard had promised the car would be ready. The car ran beautifully, and we got home before seven that evening. 

At work the next day I was surprised to get a phone call from Richard. I told him we had arrived safely home and was glad to be able to thank him again for all his folks had done for us. We could have been stranded for several days; instead we got home after only one day’s delay, with memories of how well we were cared for in