re: Why is it so hard to find honest/fair mechanics?

I degreed at Universal Technical Institute in Spring for grins a few years back

The mechanic culture is terrible.

Cigarettes are their culture

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Doing stuff like that is the good side of mechanic work I remember as a kid. That and my dad throwing wrenches at me lol

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My dad was a great mechanic. He was trained on aircraft engines, but he could fix pretty much any kind of engine.

He was also a tool designer for American Airlines. If he didn't have the right tool, he would make one. He came up with some of the craziest contraptions, but they all worked great.

When I was around 10, he would always have me help him because he was losing flexibility as he got older. Of course I had a bad attitude about having to do it, but I learned a hell of a lot.

When he passed in 2003, I got all of his tools. Those have come in handy more than just a few times.

I don't have the skill that he did, but I sure am glad he taught me as much as I was willing to learn at the time.

Of course, he never had to work with the computerized stuff. But I'm an electrical engineer and have done IT work for 40 years, so that part does not scare me. Between what my dad taught me, what I find on YouTube, and my IT background, I can fix most of the problems my vehicles have.

I've saved a lot of money over the years.

My dad was a mechanic in the early 90's for an oilfield company. He made pretty good money but would do side jobs on the weekend for extra cash. I remember his hourly rate was $25/hr and he was helping this lady out on a job that took him about 5 hours to complete. I specifically remember the part itself was $109(his cost) and her total would have been around $230 or so but felt bad so knocked off 2 hours so her total was $180 ish.

This lady about had a damn meltdown. Someone had said that my dad was fair and honest but she took it as paying basically nothing. She complained until no end and my dad told her to just pay for the part and be on her way. She even complained about the part cost and my dad had to show her that's what he paid for it.

She paid $109, not a penny more and my dad told my mom that night that he was done doing side work. Besides helping us out on our vehicles, he never helped anyone out again.

Doing that work is a pain in the arse. Technically skilled people are in high demand and can make a lot more money in other industries. These people have no interest to crawl around on their hands and knees to find you a cheap repair. Cars these days are not friendly to work on because they want you to take them to the dealers. Honestly, if you think it's too expensive to get your car fixed, you're better off just buying or leasing a reasonably priced new car and changing it out every 3-5 years. It's not worth the headache to get a nicer older car that needs maintenance.

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Was having some brake work done and asked to do an oil change while it was in the shop... Freakin $90 for an oil change..

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This seems like a lot, but if you think about it, the oil and filter cost about $40-$45 so they charged you about 1/2 hour labor to change your oil. That is not really unreasonable.

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She paid $109, not a penny more and my dad told my mom that night that he was done doing side work. Besides helping us out on our vehicles, he never helped anyone out again.

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That's exactly why I've stopped helping so many people. People get awful about mechanic work even if your doing the work for free.

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Freakin $90 for an oil change..

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my truck holds 8 quarts. At $8 a quart for synthetic, you're already at $65. My dealer charges $89 and I'm fine paying that and not having to deal with the mess of cleaning up and disposing of 2 gallons of oil

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Why is it so hard to find honest/fair mechanics?

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First off, there are hardly any actual mechanics who can work on an automobile these days. Absolutely everything in the newer models are electronic. From the injectors to the transmission. The guys in the service department are "technicians" now. So, if your vehicle has an actual mechanical problem, most of them are at a loss for how to repair it. Hell, they can't even diagnose the issue with the OBD to tell them what's going on - and even then they have difficulty.

I have a truck I'm picking up from the shop this afternoon that has been in to have the P-0345 and P-0349 codes (cam shaft sensors) taken care of. It's either sensors that need replaced or a wiring harness/lead frame that needs replaced, but they're unable to figure it out. (I have my suspicions as to whether they've even tried to be honest.)

The ineptitude of service department employees at dealerships is at a greater level than has ever been attained before.

Anyway, I think the issue is that fair and honest mechanics are rare because there are no actual mechanics anymore and those who service our vehicles are frequently incompetent at anything requiring more skill than is required to provide an oil change.