Pink Shoe Guide to Auto Mechanics: Lesson #1

The below item is not actually called "That Wand Thing That Turns on Your Blinker"...

....it's called an Actuator!

I learned this lesson last night at Monroe Muffler on the Southern Artery on Quincy where all my automotive needs are taken care of, my dumb questions answered, and I am never scoffed at for being the one of the least car-savvy person on earth.

I also love that they get that I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on my car. It's a Honda, in good shape, and of course I want to maintain her. But they are good at printing out what tuneupI am due for, and then picking out the things I REALLY need to get done, and the things that could wait. Love that.

Further proof that these guys rule? They told me I would need new brake pads soon (boo!) but since I had purchased them originally at Monroe two years ago, and their brake pads have a lifetime guarantee, they would be free! How cool is that? I would never even have thought to ask.

This is a far cry from my dealings with the dealership, where I took my car when I first bought her. A place where you are browbeaten into spending the most money possible and berated when you just want the "basic " oil change and not all the bells and whistles. I drive an '04 Civic. Why should my oil change cost $60? I seriously had PTSD about going to the mechanic after my dealings with that place. Yikes.

But now I feel better. I have a place where I have no qualms about calling them up with a query like "A light went off on my dashboard that looks like a robot head, what do I do?"