It probably has to do with the fact that even for old school car savvy guys the new electrical components on the new equipment has us baffled. All the newer "mechanics" are is parts replacers, they hook the engine up to a diagnostic computer and it tells them which part to replace, its all by the book, there is no such thing as real "mechanic" anymore, very few people now how to "fix" anything. There are genious's that know how to tune a Honda Civic till it gets 400 horsepower but they don't really know how to tear the engine down and put it back together.
I remember back in the early 80's, we were down visiting my granddad, he had been a mechanic for most of his life by necessity and later as a professional. My mother was driving a late model Cadillac and she was complaining about the way it was running. Grandad said "Pop the hood, let me take a look," She popped the hood, grandad looked at the engine, he looked this way and that and just shook his head and said "With all those wires and tubes going ever which way I can't begin to tell whats going on in there." Now thats a guy that could tune an old truck till it purred with nothing but a large handled screwdriver and crescent wrench, I remember watching him set a cup of coffee on a flat spot in an engine compartment and adjust the timing watching the ripples in the coffee.
It aint the same today and its all about the money...I don't know if people are any greedier today than they weer back in the day, I think its just easier for them to take advantage of us. I took my car in for a 40K mile check up and the guy said I needed a new CV joint, I told him to show me whats wrong, we went out into the service bay and he showed me that the rubber covering had torn on the CV joint and I remembered back during the winter my wife had driven the car on the freeway with cable chains on and had worn them out so that I had to cut them out from around the axle...that explained the torn boot on the CV joint. I asked him if they couldn't just replace the boot, I remembered back in the day on VW's we used to have a kit that did that, he said everything today just comes as a unit. I told him that it wasn't really necessary to have the boot and it was good for a couple thousand more miles, he agreed and said "Pay me now or pay me later." We checked into it and found that we still qualified for a break due to warranty and I thanked him for his honesty and we had both CV joints replaced as a unit for half price. Sometimes you just have to challenge them...
