I, for one, like to stay with the smaller places, not only is it good to give them your business, but they usually know their stuff... While nothing truly major has gone wrong with my Jeep, I know that things wear out and go, and I do not have the mechanical knowledge as of yet to repair all of them... If something goes wrong on my Jeep, I will try my very hardest to repair it myself, but there are times and instances where this may not be feasable...
So, in Madison Heights, Michigan, I would suggest Craig's Auto Electric, on John R./W. Gardenia. They've been our general mechanic for quite a while, a little pricey, but they do very good work. It's the kind of place where if something does go wrong again, (because hey, crap happens), you can actually talk to them and get it worked out, without the good old "we fixed it, and will charge you to fix it again" runaround...
Exhaust/brakes, should you not have time to do them yourself, Madison Muffler, John R./W.Woodside. Again, smaller place, not as fancy to look at from the outside as Midas or Tuffy, but they do extremely good work, very fast, and don't cost too much...
Parts in general, I would suggest Northern Auto Parts, on 13 Mile/Rochester Rd, in Royal Oak. They knew my Grandpa by name... I've really nothing against AutoZone, but amazingly enough, if you need a little clamp, or bolt, or fasterner, or plastic thingamabob for a vacuum line, they're hard to come by... Northern will have it, end of story.
And I hope it doesn't ever come to something that I cannot figure out myself, but this is my DD, and only vehicle, I can't putter along and work on it whenever, got places to go, and money to make... But we'll see what happens...
Do NOT: Go to Belle Tire and get work done on the engine, in my experience, they did it cut-rate, and cost a freaking fortune. They did a radiator hose on my old car, left the hose on top of the frint engine mount, not in the little notch underneath where it's supposed to go... So the fan chewed a hole through it. Yeah, that was fun...
The Dealership. Made that mistake, they'll do the work, they can get in the parts, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg, and will never be done on time... And my local Jeep dealership had the highest service department rating in the region too...
Just my thoughts.
