The one thing about car culture that saddens me most is the realization that, to many people, cars represent not freedom or joy or fascination, but pain. I’ve met far too many people for whom cars are a genuine burden; something breaks, they take it in to a shop, and some greasy person across the counter hands them an exorbitant bill that they have no choice but to pay. It’s a feeling of helplessness, and it has ruined cars for many, many people. It’s for this reason that good, trustworthy mechanics are so important to me, for in some ways, they hold the keys to car culture. They can make it or break it.
I remember seeing this when I was growing up; my family was on a road trip from our house in Leavenworth, KS to a campsite in Colorado Springs, and somewhere around Hays, Kansas — basically the middle of nowhere — the thing left us stranded. All eight of us stood there on the side of I-70 waiting for AAA, who towed us into town.
There, a mechanic charged my dad $1000 for the fuel pump job; given that that was about 2006, that’s equivalent to $1600 in today’s money! And that had to come out of the pocket of a Lieutenant Colonel who was the only breadwinner in a family of eight. My dad did a good job of making it seem like it wasn’t a huge deal, as the camping trip was absolutely epic, but that’s a lot of scratch!
But my dad couldn’t turn a wrench to save his life. An incredibly resourceful and smart army officer? Sure. But a mechanic he was not. In fact, I’d venture so far as to say my mom — who was usually the one taking our cars to the shop — was maybe the better mechanic of the two. But neither of them were in a position to push back on that $1000 bill. And that sucks.
So many people experience that feeling of helplessness and dread when their car breaks down; it’s something I’ve never felt before because I have the most trustworthy mechanic of them all: myself. But some folks avoid that terrible feeling without having to do the dirty work, because they have “a guy” (so to speak). They’ve got a trustworthy shop that will walk them through what broke and what needs to be done to fix it.
Do you have a trustworthy mechanic? How did you find them, and what is it that they do to make you feel that they’re trustworthy?
Top graphic image: depositphotos.com
I drove a hand me down Saab 9-3 from my father and one day in the car park found it with a business card for a Saab mechanic stuck under the windscreen wiper. The mechanic’s assistant had a pile of them that he just dropped on every Saab he saw in Belfast.
Fortunate because the car started getting doddery in old age and the guy got it sorted every time until rust finally got to it.
Back when I had a Peugeot 504, there was only one shop in the area that would work on them. So that narrowed things down.
It was a mom-and-pop shop run by a couple from France. It was always amusing to listen to them slide back and forth between English and French.
I have never used one beyond tyre fitting and alignment. (I was a qualified mechanic myself) I do all my work myself and always have. My cars are 31, 35 and 52 years old, It would be expensive to pay somebody else to maintain them.
So I do everything from the welding, bodywork and paintwork to engine/gearbox rebuilds and interiors… It’s just a hobby these days though.
I became the trustworthy mechanic myself.
When you daily drive a 30-year-old BMW, that’s the only way to make it work financially.
At the moment, I’m lucky. I have two I can go to, one is a member of the local SCCA community with his own shop and lifts, and Lemons/Champ experience. He can do about anything except alignments.
The other was recommended by my GF. She knows his parents, and the parents of the guy he shares a shop with that does detailing. Both stand-up kids (I use the term kids as a 58 year old) & so far quality work.
I do my own simple stuff when I can, but vertigo has knocked out a lot of stuff. I do have a few horror stories from years past.