With more than 30 years of experience in the engineering community, Jeffrey Case launched Good Karma Garage in 2021 to assist financially struggling neighbors with assistance with car repairs to ensure they have a safe vehicle with which to earn a living.
Vehicle ownership in Pennsylvania is very expensive due to the annual inspection and hits those struggling economically harder than others, often leading to decisions of which safety repairs the owner can afford. Recognizing this, Good Karma Garage uses volunteer mechanics to provide no-cost vehicle repair to bring the recipient’s vehicle into compliance with Pennsylvania standards.
To identify candidates for its services, Good Karma Garage has teamed with local Harrisburg churches, social services agencies and veteran organizations. These groups know their people, which greatly reduces the effort needed to financially vet recipients.
The initial idea of providing no-cost repair was onerous and required a multi-step process for the recipients. Because Good Karma couldn’t provide the inspection, it would do the work on the car, and then recipients needed to take another day to get the inspection done.
Thanks to a partnership with Sonny’s Auto Service Center and other major chain service centers, Good Karma receives assistance with performing safety inspections, as well as access to reduced auto parts and services. As a result, Good Karma can get the repair work and the inspection done all at once, increasing the number of recipients it can serve.
“Our services genuinely change people’s lives,” said Case, who serves as President of Good Karma Garage. “Several of our clients were faced with large repair bills to get their cars through inspection. Instead of foregoing the repairs and driving unsafely and illegally, our services got them back on the road.”
Since its launch, Good Karma Garage has helped 14 clients, purchased $4,000 worth of parts and provided close to $6,000 in free labor.
