I hardly ever take it to a shop unless its something major or like a tire needed mounted. Someone in my family or someone they know is gonna know how to fix it.

I'm an NPR fan, so I listen to Car Talk. Their site has a lot of good tips on there.

I learned a lot when I was researching issues with my 2002 Malibu.

I have changed my brakes, installed a new clutch after removing the old one and solved simple electrical issues and my husband can do just about anything under the hood when it comes to vehicles, so mechanics are our last resort.

My husband is very handy around the house, but we found out by trial and error he simply is NOT good with cars. It even takes him half a day to change the oil. Jiffy Lube can do it in 15 minutes and it doesn't even cost much more than his buying all the stuff retail.

He broke more stuff "fixing" it and we ended up paying more than we would have if he hadn't touched it in the first place. And, his diagnoses were always WRONG. Once, I knew my car needed a new starter, but no, he insisted it was something else, so he bought all this crap, and it didn't help. I took it to our mechanic: it was the starter. After dozens of these happening (ending in destroying the lifters and the engine on a minivan because he broke something while insisting on changing the oil and the car was destroyed I finally, I said NO MORE! We have a good mechanic we trust, we've been with this family of mechanics for more than 15 years and anything other than a minor fuse change goes there.

I'd rather pay a professional outright than sit around for days or weeks while my car is out of commission and "a guy I know" or my husband makes the problem worse. Some people are good at this stuff, but my husband is like Kryptonite to cars.

My husband is a mechanic, so no shop fees and he does it all correctly.

To the shop we go or to my uncle who's a mechanic but he hurt himself so I don't feel like bothering him. HOPEFULLY, now that we have new cars that won't happen for a long time.

We do the work on my truck (1971 Chevy), together or separate, but with his truck and its computerized crap we usually take it to the shop. Unless it is a simple, basic fix.

Unfortunately, I always have to take mine to a shop. I've thought that it would be useful to learn more about it, but alas, I have no one available to teach me.

I prefer to take mine to a dealer to work on. I'd like the work done on my car to show up on the Carfax report for future buyers, so they know I did take good care of it. Small things like radio or speaker replacements, I will either do it myself or take it to a smaller shop.