Yogi 4.2

....and I should qualify that right off the bat by saying what I want out of a mechanic:

-obviously good work
-straight forward information
-honesty
-reasonable cost (very subjective, I know)

What always gets me about mechanics is my sense of paranoia that they all know that I don't know JACK about my car. Sure, I know when it feels off, and I can clearly see or VAG a CEL, but I have neither the time, knowledge, space or inclination to fix it myself. The problem is that I go in there knowing this about myself and often expect them to pick up on it. This causes me to second guess almost all major diagnosis on the car, and want to take it to two places before I get the work done.

The other day I dropped my car off at Brian's (about a 30 mile drive for me....) with a laundry list of problems to attend to before I get to the timing belt. I needed my washer fluid reservoir fixed (it had a leak leading to a permanent low washer light), my turn signal was broken (fubared by accident when I added nav), and I had a supposed "minor" transmission leak as diagnosed by the dealer last time the car was there.

What made it a good experience was not that he was quick or very personable to talk to, but that he gave me a sense of faith in mechanics. I won't get into the total charge for the work, but sufficed to say that it was dirt cheap for me, and he managed to fix some of the problems for FREE. These are the things that I can only assume the dealership would have done, figured out that no real work was involved, and charged me for it anyway. And I wouldn't have known any better.

In short, this guy just won all my business by being upfront and honest....something I hadn't found while working with the many techs at the dealerships. (though they are friendly, and Derek at Clair is a very nice guy). So, thanks to Brian.....you made me feel a little less crazy for keeping an Audi with 80K miles on it.

bostoned

and didn't charge me for a quick fix. Yeah, you might get a rash of **** every once and a while.... but he is straight up and honest guy and great mechanic.

If you wanty *** kissing treatment, and free coffee go to a dealer. (Their *** kissing is just the lube before the @ss fvcking you get when you pay).

tehA8PIMP

CHances are that if you provide a small list of snafus, you will get real remedies that range from easy fixes(that don't get charged) to "ran out of time, but here is the solution and cost". They definitely have your best interests in mind. It might actually help if you don't know much about Audis, because who wants to be told how to do their job when fixing your Audi?

At a dealer, you have to deal with the service advisors who sometimes sell you things you really don't need. THAT is when you have to play the game to win. AT Brians, you can relax; if the news is bad, he will tell you so before he rips into the car. Given the value of our cars at 80k miles, he understands that realistically fixing a typical Audi tranny or engine seal smoke situation would not be cost effective to us. These cars are usually daily drivers, and once they are out of warranty, the only priority left is to get as much out of the car investment before it is time to dump it. AFter 100k miles, the trade in is pathetic, so the choice is to balance costs and keep the car as long as possible. You can drop big bucks into a 100k Audi, and it can run for a while afterwards, but frankly it is time to dump it then and get a clean start on a 3 y/o CPO car and the cycle repeats itself/

kday

But thanks for helping keep used Audi prices low

S4 has 140k / A6 has 225k
Total cost of ownership on my S4 is probably somewhere between a Kia and a Honda... but I don't mind picking up a wrench from time to time.

tehA8PIMP

I only deal with flagship cars, for me the used A6 market is priced too close to sweet A8s, so I take the risk that my tranny will take a poop each 100k miles and cost more to fix than the car is worth. If you know anything about the D2 A8 from 1997 to about 2000 or so, you would have heard that the trannies slip, thump, and go to shiite pretty fast. Hehe

Audeye A6

I like you analogy. I agree my Indy shop is straight up. I don't have to have a deal jus t no BS!

4Driver4

Of the three audi's I have now, the average milage when I purchased them was 125k. They are all very reliable daily drivers.

tehA8PIMP

They all thump for a while, whether they ever blow is a matter of time and mileage. I would consider doing the new tranny, but for DD status I would start with a fresher car. It would be ideal for your stable however.