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How can those mechanics fix a car by accepting "house calls"? At the very least, they would need to jack up the car to a height such that the parts at the bottom can be inspected, right? Besides, how do they know what to bring before examining the car?He is probably referring to the guys that are usually called "shade-tree mechanics" that fix people's cars on their customer's driveway etc. and don't necessarily have an actual shop building to work out of. Hence, they don't have any business license etc. to formalize their business which usually comes with the obligation to also collect tax on taxable items.
In other words, people who do things on the side and take payments under the table. Usually you have no recourse with those people if something happens since any warranty expires pretty much as soon as they have disappeared around the corner.
I bet house calls are common since it is completely voluntary to whether documenting all the records for tax purpose and the cost of operation is minimal without owning a shop. No wonder they prefer cash payment. The shop owner asked me if I would pay cash too but I don't feel comfortable to carry $2k cash around.
According to the service history, the first owner has replaced the lower control arms at ~55k miles. Perhaps this is why they are still strong today. The upper control arms however, are the original parts in 2004. While I have no idea how often should they be replaced, a life of ~120k miles for a mechanical part sounds pretty reliable to me already. The owner said the balls were lose with a few cracks on the control arms. The unit was replaced as a whole because you cannot just buy the bush or balls from Lexus (at least this is what he said).What was wrong with the control arms? Needed new bushing repressed into them? Or what was the deal? Please let me know...
Thank you for the information. I don't think the parts will fail... given that I paid almost triple the cost to get them from a Lexus dealer.Since repairs were done at shop that didn't have Lexus trainer and certified tech, Lexus will only honor price of part on warranty. You will be on the hook for labor required to make the repair.