Car Trouble

I have been in the automotive service industry for, mein gott can it be, 28 years.  I would think, over that time, I would have developed a certain amount of experience if not expertise.  I have never worked as a mechanic, (now called "technician", by the way) but I have supervised techs as a store manager and as a store supervisor (managing store mangers).
 
Okay, enough qualifying background information. 
 
There are techs who are out to rip people off, but I really don't think they are common.  What is far more common, rather than outright thievery, is incompetence.  In other words, the tech simply misdiagnoses the problem and "throws parts" at it, in an attempt to fix it.  Sometimes this can't be avoided, for different reasons, but such a scenario isn't terribly common.  In my opinion, if a tech is faced with a situation like this, the professional thing to do is to explain to the customer that he is going to change parts in an attempt to repair the problem, and further, to explain to the customer why changing parts is the most effective way to repair/diagnois the problem.
 
Quality automotive technicians are fairly highly paid professionals.  I have personally had techs working for me who made low 6 figure incomes.  These are the best of the best.  Although everyone makes mistakes, techs like this do not rip people off and they seldom misdiagnose a problem.  Misdiagnosis results in inefficiency and that costs the tech money.  Quality technicians stand behind their work.  The downside to a quality tech, if you want to consider it a downside, is he isn't at all afraid to charge for what he does.
 
The problem most of us have, when we face getting our car repaired, is that the whole thing is a mystery to us.  We open the hood and think, "WTH, there are spark plugs in that mess somewhere?"  We are very much at the mercy of the person we choose to repair our car and often times, we aren't comfortable with that.  It is not at all unlike going to the doctor with some type of ailment, except we have been raised to trust doctors and to not trust mechanics.  IMO, we should give carte blanche trust to neither.
 
The time to find a good technician is not the morning when you find your car won't start or your brakes make a grinding noise.  The time to find a quality tech is before you need one.  Once you find such a professional, be loyal to him and pay his price.  You will save money and frustration in the long run.

ORIGINAL: probe1957

The time to find a good technician is not the morning when you find your car won't start or your brakes make a grinding noise.  The time to find a quality tech is before you need one.  Once you find such a professional, be loyal to him and pay his price.  You will save money and frustration in the long run.

words to live by.

i had a mechanic that i would drive many miles to use because he was good and i trusted him. unfortunately i no longer live close enough to use him, but i have found a pretty good mechanic in the city i live in now.

Thanks again for everyone's advice. I didn't mean to ignore my own thread. I've had some other dog related issues that took precidence over my car. That being said, lazy me, I decided to "bend over" and let the dealership do the repair. I couldn't find anyone who would recommend a good mechanic in this area. It was expensive, but it's fixed so that's good I guess.
 
I know that not every mechanic will try to take advantage of women. But I've definitely run into my fair share of them that play off the fact that I'm pretty clueless when it comes to cars. In all fairness though, DH knows very little about cars and they treat him the same way.
 
The service advisor at the dealership here is actually a woman. And every time I go in there, she sweet talks me into believing that I need at least another $500 worth of work on my car. Usually I tell her I'm going to call my husband to see what he thinks about spending the money. And I actually call my dad to ask his advice. He'll tell me if I need it or not.

You know, sometimes just the peace of mind in knowing it's done is worth the price.  I absolutely hate car troubles.  I've had AAA for 3 years or more, never needed it, but everytime it comes up for renewal, I think "do you really want to have to change a tire on your own?"...and I write the check.
 
I think that if you don't know any reliable independent mechanics, then you're best/safest bet is the dealership, so I'd have done the same thing.  Hope you get some warm weather up there so you can use the AC a few times soon []

The good thing about taking your car to the dealer is that the job will almost always be done right.  The bad thing about taking your car to the dealer is you often pay more than you should.  IMO, if you don't know of a good tech, your best bet is to take the car to the dealer.
 
A 99 Camry is a VERY good car.

i myself  drive a chevy pick up.it is a 1989 chevy with a 350 cu.in/V8 that i have done some work to.

If possible,i will never own anything newer...when i get under the hood to diagnose a problem,i know just what is wrong,and can fix most myself..
a bit more expensive to run,but i only take it to work and back