I recently had trouble with the directionals in my car. I took it to my dad who said he thought it was the flasher. So on the way home I stopped at VIP Auto to see if they could replace the flasher (I only let them do the simplist of things to my car) and was told that it would be $68 up front because they had to hook it up to the diagnostic computer before they'd touch it, then the cost to repair whatever was wrong with it would be over and above that initial charge. When I asked if they could just replace the flasher and see if that fixed the problem I was told, "Oh, NOOO ma'am...it could be a MAJOR ELECTRICAL PROBLEM" even though everything else was working fine. I opted to wait to see my own mechanic and lo and behold, it was the flasher and it cost me $63.81 to replace it.
And every time I've ever gone to Jiffy Lube for an oil change (they were the only option where I lived in VT) they told me my serpentine belt needed to be replaced. I once brought in my new car with 4400 miles on it and was told the belt needed to be replaced, so I know they didn't even look at the odometer...when I mentioned the mileage of the car the kid's face went sort of pale..seems I'd caught him in a little lie.
So my gripe today is being treated "like a girl" by mechanics. I may not be an expert, but I'm no fool, either.