In Motion Motors

New rear brakes and new rotors. That's what I heard when I went to my dealer to have the tail light replaced on my car. My brakes had been squealing for a few months, but only when I first started my car up in the morning. I didn't think too much of it, since my car only had about 30,000 miles on it. It was even still under warranty.

However, the squealing was annoying, so I asked someone at the service desk about it. She said it was probably just rust, and they stopped squealing as I kept driving because the rust layer wore away.

As the gentleman who replaced my tail light presented me with the bill for my tail light, he also had a quote for $440 and informed me that I needed new rear brakes and new rotors. Not only that, my car, which was due for inspection in about a month, would not pass. I very politely declined his offer to do the brake work that day.

I've mentioned before that I lived in New York City for a while, so I went for several years without a car. This is the first one I bought when I moved back into the area, so it's been probably a good seven years since I've needed to do more than an oil change to a car that I've owned. I had no idea what I should do.

It was my father who recommended In Motion Motors to me. Even though they're a foreign car specialist, Scott Nalevanko had recently done some work on his Jeep. I went in to drop my car off solely to get a quote, figuring that I'd come up with a game plan once I knew how much it was going to set me back.

I didn't have an appointment and I dropped my car off at 9:30 in the morning. I went and grabbed a cup of coffee, and by the time I realized I had forgotten a paper in the car, they were already finished looking at it.

The verdict? New brake pads, some rust needed to be removed, but I definitely did not need new rotors. He quoted me $166, nearly $300 less than I would have paid if I had had the dealership do the work they wanted to. I told him to go ahead and do the work.

By 12:30, just three hours after I first dropped it off, I got a call from Scott saying that my car was ready. He did have some bad news, however. The brake pads ended up costing more than he thought they would. I braced myself, and quite honestly, I was convinced I was about to get screwed.

I was cursing my father for getting me into this mess and cursing car mechanics - and then Scott told me that my quote was going up by about $15. Now $15 is a number I can live with.

I picked my car up later that afternoon and gladly paid. Scott guaranteed that my car would pass inspection later this month, and I haven't heard a single squeak since.

Finding a good car mechanic who you trust is difficult. But everyone I know who has gone to Scott has had nothing but glowing things to say about him and his shop. If you have a foreign car, I can't recommend him highly enough. Even if you have an American car, he'll probably be able to help you out. Either way, you should definitely talk to him. Your wallet will thank you.