I used to work on my cars; I had a friend who knew what he was doing, so I’d get it over to his place, and he’d supervise me.
But it was just so much work, even when he had most of the tools we needed, taking an hour to just get into where the stupid part was, it was so tedious.
So when I had enough money that I could rationalize paying someone else to do the work, I found a nice Christian guy and decided I was doing charity. Then I didn’t care how much it cost.
I actually do that a lot — if I find someone I really like, then I feel like whatever I’m charged, the money is going to a good place. This is also why I tend to become “members” at museums and zoos — I want to support them anyway, and then I don’t have to worry about cost when I drop in for an hour.
Now, I just buy new, and let the dealer do the work. And I get the full-coverage extended warranties. Of course, my two cars are both Prius. So they are complicated, and have expensive electronic parts. I’ve got my money’s worth out of the warranties. And I wouldn’t trust just anybody to work on them.
I’m looking to get a clunker now, and so I’ll be back to looking for some kind old man who likes to fix cars out of his garage.
I actually had such a guy long ago, and was sad when I saw his house was gone, a new development being put up on the land. So I guess he and his wife probably died.
I’ve been through that. I have not changed my own oil in about 20 years. I do my own brake jobs, however. I consider the cost to have it done vs how long it takes me to do it. It’s very cost effective. Anything that is easy to do, but costly to have done, I do myself.
I seem to know more about fixing cars than any of the people I know who don’t do it as their day job.