Well Tan Man, you somehow fail to understand that my original post, the one you find so offensive. I was simply to make the point that for certain repairs it's better to let a pro buy the parts and do the repair.

My additional point was to point out that shops depend on parts markup for a significant part of their Gross Margin. You want to argue with the restaurant analogy by bringing up BYOB and corkage. Why argue this point? Shops set their own rules. The advice, I know you hate advice, would logically be to ask your shop what their policy is , before you run out and buy parts.

You think it's my posts are not helpful because they don't provide a specific answer, or even a guess. You think these suggestions should not be made.

Apparently, you are in the minority on this one. Several people, a majority by count, are in agreement with me. Actually, the original poster said he is now in agreement.

So you have your opinion and I have mine. I will continue to offer my thoughts, and so will you. No problemo.

Steve