Pudukadai · Kaliyakkavilai
The Pudukadai workshop, and the man who runs it
A specialist auto-electrical family: batteries, wiring and vehicle electronics — nothing else, since 2010.
Call now:097882 19836The story
The Pudukadai workshop opened in 2010 on the Puthukkadai to Nithiravilai Road, and C. John Kennedy has run it as his own business ever since — his own shop, his own team, his own books, under the name his brother's workshop at Kallukatti also carries. Two brothers, two workshops, one trade, and the same rule in both: test first, say plainly what is wrong, fix what is actually broken.
The trade here never widened either. No engine work, no bodywork, no tyres, no painting — batteries and vehicle electrical systems, and nothing else. A shop that does only electrical work meets every kind of electrical fault, every day, which is the whole reason a driver with a starting fault is better off here than at a garage that does a bit of everything.
C. John Kennedy
Proprietor, Pudukadai branch
25 years in auto electrical
C. John Kennedy has spent 25 years in auto electrical — all-round work, which in this trade means the fault arrives without a label on it. Batteries that will not hold, alternators that stopped charging, self-starters that click and do nothing, wiring that has been repaired badly once already. Around Pudukadai the shop is best known for Alternator repair.
What he does not do here, he says so and sends on. Board-level ECU repair, key and immobiliser programming and SRS work go to the Kallukatti bench, which is his brother's side of the trade and equipment no second workshop needs to duplicate. You are told that at the counter, before anything is opened.
The bench behind both workshops
There is one diagnostic bench across the two workshops and it sits at Kallukatti — full-system scanning on every make rather than generic-port only, ECU programming on the bench and through the boot process, and key cutting and programming. Vehicles from Pudukadai that need it go there, and the equipment is named on this page for the same reason it is named on the other one: anyone in the trade knows exactly what the list means, and anyone about to spend money deserves the chance to check it.
- LAUNCH X431 PRO Elite
- Autel MaxiIM IM608 II
- OBDSTAR DC706
- PCMTuner
The Kaliyakkavilai branch
The Kallukatti workshop, at Kaliyakkavilai, is run by Albert Xavier as a separately owned business under the same name. It is the older of the two shops and it carries the deep-electronics bench — ECU repair, keys and immobilisers, SRS — for both. His own page carries his story.
How we work
The battery test is free, and it happens before any talk of money. Every job leaves with a printed GST bill. Every battery leaves with a written warranty card, filled in at the counter.
The limit is said out loud. Work this bench cannot do is named as such and routed to Kallukatti, and damage that means replacement rather than repair is called replacement before you spend, not after. A workshop that claims to fix everything is making a different kind of claim.
- Payment
- Cash, UPI
- Languages
- Tamil, Malayalam, some English
The team
Both workshops train their technicians in-house, on the vehicles this district actually drives — autos and hatchbacks, lorries and tractors, and the vintage machines still working these roads. Two shops, two teams, two payrolls.
- Pudukadai
- 8 including the proprietor
- Kaliyakkavilai
- 12 including the proprietor
Qualifications
- Diploma in Automobile Engineering
- ITI certification
- Bosch training and certification
Common questions
Is this the same business as the Kallukatti workshop?
Same family, same name, same trade — two separate businesses. This shop is owned and run by C. John Kennedy; the Kallukatti workshop is his brother's, with its own GST and its own team. What the two share is the name, the standards and one diagnostic bench, which is why a Pudukadai job that needs ECU or key work goes there rather than being attempted twice.
My car will not start. Do I bring it in, or call first?
Call first. A starting fault is usually the battery, the alternator or the self, and a few questions over the phone — what the lights do, what the self does, whether it started this morning — usually narrow it before the vehicle moves. If it is a battery, you may not need to move it at all.
Are you the cheapest?
Usually not the most expensive, and never the cheapest. What the money buys instead is the test before the bill: the battery test costs nothing, the diagnosis names the actual fault, and you never pay for the wrong repair — which is where the real money in this trade is lost.