<VV> "pay someone who has the skills ... "

[Charles Lee]

While I do not look for the highest price, I look for someone who knows what they are doing, or are recommended by someone responsible.

Most of the early problems were with my father who was "happy" with his mechanic (as I found out later) even if he screwed the car up, because he felt honored that they would deign to work on his car (my father was Chief Inspector at Grumman Aerospace in Bethpage, NY.  Apparently he had a disdain for anything that was stuck to the ground, but how was I to know ?

The last ones were recommended by NAPA from a phone call, admittedly not the best, but Ford (40 miles from home) was trying to sell me a timing belt ($700) just to diagnose the car !  The guy who did the timing belt and head gasket, initially correctly diagnosed that problem as the cam sensor.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but throwing money at a problem only solves his problems, and not necessarily your own.

I usually did all my own work, but when I started teaching, I didn't have time, and needed my car, so I paid him to do what he does, while I got paid to do what I do.

OBD caught me off guard because I didn't know it (know more now and my 96 Probe is now an 'academic exercise'), and could not really assess if these knew what they said, and they could tell I didn't know, so they did what any Darwinian animal would do, and took advantage of the situation.

So far, two of three law suits have been won, and the third is in the bag although getting the money will be another learning experience, but the subpoenas are being served on banks, DMV, town licensing, SS and IRS as we speak.

They are now shop managers now (for obvious reasons) and cannot hide their income, so we'll see what happens now.

Did I mention my girlfriend who had a her voltage regulator replaced, and when that didn't fix the problem, Gosch Nissan replaced about $1400 worth of parts and wiring before I discovered that they replaced the regulator with the wrong one, which fixed the problem ?

Or my other friend's Mercedes mechanic who wanted to overhaul my Corvair camshafts(s !) to fix an intermittent stalling problem that turned out to be a loose distributor wire ?

There are more ...

Is it because I'm looking for the cheapest price ?  It doesn't seem to matter ...

Yeah, I'm a little testy, especially now that I found a wealth of experts whom I'd be glad to pay for the wealth of knowledge on this site !

OK, I'm finished now ...
Charlie



-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Lee <Chaz at ProperProper.com>
To: Chris & Bill Strickland <lechevrier at earthlink.net>
Cc: virtualvairs at corvair.org 

Sounds like you are shopping for the cheapest price. Most shops that have qualified people take pride in their work and guarantee it. Also they hand torque their wheels. I know because I've been the business for 40 years.