There have been undercover investigations into auto repair shops in Los Angeles exposing rip-offs. According to carinfo.com/autorepair, in 1992, Sears, who was operating under a sales quota and contests, was caught changing functioning auto parts unnecessarily. Ultimately, Sears settled with consumers to the tune of $8 million. Since then, Pep Boys, Goodyear, Tuneupmasters, Midas Muffler & Brake Shops, Puurfect Auto Service, Montgomery Ward, and Econo Lube N’ Tube have all been busted.

Seems you just can’t trust anyone these days: or can you?

The breaks on most cars have a device which makes a whistling sound to warn you when the break pads are wearing out. I guess my pads were already worn thin when I bought mine. Since then I've only put 7,000 miles on the car and out of the blue, last Friday afternoon, I heard the most horrendous sound as I stepped on the brakes.

A policeman was writing a ticket to some poor soul as I pulled up to the stop sign on Pearl and 22nd. The noise was so loud he stopped writing, looked at me and shook his head.

Naturally, I imagined the worst scenarios. Would I have to be towed? Would I have to leave the car overnight? How much would it cost? Would I get a fix-it ticket, or worse?

I called a mechanically adept friend who said it would be ok to drive it to Pep Boys. I did a quick Google search and determined the best Pep Boys would be the one in Culver City on Sepulveda next to the old AAA building. I cautiously drove in the Culver City direction, taking the least traveled streets to get there. When I finally arrived, I was surprised to find a “drive-through” station in the back of the store where Kelvin Gunn, Senior Service Advisor, was gathering information and scheduling repairs.

In less than five minutes the paper-work was done and the mechanic was determining what was needed and how much it would cost. I naturally feared the worse. Gunn told me that my front breaks were atrocious and that I would need to replace the pads and the rotors because they had worn down beyond repair. I asked about the back breaks and he said that I had about "60% to 70%" of my pads left. Moreover, The estimate was less than I expected at under $200.00 for pads, rotors, and labor. Best of all, the job would be done in about an hour.

I was impressed with Gunn’s honesty. “We do everything by the books, we make sure we are honest with each and every customer that comes in and that is what puts us on top of the food chain of automotive service companies.” Gunn said.

Perhaps if the banking and mortgage industry had been a little more like Pep Boys in their dealings with average, hard-working schmoes like me, the whole economic mess we have now would have been averted.

No one can say for sure, but it was a refreshing change to find a mechanic who delivered a good job for a fair price.