A story relating to this topic and my belief in that a good mechanic is worth a ton. This person very often gains this status through retained experience, however he aquired it.
Ok, I admit to not being the proud owner of a company supplied Chevy Celebrity close to 18-19 years ago. Anyway it was free and served its purpose for most part.
Shortly after the warranty was up, it would start sputtering and smoking badly while running, then it would eventually go away. I took the car to about 2-4 independents and dealers, they exchanged stuff, but since the problem was intermittant never found or corrected the problem.
Somehow I was recomended to bring the car to a Buick dealership where they had "a quote on quote good service manager"
I took the care in to the dealership, met with the "guru" and within 15 seconds of me starting to describe the problem, he raises his hand to stop me and asks me to open the hood and start the car. He now pulls out a screwdriver, turns it around and whacks a component with the back of the screw driver and the car starts sputtering. He now tells me what is failing and how much to fix it.
In my mind he is now the master of Chevy Celebrity's, although it could be the only thing he knew about the whole car in all reality. I recomended that shop to other co-workers from then on.
A few months goes by and there is an industry convention in Anaheim. I stop and get gas at the corner right before going into the convention center. As I'm getting gas, I notice one of my largest customers, who worked for a large leasing company at the stations service bay with his hood up on his, guess what, Chevy Celibrity. After I walk over to him, he starts describing his problem that started on the way up from San Diego. I ask for a screw driver from the stations mechanic, turn it around and whack the air flow module and the car stops sputtering and smoking. I proceed to tell him that he can drive the car back to home and show him what to hit if the problem starts again before he get's a chance to bring it to the dealer.
I never told him how I gained my knowledge and he still considers me a "technical guru"
Anyway, that was a long story and I peronally think a mechanic is worth whatever he asks for if he has the expertize and performs quality work.
Hakan
