Business integrity

Welcome to the first day of September! Today was a monumental day for me. I took my 13 year old BMW Z3 to a new mechanic. It is the first time the car has been anywhere but the dealer for servicing. You might ask why, after so many years, did I decide to try someone new? Well, I'll tell you. To begin with, servicing your car with the dealer is more expensive than servicing it with an independent...especially if your car is out of warranty. And, servicing your car with the dealer does not guarantee that you will get an honest assessment. Per the dealer, my car needed about $1400 in repairs - not including the oil change. Seeing as how they did the analysis on a computer which I got a copy of, I did not question it. But, when my girlfriend, Linda, who is about as fussy as I am, said she had THE BEST mechanic in the world, I decided that the least I could do was to get a 2nd opinion. So, yesterday, I went to visit Import Doctor in Huntington Beach, CA. He put the car up and examined it and then he came and got me. He took me under the car and pointed out what the problems were. I liked him and felt he was being honest with me particularly when he pointed out some things the dealership said to repair that were in perfect condition. So, we made a date for my car today. I dropped off the car and the owner, Gian, offered to drive me back to our warehouse for www.giftsfromadistance.com. On the way back, he told me that my clutch would need replacing soon and that one of the maintenance items he was going to perform could be delayed until that time. Reason: the parts would only have to be removed once, not twice, and therefore, would be less expensive for me...not to mention, my car would not need to go in for two services. When I got back, I looked at the recommendations and the diagnosis from the dealer again. While the dealer recommended a specific repair, they did not recommend replacing the clutch. Then I looked at the computer analysis. There, in black and white, it said that the clutch needed attention. Nice of them to tell me. I would have brought the car in twice and they would have made extra money on me repeating something they had already done. They also recommended a repair regarding the suspension control arm something something but the computer report did not indicate that and Gian said it looked ok. While I have no ill will towards my BMW dealer, I will not be returning. Linda was right. She does the THE BEST mechanic and now...so do I!