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SALT LAKE CITY -- Car owners coast-to-coast are beginning to regret the latest trend in cutting costs: do-it-yourself car repairs.
You might think you can save money by tackling those car repairs yourself, but mechanics nationwide and in Utah say more and more they're having to fix what do-it-yourselfers do.
Max Howarth, owner of Old Fashioned Service near 2200 East and 3300 South, says the problem is when people take on repairs that are better left to the pros.
"People try to do brakes, they try to do tune-ups, maintenance," he said, telling KSL Newsradio he'd even repaired the aftermath of a driver who tried to do his own belt work.
As you can imagine, mess up something critical like the brakes, and you've created a much bigger and potentially more expensive problem than you had to begin with.
"It's very dangerous," Howarth said.
Part of the temptation may come from memories of watching dad or grandpa tinkering in the backyard with cars, but Howarth says what used to be simple repairs on older cars are much more complicated now.
"Things are just really hard to get to," he said, pointing out that cab forward designs and other innovations have made shop-work a near necessity for some once-common backyard tasks like changing out spark plugs.
USA Today reports searches for "car repairs" and salvage auto parts" on Yahoo are up 77 percent and 99 percent, respectively, in just the past month. It's an indication that the do-it-yourself auto repair craze may not yet be over.
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
