It won't make ME rich. .

I have a suggestion for guys like my ex-boyfriend, who know A LOT about cars and can look passively aggressive while being polite. I would make the suggestion myself but my ex doesn't really talk to me, something about a faucet, and I won't see him, something about hearing him say "whoa! Have another sandwich!" Yeah.

But here's the deal. I brought my car to a small local place to get an estimate on getting my exhaust worked on. I have exhaust coming out where there is no pipe and the rattle rattle rattle boom boom boom (slight exaggeration) doesn't help either. So I got my estimate, the mechanic said he would check on availability of parts and call me. In the meantime I got on the Internet and went to some 'ask an expert' type sites to find out if my estimate was reasonable. And happily enough, it was! This mechanic was recommended by a hair dresser so you KNOW he had to be okay. But the last time I had my car worked on (at a different place) I felt so ripped off, like I got talked into things I didn't need, that I knew I had to take a different tack this time. Since this was, for lack of a better description, elective and not emergency surgery, I could take a bit more time deciding.

So the job thing. I think I would pay a guy to come with me when I get an estimate on car work, to be there and ask smart questions and steer things in the direction they need to go and not toward things I probably don't need. A car-guy backbone. Sort of. He could either take the car in for you and then call you with the estimate - or just go with you and act like the husband or boyfriend who isn't going to take any crap cause he speaks car just as well as those mechanics talk car. Like that.

A customer/mechanic liaison. So-to-speak. Being single and not always having the available male who knows about cars around, I would like the option to take someone with me. Even some of you married women might want to take advantage of a service like that if your husband is a different kinda guy than a car guy and you would like some support. And it wouldn't hurt if the guy looked a tiny bit scary, the little bit of implied danger could really work with some stubborn mechanics with their heart set on getting the nice lady to buy 4 new tires when she only needs two, or to have that alignment she doesn't want.

What do you think? I think there are guys out there who should start printing up business cards right now, I think there is a market for this. Would you use it?