LAUREL, Md. — The minute you walk into A. Anthony's Mobile Vehicle Service in Laurel, you'll find they are not messing around when it comes to the coronavirus.
A table with hand sanitizer and gloves welcomes customers into the business, where they are strongly encouraged to use the supplies, while staying behind a red line, which is six feet away from their desk to assure social distancing. Also, no more than 10 people are allowed inside of the business at one time.
These are safety precautions to protect customers and employees from potentially getting the coronavirus.
"Fixing cars is what we do...but taking care of people that’s who we are," said GM Genette DonBullian, who said that's a motto the business lives by.
At the shop, each mechanic always wears gloves, works at least six feet apart and wipes down everything they touch.
The precautions even go a step further. In an effort to alleviate any customers' fears about getting their car fixed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the shop has put a new twist on the meaning of curbside pickup.
“We will pickup your vehicle. We sanitize it. We will bring it to the shop. We will repair it, perform the maintenance and we will wipe it down upon return," she said.
It's a no contact option for customers. DonBullian says they don't even have to leave the comfort of their home to get repairs done to their car.
“It brings joy to my heart to make sure people are taken care of," DonBullian said.
She says they also don't have to come into the shop to pay. They can do that via text message and pickup their keys--which were cleaned--at a locker outside of the business.
“Customers don’t have to step foot in the facility if they don’t want to," she said.
While we all try and navigate the coronavirus outbreak, DonBullian says they will continue living out their motto and taking care of people.
“I want my clients to be protected so I’m doing my part to protect them from the cars and the people we come in contact with," she said.
DonBullians also says A. Anthony’s has been losing business because of the coronavirus, but they decided to stay open because if the people who still have to go to work have car troubles, the shop will be there when they need them.
