dang. my Toyota Mechanic is thinking retirement.

[vash]

dude doesnt have a YouTube channel to gawk at.

seriously the most honest mechanic I have ever met. I do plenty DIY, but there are some things I farm out to him. logistic hell, since his shop is 1.5 hours away. I moved but kept him and my dentist from my old city. roadtripped to both of them. my Dentist finally pulled the plug and retired, now this crazy talk from the mechanic.

true story. my wife's car was making a clunk. I couldn't find it, and he wanted a shot at it. "its your shock mounts"
"no, I dont think so"
"yes"
"no". I left it with him and he changed the shocks. I went to pick up the car and he wouldn't take my money. hahah..we argued like fools fighting over the dinner check. it wasnt the shocks. hahahha.. we put it back on the rack and looked and looked. we found it together. it was a motor mount. I ordered a bunch of pizza's for him and his crew...and we became buds. there is one time I couldnt unclip this harness on my MIL's car..in frustration I went to Frank. he laughed and said, its because you dont have this tool!! (took him two seconds). he once stayed on speaker phone with me as I eased out a tough spark plug from my tacoma head..

I sent my BIL to him with his Toyotas. my BIL texted me and said. "frank is thinking of retiring and wants to learn to kayak fish - what should I tell him?"

hahahha.. I'm driving to meet him tomorrow to discuss a shopping list. oh, I have opinions.

[LWJ]

Well, if your Toyota is like mine, or my parents, you don't need a lot of wrench turning.

Had a 01 Land Cruiser. Swapped out one coil for failure? Otherwise, just maintenance.

MIL, an 02 Camry. She is poor. No maintenance that I can see. Runs great 15 years in.

Parents. Tundra, 4Runner, Camry. All fantastic.

But I get it. My mechanic just retired. I am in a panic.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by vash

dude doesnt have a YouTube channel to gawk at.

seriously the most honest mechanic I have ever met. I do plenty DIY, but there are some things I farm out to him. logistic hell, since his shop is 1.5 hours away. I moved but kept him and my dentist from my old city. roadtripped to both of them. my Dentist finally pulled the plug and retired, now this crazy talk from the mechanic.

true story. my wife's car was making a clunk. I couldn't find it, and he wanted a shot at it. "its your shock mounts"
"no, I dont think so"
"yes"
"no". I left it with him and he changed the shocks. I went to pick up the car and he wouldn't take my money. hahah..we argued like fools fighting over the dinner check. it wasnt the shocks. hahahha.. we put it back on the rack and looked and looked. we found it together. it was a motor mount. I ordered a bunch of pizza's for him and his crew...and we became buds. there is one time I couldnt unclip this harness on my MIL's car..in frustration I went to Frank. he laughed and said, its because you dont have this tool!! (took him two seconds). he once stayed on speaker phone with me as I eased out a tough spark plug from my tacoma head..

I sent my BIL to him with his Toyotas. my BIL texted me and said. "frank is thinking of retiring and wants to learn to kayak fish - what should I tell him?"

hahahha.. I'm driving to meet him tomorrow to discuss a shopping list. oh, I have opinions.

All of those darn old slackers that are retiring all over the place! I tell you, it's hard to keep good help these days for all of the folks that want to "retire" before they're 90!

Yep, my mechanic for the Porsche is 82 miles away. I get it. Logistics nightmare, but worth it.

LOL! Now you're going to teach him kayak fishing. Awesome!

[vash]

Thinking of road tripping to sea of Cortez in my old Tacoma. A seasoned mechanic in our caravan wouldn’t suck. Ha.

Conga line of trucks with fishing kayaks.

[GH85Carrera]

It is even worse when your medical providers retire.

My Dentist of over 30 years. I found a replacement just 1/2 a mile away so that worked out.
My Primary care physician.
The replacement Primary care physician.
The new Primary care physician moved to the other side of town to a 45 minute trip through heavy traffic, so I found a new Primary care physician.

I seem to be be the last customer at multiple alternator and starter rebuild businesses, they all have closed in this area.

Finding a good mechanic is a challenge in the era of scammers and thiefs.

[look 171]

I know how you feel. My accountant retired couple years back and that felt like I have to start all over again. My Toyota mechanic was the old dude (everyone is old when you are young) up the street where I grew up. He branched out on his own after several year learning the trade at the dealer. Finally he retired but we were lucky his nephew took over. Now the damn nephew wants to go fishing and made a ton of money playing bitcoin. There's talk of retirement there too but can't. Lucky for me, his wife is home and he doesn't want to deal with her. She quit her job at an accountant at the Gas company about 5 years ago. Keep looking and talk to local folks, there are good and honest mechanics around. Usually they are a bit seasoned to give away advice and have the time to chat with you unlike the younger uprising stars, who are hungry and need to make money to sustain a business. I found a general mechanic, but was a toyota wrench for 15 years, about 2 miles from my house. Older guy in his mid 50s and a couple of helpers. I drive over, leave the car and ride my bike back or he gives me a ride back up the hill. Not too bad. Honest and likes to talk. I like that. Good thing is, he works on my Duramax trucks too if I ask.

[Evans, Marv]

Maybe he'll take in a job now and then on the private. At least ask if he would still give some advice and recommendations. He'll probably make a nice fishing mate.

[A930Rocket]

I’m a DIYer for all of mine and Ms Rockets cars. When she was driving a MB, there was a husband and wife shop we took them to. We had complete faith in them. Good people.

My secondary doctor for anxiety is retiring in November after 26 years. I’m going to talk to my primary doctor about taking over. My primary doctor will outlive me.

[pwd72s]

Part of the aging process...

[thingmon]

Change is inevitable...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Always sucks when you have a relationship with someone really good and they have the audacity to retire!

I’ve had two dentists retire and leave me, the good honest old school ones that don’t exist anymore. I still haven’t found a good replacement. Primary care physician is almost 80 and semi-retired, fortunately he’s also my neighbor so I can always just walk across the street.