Motoring Magic

Scott McIntyre is a business owner who loves what he does, and it shows. And what he does is service Minis, like Mia. Mia is my special-needs child. Yesterday, in addition to her weird clutch issue (Scott, being the expert that he is, has hypotheses that do NOT involve my driving - DEALERSHIPS THROUGHOUT LA: TAKE NOTE), she decided to put her "service engine soon" light on. I have three (count 'em) awesome mechanics in Los Angeles, but I wanted to visit Scott in Thousand Oaks, because I found him actively participating on a "Car Talk" forum discussing Mini issues. That's when I knew I had an expert. Email correspondence was impressive; Scott is nothing shy of quick to respond, and eloquent. Also he is reassuring. He got the car to do all her little quirky things, and it turns out the service engine light was on because I hadn't put the gas cap on tight enough three days prior. Something about an autodiagnostic computer on a delayed schedule that hadn't caught it yet ... . I LOVE MY OTHER MECHANICS, but sometimes you need/want a super-honed specialist. Scott's your Mini Man. Wait. That sounds weird. We got the light off, and, as Drew at Right Solution said, we don't have to worry about the clutch just yet. Scott and I took Mia the Mini on a nice, long drive through beautiful Thousand Oaks. He can repair the clutch for MUCH (2/3) less than the dealer and much less than Right Solution (just because he has special tools and charges a flat labor fee for dropping the transmission, and also resurfaces the flywheel, which Scott insists is ok, and he's done like 500 of these). Scott is courteous, talks to you like you're not stupid (assumes the best, not the worst), has an immaculate shop and probably heart. He had me back in love with Mia in no time, and I got her detailed. Sigh. I might even join the Mini Motoring Club. Well ... um ...