brakes don’t fail me now

Last Friday, I took my car in to get the rear breaks fixed. In the last week, they had started making a grinding noise whenever the car came to a stop, and I didn’t want to wait until the damage got worse.

101309-chevyimperialI normally use Tuffy’s in Metrowest, but I’m getting tired of getting gouged by chain garage pricing for repairs, not to mention the inevitable, “…we found other problems…” I always seem to hear from them. So I asked around and my co-worker friend Janet recommended her friend Victor. He works out of a tiny backyard-style garage at an small owner-run auto body shop in Kissimmee, so the setting isn’t fancy, but she said he was very reliable and fair-priced.

I gave him a try and I have to say I’m happy with the result. There was a small bump in the original price quote, but that was because once he started taking the damaged back brake parts off, he noticed the calipers were incredibly rusty. Not surprising since they were the originals and have spent most of the last 20 years of the car in the cold Wisconsin winters. As a result, the repair work ended up taking a few days, since he and the rest of the shop crew tried to find the additional parts at the lowest price for me. In the meantime, he loaned me a van to drive so I wouldn’t be inconvenienced. I also liked that he took me over to the car and actual showed me the parts he was talking about on my car so there was complete clarity in what he was saying and I could see for myself what the issues were.

In the end, the repair took longer and the final bill was more than expected. But even so, the final price of the repair only came to a little bit more than the original quote and the car does run a lot smoother. More importantly, the brakes actually stop the car and without the bonus noise of metal on metal.

Yeah, that’s a nice change.

So if anyone in the Orlando area needs a reliable mechanic, I’d be happy to pass on his information. Just send me a contact email and I’ll shoot over his details.

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About zengrrl

I'm Michelle Snow, the writer and creator of Zengrrl. I write about travel, entertainment, women's issues, health, body positivity, and more, both for this blog and freelance. I have also authored/co-authored four guidebooks on Orlando and Florida. If you aren't already following me, the links are below, as well as on the top right of this page. Thanks!

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