Had a similar experience traveling through South Carolina with a friend. Car started giving trouble. First went to one repair shop, and the white guy said he wanted $100 to open the hood. Went down the road to a black mechanic, who did a great job fixing the problem for a very reasonable price.
The problem is, the small-but-significant probability of things going bad leaves me unwilling to take chances with my kids.
My kids are older..in their 20's.
Don't mess with them...or I will mess with you.