There’s only one circumstance under which I will not attempt my own auto repairs, and that’s if they’re under warranty. Oh, I won’t mess with a trans, for the most part, but most anything else, I do myself.

Speaking of transmissions, the wife’s Escape has been leaving red drops under on the garage floor. I crawled under and looked, but couldn’t find the culprit.

So we took it back to CarMax. Where it’s under warranty. Now, I like Car Max, and I think they did the right thing, which was to take it to a transmission shop. Unfortunately, they took it to the WRONG transmission shop- Aamco. Which, if you don’t know, stands for “all automatics must come out”.

I called AAmco the next day and they said “oh, your splenglefrust seal is leaking, we’ll have to pull the transmission, it’s probably got some other internal problems we’ll want to get in there and fix as well” and i said “uh, no, you will not”

I picked up the vehicle and took it to my local place, a company called Widco (Pronounced wide-co)

Widco is always busy. They’re a hole in the wall. In fact, if you look at their shop, you get the idea that they slice up cars for parts on weekends, it’s a (seemingly) disorganized mess.

However, they are the unequalled best in the transmission business.

Widco looks at the escape, calls me back in a couple days. No biggie, I’m driving the wife’s old Honda in the interim. Anyway, the guy calls and says “$2350.00. Servo seal gone bad. Who do I call about getting paid?” I give him the number for the CarMax warranty department and thank him.

I call back in a few minutes wondering when I can pick it up, and he says “hey, they won’t pay me” and i think, shit, where am I gonna scrape up $2300? but he says “it’s below their deductible” and I think, wha? “I know they’re deductible is only like $50, man!” and he says “Yeah, and it’s twenty three dollars and fifty cents”

$23.50. Not $2350.00. Jesus. This was the transmission AAmco said had to come out and be completely rebuilt. Widco says “the trans is perfect, man, this is the Mazda trans, one of the best in the business. You got another 150,000 miles before you got any trouble with this trans, if you keep the fluid changed”

Finding the right shop, like finding the right doctor, like finding the right woman, is what it all comes down to. I know that Widco is a good shop, they have been for years. Sent a friend there a couple years back, he said “my dealer says my trans is shot and I need a new one at $2200.00” Widco took it on a monday, by wednesday (when he returned froma road trip) they said “it was your kickdown lever. It was sticking. We sprayed some wd-40 on it and wiggled it. It’s fine now. No charge”

I myself have had three transmissions rebuilt by these folks. I would not let anyone else touch my car’s transmission.