Big Al's Jerk You Around Auto Repair

I grew up around cars. My uncles worked on them one way or another every weekend I can remember. My grandfather when I was 15 and about to recieve my learners permit, taught me how to change a tire. He told me that I shouldn't always count on the kindness of strangers or that someone would be close by to help. I'll never forget what my grandad and my uncles taught me about cars. More often than not I can identify what's wrong with a car by certain sounds, shimmies or shakes. Now while I never learned how to fix these things I've had enough cars in my life that have taught me more than most.

Before I left for Florida I had noticed that our Trooper had started to shimmy a little. A classic sign that the Tires were going bad. We have much larger tires than I am used to and upon inspection I didn't see any real damage going on. Which made me worry that it was something more serious.

Finally we took it into a local shop that thanks to many conversations with the owner we felt confident that he would fix her right up. It took this guy 5 days and $111 in labor before he told me that it was the front differential and that he didn't have the tools to fix it. He also had the balls to tell me that he tried to open the differential housing using inappropriate tools in the hopes he could fix it. So let me get this straight there are special tools for an Izuzu Trooper. You are the owner and the orderer of tools, why the hell couldn't you tell me when it rolled in. "I wish I could but I just don't have what I need to work on a foreign car" instead of waiting 5 mother effin days. So I do a little research and find a guy with some good reviews one town over. I get the Trooper towed and this guys calls to say hell no it's not the differential but.... wait for it. THE TIRES! I explain to him that I have a rental car and time is beacoup money he says he understands and that he has ordered the tires and it will be ready by "tommorrow after lunch" I go to bed thinking FINALLY we found a good one.

So it's now 2:35pm and I call and the guy that's been doing the work is out to lunch. I find out that my tires did not "come in on the truck" and that it will be FRIDAY before they can get the tires I need. Yeah, needless to say I'm a little upset, needless to say I'm ready to kick some greasy mechanic butt.

Sad thing is last night we were ready to go out of our way to give this guy more of our business. If he was a kosher as he seemed to be we were going to stick with him despite the would be hour commute to his location.

I want to believe there are good mechanics, guys who aren't about jacking up prices and leaving your car a little worse so you'll have to come back. Mechanics that really understand that you need to be back on the road as soon as possible. But in two days I've dealt with two nightmare mechanics. And the past two before that have been just as horrible. It seems to me that if they just realized that if they gave their customer reliable, efficent service we'd be back over and over. Why do they insist on squeezing every dime they can out of you? For some they have to sacrifice their cars because of enormous bills. (The reason you should run if you see an Auto Shop with tons of cars parked around it.)

It never ceases to amaze me, the fact that such sleazy practices continue to run rampant. That's why I hope to teach Stella more than I know about a car. To teach her how to change a tire. Perhaps she can then walk into a shop and say you need to fix this no if and's or butts. She will know all too well that 9 out of 10 mechanics are complete douches out to pull a fast one.