That's basically the reason. She's low on cash, and doesn't understand why I
give a damn. The day after this car mess began, there was a death on her
side of the family, so she's overwhelmed.

The mechanic really is quite remarkable. Over the years, he's talked me OUT
of doing certain things to old cars. He's very good at presenting the
mechanical facts, but at some point, that aspect runs out of steam and it
comes down to financial decisions which only the owner can make.


"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Your mechanic sounds a bit like me. Fix it when it breaks.
You're in the middle cause you'e a caring parent?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.


"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in
message ...

Spoke to her a little while ago. She's thinking they may
never have been
replaced. She's checking through a pile of receipts, while
complaining that
our mechanic should've told her to do plugs at the
recommended interval.
This is one instance where one of our mechanic's best
selling points may be
at fault: While working on our cars, he'll point out stuff
that needs to be
done in the future so we can plan our budgets. For instance,
if he's
rotating tires, he'll say "Think 6 months for front brakes,
unless you start
driving a lot more than usual."

BUT: He leaves it up to the customer to keep an eye on the
car's service
intervals and request certain things, which I like. If (and
this is a big
IF) plugs can fall apart due simply to age, who's at fault?
The mechanic for
never saying "tuneup time", or the customer, for not keeping
an eye on the
service schedule in the owner's manual?

And why am I in the middle of all this? :-) Don't ask.