I went to that thread and read enough to see how money gets spent. It amazes me that anyone throwing that many parts at a car can unilaterally condemn shops. I imagine that anyone who throws parts at cars to repair them also thinks Acme Foreign car with five fiats out front is probably a place to save money on auto repair.

Someone ought to start a thread on how to find a repair shop that can install one part where one part is needed and fix the car. I'll give you a couple good indicators of that shop. First they will have the highest labor rate around, because they are equipped, trained, and pay quality techs, second they will have one or more SDS (diagnostic computer), and third they will have more than five MBs 10 years old or less in their shop ALWAYs.

The second indicator is probably the simplest way to gauge a shops mentality. Many might ask why have a SDS when my car is too old for on-board diagnostics? The reason is commitment. Commitment to the technology involved with a specific car brand. Does the shop intend to fix problems or shot gun them as that thread exposes. The point is to separate repair merchandisers from real technicians. The shop committed to repair will have the tool, the shop committed to maximized profit first will not. The shop who has techs that can fix cars will have a SDS because those techs won't work in a shop without.

If you know that you want just a water pump, maybe a repair merchandiser can save you money in their ill equipped, poorly trained, poorly paid shop. All the consumer advocates will state that the best bet long term is to find an indy that specializes and stay with them. Anybody using more than one part to solve a problem in my shop better have some real data to support it.

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Steve Brotherton
Continental Imports
Gainesville FL
Bosch Master, ASE Master, L1
33 years MB technician