Have you ever been ripped off by a Garage? I've been fairly lucky but I was once charged for an air filter that had not been changed - good job I checked! (I'll let that go though as it is failry easy to miss a filter swap!)
My cousin is a mechanic and he tends to do most of my repairs and my friend works for a car parts wholesales and get most of my parts reasonalble (if her boss isnt being a pain!)