Can someone recommend a mechanic?

[pasithea]

Anyone know a decent mechanic?

Dealership just quoted me a thousand dollars to replace the power steering pump and one engine mount on a 7-year-old Nissan Sentra.

If you aren't familiar with cars, a power steering pump is about 80 bucks rebuilt and requires about half an hour to replace.

The engine mount is a chunk of rubber and a bolt. No fucking way that combination of stuff is a thousand dollars. Even if you put the most extreme possible price on each part, we're still talking about less than $300 in parts and at MOST 3 hours of labor. Absolute tops that's $600.

So... Anyone know a mechanic who isn't a fucking scumbag?

If not, I'll just drive with it for a couple of weeks and do the replacements myself at a friend's house when she gets back in town.

Edit: Just checked. I can get a power steering pump for $60 and the entire set of engine mounts for $25. (Exactly what I thought)

Comments

[yetanotherbob.livejournal.com]

Okay, I talked with my mechanic friend (He's the one that works with me on maintaining my El Camino) and he owes me work/money and he's willing to do it if you so desire. We will need to get a cherry picker, as it's probably a straight 4 engine, and so it does mean taking the engine out of the car in order to replace the pump.

[yetanotherbob.livejournal.com]

Also: It's a dealership. The rule of thumb I've found (which is scarily accurate) is that a dealership's rates are three times the rate you'd get at a repair shop.