Our Mazda MPV decided that it didn’t want to start any more the other day. With the car in the driveway, we considered our options.

  1. Get the car towed and repaired.
  2. Move, leave the car in the driveway, and buy a new car at the new house.

While deciding, one of the people in our neighborhood told us that her neighbor is a mechanic looking to make a few bucks on the side before they have a new baby next year.

We called him and he stopped by the next day to diagnose the problem. He said the air regulator thingy was stuck and the air wasn’t mixing with the gas properly. He used more professional sounding terms.

He checked with his shop and came back a couple days later with the part and swapped it out for his cost of the part (10% over what the shop pays) and $50 for labor. The entire thing cost $105 and the car was fixed in the driveway.

Super sweet.

During all of this, we found out that he is one of the mechanics at the shop that we probably would have taken the car to in the first place. I love when things bounce in our favor.