What Are The Signs Of A Good Mechanic?

Image: Standret (Shutterstock)

My family has had the same mechanic for what must be 20 years now. He’s less a mechanic and more family at this point. He’s always completely honest and accommodating, and has saved us thousands of dollars over the years by getting our cars back on the road in a timely and affordable manner, no matter what the repair is.

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He’s fixed things that could have turned into something way more dangerous, like when my mom’s Ford Taurus had a leaking fuel line. Recently he did me a solid by replacing my car’s CV axle, which was a fix the dealer said would cost almost $2,000 — he did it for $800. Once when I was younger, he even fixed my cars broken head- and taillights and wouldn’t let me pay for it. After insisting that I had to pay him something, he finally said I could buy him a Coke. That’s one of the signs of a great mechanic: someone that’s honest and not really in it to screw people over for money, a person who genuinely wants to help people and get them back on the road.

Another way to tell that you have a great mechanic on your hands? The car they drive. The perfect mechanic can be a real gearhead or enthusiast, as our resident car-buying expert Tom McParland recently discovered. After taking his car in for service, he noticed his mechanic owns and regularly drives an E60 BMW M5.

Now we ask you, Jalopnik readers. How do you know when you have a good mechanic on your hands? Don’t be afraid to shout out your mechanic if they’re great. We talk so much about bad ones, it’s time to celebrate the good guys.