I No Longer Use Shade Tree Mechanics

That's right. My days of using and discarding, finding another good shade tree mechanic are done.
In my experience you save maybe 20 to 30% (in the beginning).
But then they either get lazy and start making half ass repairs, or they get popular and hire someone who does half ass work. 
On several issues they would throw parts at it until it was fixed, costing me more.
Another issue is they would use cheap Chinese parts that would fail soon after.
Even parts I myself got from AutoZone or other parts stores were cheaply made and I would find
myself redoing the fix when that part failed.

My new modus operandi is to use the Dealership Auto repair facility with OEM parts.
I used to laugh or think people who used Dealership auto repair places were gullible or
just not mechanically proficient enough to know how to find a good mechanic.
I would feel smug thinking I knew better and knew enough about cars that I can save bucket loads of money. 

But I think I was the wrong one after all.
You see, Dealership mechanics are highly trained on that make of vehicle.
They charge more money to cover those trained mechanics, to not take shortcuts, and to use OEM parts.
The advantage of this is they will not fix things by throwing parts on it until it works.
They will either have been trained on the problem, seen it before, or have access to technical notes on certain problems.
The parts will cost more but last longer and work better.
Their reputation is paramount as they have to keep good ratings and will do what it takes to fix your problem.

So although it costs more to use a dealership auto repair shop, it saves you headaches from
finding, vetting mechanics, having issues unrepaired, and problems from showing up later.
This is what I'm hoping for in the long run.
My first repair was replacing valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, wires and an oil filter change.
It cost me about $700 for all this. I have a 2003 Toyota Tundra. If I used a shade tree mechanic I maybe could have saved $200 or $300 bucks.  My bet is in the long run that savings would have cost me more.

I would like to hear from other people who have made the switch for longer and get their experience on this.

Leave a comment.

Thanks