I first found Mitchell's Auto Repair a year and a half ago, after getting tired of the crummy service from my local mechanics. He impressed me quite a bit at the time, both with the way that anything he fixed *stayed* fixed and with his honesty about whether I should have repairs done immediately, or if they could be postponed for a while. He was honest about his prices, and goes out of his way to combine jobs so that labor costs are lower.
Then I moved, and foolishly thought ""well, if there is *one* good mechanic, surely I can find another, closer to home."" It only took getting burned once--charged 5 times the retail cost of parts, and $278 for maybe 45 minutes of work.
So I brought my car back to Mitchell's, despite the fact that now that I've moved, he's more than an hour from my new place by train.
He checked out the car, told me the work the bad mechanic had suggested wasn't necessary, and he explained why, and showed me what to look for in the car to keep on top of that problem should it occur.
Every time I bring the car to Mitchell's, he takes the time to show me what the problem is, and he checks out other issues in the car so that I have the option of combining work, to save on labor. He has fixed a few small problems for free (tightening belts and the like).
I cannot say how much I appreciate the confidence I have that, if he recommends work, it actually needs to be done. I also appreciate that he is more interested in helping me to keep my car in running order than in making a ton of money for himself. Mitchell is the best mechanic I have worked with--the only one I could say was a *pleasure* to work with.
And for general information, he is doing this work on a '97 Subaru with 240k miles on it. He assures me that so long as I keep up the maintenance, I'll get another 100K miles out of it. With Mitchell, I think I will.
Pros: good prices, excellent work, integrity, customer service
Cons: an hour from my house by subway
more