We were in South Carolina picking up my daughter at the end of Junior year. I had my F 150 and near the apartment she was in, was a crater size pothole, I hit it while turning, and did some damage, real bad sound when you made a turn, not too bad when driving straight, but I knew it wasn't going to go 12 hours back to NY.
I rolled into Goodyear in Columbia SC. and the guy looked at the plates, put it on the lift and made me wait like an expectant father.... When he comes back in, he goes into a list of parts that have to be replaced, bearings, tie rod, shocks (gotta do both!) and a bunch of other stuff. He said he could get it done for $1700. He figured I had no choice.
I called a guy from here on TBD (NH Billsfan) who works for the parts department at a Ford dealership in New England, he said "no way the parts match up with what you described, they are trying to screw you". So I thanked the guy and walked out without a plan.
I drove it for another day, but the wife and daughter were driving it home and I was scheduled to fly. They stayed for the next day and I just randomly picked a name out of the hat in a town we had recently bought a home. The woman listened to the issue, asked us to bring it in. Since we had some of the issue already diagnosed she gave a ballpark figure, but said she couldn't be sure till her guys looked it over.
The ladies take the truck over and drop it off, the woman calls back and says she can do it for $225, it needed a tie rod. I said go for it. She called me back an hour later and said it was only $188 since the mechanic didn't take as long as they figured. I almost dropped the phone. It turns out, they were transplants from the Green Bay area, just wanted to get out of the cold and work till retirement. I just pray they are still down there when we eventually move!