Let’s face it. A car is a series of broken components and irritating repairs waiting to happen. It’s just the nature of a complex machine. But it’s always nice when a repair goes the right way and saves an owner money. Like this Chevrolet Suburban, and the used part fix that a mechanic used to save the owner a little cash. 

A customer brought in his Chevrolet Suburban with a seemingly harmless problem that could turn into a big ol’ headache

A driver brought his 2008 Chevrolet Suburban into Royalty Auto Service in Southeast Georgia. No, not for a routine service or an odd noise. This was for a misbehaving sunroof of all things. 

“One corner of his sunroof was stuck up and wouldn’t go down.” In response, a Chevrolet dealership told the customer that the SUV needed a replacement sunroof. So, he took it to the mechanics at Royalty Auto Service for the repair.

They managed to close the sunroof and make it watertight. However, this wasn’t enough for the Suburban’s owner. 

Even with a fix in place, the customer wanted a fully functional sunroof. As such, they wanted a replacement. “That’s something we don’t normally do here,” the tenured mechanic said. “If he uses it,” he sympathised with the desire to keep the sunroof working. “I use mine! All the time.”

“The reason we don’t often do it is because, a lot of times, the whole headliner has to come down,” he said, gesturing into the vehicle. Sure enough, the entire headliner sat about halfway down the pillars, revealing the ecosystem between the liner and the roof paneling.

Not a fix this mechanic often takes on at Royalty Auto Service

“A lot of times, the headliners aren’t in great shape. The heat down here really does a number on them. No kidding. Royalty Auto Service is located in Georgia near the Florida border. Average summertime temperatures hover around 90 degrees Fahrenheit but routinely shoot above that point, per Weather Spark.

Fortunately for the crew, that wasn’t the case for this headliner. “This one is in decent shape,” he said of the overhead structure. Fortunately for the viewers, the maneuver gave a rare glimpse into the structures above a headliner with a sunroof structure.

The mechanic shows off the sunroof drains, wiring, and even the airbags that would normally be concealed by a healthy headliner. Then there’s the sunroof itself.

This isn’t just a glass panel. Far from it. “There’s the sunroof,” he said, handling a large, heavy tracked assembly with a glass panel.

A fix that saved money

“We got a used one for him.” The pre-loved sunroof awaited installation on a folding workbench. Despite its used part status, you couldn’t tell that the sunroof had already resided in another vehicle.

The team swapped over the interior sunroof cover to match the Suburban’s cockpit color palette. After that, the replacement unit looked like a healthy transplant for the defective outgoing assembly.

“It’s going to save him a lot of money,” the camera holder said to the mechanic. “Oh yeah,” he replied. 

Use it or lose it

The mechanic explained how he loves his sunroof, and that keeps it in working order. “I use the sunroof to help get the [hot] air out of it. Pretty much daily.” Again, that Florida-Georgia border can get spicy.

“But if you don’t use it very often, and then you use it, it could be stuck.” Like a sports car or high-strung motorcycle, your sunroof doesn’t love inactivity. He pointed out that several components aren’t made of metal and are susceptible to decay and defects. 

MotorBiscuit reached out to @royaltyautoservice for comment via a TikTok comment. We’ll update this article as we learn more.