tldr: If you want great service from mechanics who know their stuff and are in this business to fix…read morecars (and not, say, to scam customers), go here. Also, they're brilliant with older vehicles.
Details:
I've gone to A Ok Auto Clinic twice, and both experiences have been fantastic.
The first time, after a long day of hiking, I discovered that my car wouldn't shift out of first gear. At all. I managed to limp it down to Georgetown and got it towed the rest of the way. A mechanic friend said it was probably a busted transmission. When I called A Ok, they said the same thing, though they'd need to look to be sure. I left, dreading the call I'd be getting and trying to decide whether it was worth keeping the car.
Then they called. Transmission was fine. Clutch cables had jammed due to rust. They'd cleaned them, lubed them up, and everything was working again. Cost - for the assessment and fix? $50. (This was several years ago, but still!)
So a few months ago when I was in CO and had a car issue, I went back. This time I'd noticed some decrease in the performance of my AC, and I was about to drive 1000 miles back across the US in the middle of a heat wave. John was fantastic - he was able to work the car in before I left, check over the AC, and also evaluate a check engine light which I was concerned meant a busted catalytic converter. He confirmed my fears on the light but did shut it off to see if it would come back. As for the AC, he flushed the system, cleaned out some gunk in the condenser, and showed me where some fins had been bent, so it wasn't performing as well as it used to - but he got it working quite well without having to actually replace the condenser. His take on it was, "This is a 20+-year-old car; the last thing you want to do is pay for a repair you don't really need. If the AC starts having problems again, then consider replacing it, but I don't think you'll need to."
Again, prices were very reasonable. The AC is still running great, as is the car. And that check engine light never came back, so I don't need to worry about the catalytic converter for some time to come. Given their current cost, that's a huge relief - thanks, John.
I no longer live in CO, but I travel there frequently, and from now on, this is the shop I'll go to when I'm out there.