Merchant's Auto Incorporated

The area lends itself to shady individuals calling themselves mechanics. In fact, most of the residents of the State are self proclaimed mechanics. So after you've been burned by the "professionals" at Three Pole Auto (the auspicious tripod that adorns most back yards with an engine block dangling) take it to Merchants.

Once or twice each July, as a dreaded Summer Visitor, I roll into Merchant's with an ancient 220D Mercedes that needs oil changed, a suspension part fixed, or a transmission filter service, or a dead battery. Merchant's always does a good job for a fair price. This year, I'm bringing along a box of new belts and hoses, Mr. Merchant: You've been warned!

In 1997 a dealership (Brown's!) in Alexandria, Virginia tried to convince me I needed $3000 (yes, that's three zeroes!) worth of work on a used 1990 Mazda 626LX I had owned only one year -- the car had 85,000 miles on it. The short story is, I was in DC in law school -- ha! -- and didn't know where else to take my car for routine maintenance -- these repairs were suggested to me while the car was in for an oil change and I'd asked them to check out a funny noise I was hearing in the right front end of the car. They told me the motor mounts were broken, the heads were about to blow, and several other things. As I recall, the service guy said, "how much do you like your car?" when he approached me after making me wait for two hours while they "checked it out." He also told me the engine could blow at any time and was a real danger. In a panic, I parked the car for two months and had a friend fly down to help me drive it back to Maine for spring break, in case it blew up on the trip home. I took it to Rick Merchant, a certified Mazda mechanic, and he did a tune-up (90,000 mile service) for about $190, and found a small rock stuck in between the right front brake/pad that was making the noise. He removed that for free -- yes, free! I wrote to the Mazda corporation, who told me they couldn't do anything about it because they only license the franchises -- it's not their show! They forwarded the letter to the Brown's service manager, who called me several times, but I didn't bother to return his calls. I mean, it's not like I was going to accept an apology (why, because you got caught?) or any free maintenance (what, so my car should come up with even more strange ailments?). By the way, I still have the car -- 166,000 miles and going strong, with nothing but routine maintenance and a few minor repairs (okay, she's been through a few mufflers . . . ). Guess those heads weren't so bad after all! And by the way, Tom and Ray, I'm still driving this beat up old Mazda because I'm a public interest advocate working for low income folks in a legal system that mostly cares about people with lots of cash. I won't dis you guys for telling lawyer jokes -- after going to law school, I agree with about 99.9% of them -- but just so you know, a very few of us are good folks! :-)

A woman without wealth, on her own and who drives a 1993 Honda Civic with 216,000 miles sounds like a recipe for disaster. However, I can be all those things and avoid car payments because I have caring and competent mechanics in John and Rick Merchant in Hancock, Maine. They are fantastic at keeping an eye on the Honda proactively ... giving me warning whenever they can about impending repairs so that I may save up my pennies, they repair my car at reasonable rates helpfully offering used parts whenever safe and possible, and they always treat me and my car with dignity and respect. I am very appreciative of Rick and John and the work they do all year long at their garage. Thank you gentlemen! Louise Lopez

Rick and John have been keeping our old cars going for years. They assist us in following CarTalk's advice that it's usually cheaper to repair an old car than get involved in payments for a new/used one. My daughter recently hit a deer with her '95 Jetta (203,000 miles). Of course, we didn't have any collision insurance on it and my daughter would be paying for the repair with her summer waitressing money, so it was important to fix it on the cheap. So Rick bought another old Jetta for the necessary parts, some of which also went toward his daughter's Jetta! The car is back on the road within my daughter's budget. Thanks guys!!!