SS Auto Repair

I got burned on a second-hand Kia, and Shane Shippee is the guy who has kept me from rolling it (or myself)off a bridge before I can afford to replace it. Mr. Shippee is building a one-man operation in his at-home garage in tiny Vernon VT, and I drive (or get towed) almost 50 miles to have him do all the work on my bucket of bolts. He has years of experience as a mechanic for Kia, which is how I found his shop in the first place. When he went through the car after I bought it (I know, I KNOW - next time do this step FIRST) he gave me an estimate only $100 higher for ALL the repair work than a Kia dealership mechanic gave me on just ONE of the jobs. He has been very accomodating about trying to get my car fixed ASAP, and on one occasion OFFERRED me the use of his own truck so I could go visit a friend in the next town over while he replaced my leaking gas tank. (It was wintertime, and I had a blast cruising around Brattleboro in his pickup with the sand-spreader or whatever you call the business end of a sanding truck! One of my errands that day was to stop at a lingerie shop, and I really enjoyed the juxtaposition.) Although he has a lot of experience with Kia's, this fellow is the built-his-own-racecars type. The last time I was there, there were four other vehicles and mine was the only Kia in sight. (There may have been another one earlier, but I think it had been eaten by the Asplunde truck.) Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this guy. He's the first mechanic who has told me ALMOST more than I want to know about every aspect of my auto and it's problems - before, during, and after repair. I wish I could have answered more of your check-box questions, but I just don't know the answers about specializing and ASE and so forth. I hope this little narrative will be a good substitute, or will encourage further exploration by the good folks of Car Talk.