I just learned a $70 lesson, so I'm in the mood to talk about this right now.
What you DON'T want to see when you drive up and walk in:
-A sign for a chain auto repair place like Meineke or Jiffy Lube or even a dealership. You want to see a cheap, crappy looking sign that says something like "[Name] Autos."
-A linoleum floor and cushy chairs. Do you think they pay for that by saving you money?
-Cleanness. You want things to be a little old, a little messy, a little scuffed, you want the walls to have some scratches and the chairs to look and feel awful. You're not here to stay in the Hilton. You're here to get your freaking car fixed by a capable mechanic who spends his time on cars and not on online shopping for office furniture.
-Generally speaking, you don't want to see an asphalt lot. Two of the three really good, trustworthy mechanics I've been to have largely dirt/gravel lots, and the third one is a gas station, so it's excluded from this criterion.
-Mechanics talking to a secretary who then talks to you. Pardon me sir, but if you're gonna get all up in the hood of my car, you'd best be willing to speak to me. I don't want to have to ask to talk to the mechanic; that needs to be a given, and if it's not, I don't go to that place again.
What you DO want to see/hear:
-The old mechanic. This guy owns the place. From my experience, he will have a southern accent and he will be very friendly and seem very concerned for your welfare. He will obviously know much more about your car than you do, but he will speak to you as if you are a thinking human being who doesn't assume the inside of the car is a black box. In fact, all of the mechanics will do this. The old mechanic will tell you that you have some scalloping on your back wheels that's causing your car to shake at 60 MPH, he will explain what the hell that means, and by golly he will kneel with you down on the ground and show you on the tire where that scalloping is. The old mechanic will maybe offer you coffee or food, or if his dogs are a few yards away behind a fence behind his shop, ask you if you'd like to go see them and give you walking directions so you don't get confused. If you are in the middle of a drive to South Carolina and your transmission goes out, he will keep the shop open past closing to see if he and his folks can't fix you up properly since you have to leave (and because of this, he will earn oil change business from you for the rest of your time in the area). If you need to get your car there early before work, he will let you know exactly when he's going to be in the shop after dropping his granddaughter off at school, and if you need a service his shop doesn't do he will refer you to someone who can, and someone who will be as excellent as he is. He is a good guy and you will learn that after a couple times doing business with him.
-The other mechanics. It doesn't matter if they have long beards, weird hair, or tattoos. They all work under the old mechanic, who is a gentle but firm leader, and they all do their work because they want to get old like he has--owning a respectable store of his own and kindly guiding younger tattooed people. The mechanic who is working on your car will be willing to answer even the stupidest questions, re-explain things, and will not laugh at you. He will quietly suggest optional cleanings or replacements, and if you express that money is a constraining factor, he will tell you those things aren't anything to worry about.
-Along those same lines, if you have an old car like mine, other random things will be wrong with it than what you came in for. You want to hear, this belt is a little worn, or that filter could probably use replacing, or a fuel system clean would improve gas mileage and it really doesn't look like it's ever been done--but you also, for these things, want to hear something like, "But that's not something you have to do right now. Your car will get you from point A to point B without this repair." Because the fact is, for the most part, your car will get you around, and trustworthy people will assure you of this. Some low-class auto repair shops are manned by petty thieves who tell you that if you don't change your windshield wipers RIGHT NOW your engine will fall apart.
-You want to see a small or dirty lobby. My favorite mechanic has no lobby. He has car seats (full size, removed from a vehicle) sitting on the floor of his shop at the back side of it, and you can sit there and hang out while he or one of his younger mechanics does the work. In fact, if you chance a look out the back door of the garage (which is all the building actually is other than the small office where they have a computer for estimates), you see a gigantic junkyard with all manner of old cars and old car parts just hanging out (on dirt, not asphalt, of course). These mechanics are focused on one thing--fixing my car--and that's the way I like it. Also, because there's not anyone behind the desk other than the mechanics themselves when they need to use the computer or print an invoice, you are always gonna be talking to your mechanic about anything related to your car. If a hose has busted, you get shown where. If your AC compressor clutch isn't working, your mechanic will shine a light at it under the hood and you will pretend to see what he is talking about.
-Ideally there will be at least one dog. The favorite mechanic that I mentioned earlier has two big, lazy, oil and dust covered dogs, and while you're sitting in the car seats, they come and sit beside you and you pet them. And by the end of the time you've been petting them, your hand has turned black.
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I guess in summary what I'm emphasizing is that you have to be talking to the mechanics, and they can't be shady people. Also, my $70 lesson today--if you call a shop for a quote, and they tell you to come on in and they'll look at it for free, that doesn't mean that if you don't like their quote after they look at it that they will let you drive away for free. It's free if the repair is done in their store. I am a complete idiot. I went to this shop, and I should have expected confusion, I should have expected a misunderstanding, because I didn't speak to the mechanic myself. In fact, and this blew me away, the mechanic stood talking to another mechanic about what he was going to do with my car ("And with 181000 miles on it...I think I'll probably replace the wires too since that'll be the next thing to go out"), right in front of me, without even trying to see if I was the Altima owner and without caring whether the owner of the Altima knew about the wire decision. When I asked to speak with him (since I was planning on driving away to my favorite mechanic, 20 miles or so away), I asked if it would make the distance, and he said, "Honestly, it'll getcha where you wanna go, but if it's been like this for a while... [breath/sigh] A misfire causes raw fuel to go out the exhaust, and it can ruin your catalytic converter, and then your repair bill is gonna be $1000 instead of a couple hundred." OH MY GOD THE SKY IS FALLING. I have driven this car for 30,000 miles with it twitching a little in first gear, and 20 miles more is going to destroy my catalytic converter? No thanks, you're shady, I'm leaving. (And that'll be $40.) What?
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