Honest mechanic?

I'm beginning to think that is an oxymoron.

Our regular mechanic, Ret, has been steadily noticing more and more issues. Every time we take the car in for an oil change, tire rotation or any other routine service it ends up costing hundreds of dollars. I've been suspicious for a while but I don't do the car thing. And honestly, it's much easier to leave it up to dh and my dad who actually know what the hell their talking about.

Fast forward to last Friday. It's decided that my van needed an oil change and snow tire removal.* (I'm supposed to alert dh when the date or mileage approaches on the little oil change sticker. Of course, I always forget. Apparently, we were hundreds of miles over.) In an effort to appease the doubters the car was taken to Tire World instead of Ret.

Tire world calls a few hours later stating that we need a transmission service because something was leaking into the fluid... something was contaminated...I'm really not sure. A few hours later the car is done. My mom takes me to pick it up. All is well. (Minus $350.)

She suggests a shopping trip. Joey needs some cruise wear. The girls scream in delight. Nothing beats a shopping trip with grandma. We spend the next few hours trying on hundreds of outfits with two unhappy toddlers. I was looking for a flowy Easter dress. I settled for a skirt but had major troubles finding an appropriate shirt to match. All in all it was a successful trip. All of the children ended up with several new outfits, and Joey has all his cruise wear. Thanks, grandma!

When dh arrived home he immediately questioned the bill. Apparently, we just had a transmission service a few months ago. He opened the garage door and asked why the snow tires were still on the car. What?! It never occurred to me to look at the tires. I never would have noticed they were studs. lol

Then I assumed the tire people put someone else's tires on my van by mistake. After all, they were clean and shinny and mine weren't.

The freaking idiots took all my tires off, cleaned them up, balanced them and then put them back on. :0 Our new summer tires were still in the trunk.

Yesterday my dad kindly took my van back to Tire World and they fixed everything, including the bill. Thanks, dad!

*We were a bit premature in removing the snow tires. It's snowing right now. They're predicting a 4-6 inches tonight and another 6" tomorrow. :( I miss spring.