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One of the things that I do when dealing with repair shops is make it very clear what I am going to pay for and what I refuse to.
My 1993 Ford Ranger pickup suffered a frozen slave cylinder that actuates the clutch when shifting. The cylinder's o'rings froze to the cylinder body and when I pushed in the clutch they no longer sealed. I told the repair shop, a local Ford dealer, that it would not shift and he said that it was not uncommon for the slave cylinder to freeze up on really cold nights, it was -10F that night. I'm sure the Canadians on the site can tell you horror stories of frozen autos. The transmission needed to be removed to fix it and the shop manager said that I should have them change the clutch throwout bearing and check the clutch plate for wear. I told him that nothing was wrong with the clutch itself and that I would not pay for them to repair it if they did. I made this very clear. As it was the clutch was fine, in fact he said that it looked very good for one with 80,000 miles on it. I told him that all I ever have driven and owned have been manual transmissions and I never slip the clutch. When I drove the truck away it worked fine until I got about 10 miles away and it locked itself into third gear. They had forgot to bleed the clutch. After a little reaming session with the manager I retrieved my truck and it ran fine.
Women have over time been robbed blind by unscrupulous repair shops that overwhelm them with all kinds of repair bills. If you make it adamant what you will pay for and what you will not they usually get the message. I also demand to see the offending parts as well. Especially when getting brakes serviced. Many times repair shops will replace brake disks that need only turning to correct them. Demand the show you the specifications from the factory and that they measure it in front of you. It is pretty obvious when most high wear parts need to be replaced, not so easy with electronic components. With most modern cars it is very hard for the average owner to know if they ar ebeing take or not, but usually common sense prevails.
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