Coyote Motors--buying my car around my mechanic

In 1999 I bought a 1996 Mazda 626 that had 60,000 miles on it. Soon after buying it I heard some squeeking in the brakes and took it to a good mechanic friend of mine. His shop didn't work on Mazda's but he knew someone who did--Wolfgang Reitz, owner of Coyote Motors in North Boulder (303.443.3011). Shock of all $hocks, he put on new brakes for under $100....I think it was around $80. I hadn't walked out of any car repair place for under a hundred dollars in years. Since then Wolf has been my mechanic and has always done a great job and an incredibly fair price--never selling me something I didn't need. It's just the way he does business. In January when my '96 Mazda was finally getting old enough, with 173K miles on it, I started looking for another car...well, another Mazda. Sounds a bit nutty I suppose but I thought, "I've got my mechanic...I just need another car, so I'll buy my car around what is already consistently great in my life." And I found another Mazda...on Craig's List: a 1999 626 with 27,000 original miles, "driven by our grandmother to the market and back." After buying the car I aske how long it had been on Craig's List. "I pressed the enter button and you called." Liz and I donated the '96 Mazda to Good Neighbor Gargage. GNG is run by Jim Reiner of Belay Enterprises (see photos of 96 and 99 side by side). Jim is a social / spiritual entrepreneur and I need to write about him some time. GNG fixes cars and then gives them to single moms for transportation for work and life.

This past week my 99 Mazda started overheating. This was my first occasion to take it to Coyote Motors and sure enough Wolf squeezed me in, diagnosed a leaky coolant reservoir and had it repaired for cost of the part and 1/2 hour of labor! Can't beat that. Wolf reads a lot about cars and engines and is a true craftsman in what he does. He is an expert at his craft, charges a fair price, and gives you exactly (no more, no less) what one needs.

In someways our experience with mechanics is like our experience with doctors. We trust them because our lives our in their hands...well, sort of. So when a mechanic says, "Boy, I sure wouldn't drive out of the city without (fill in the blank here "getting a radiator flush," "replacing all hoses and belts," etc) what do we do. Unlike doctors, mechanics take no Hypocratic oath to first "do no harm."

After doing my taxes I blogged about Bob, my tax guy. A few days ago I blogged about Ayo--the paella guy. Taxes, cooking, fixing cars. The common theme is they love what they do and are great at doing it. So that's why I bought my car around my mechanic.