Looking for an honest mechanic in Anne Arundel County willing to help me keep my Cruze alive another 6–12 months
TLDR: coming out of a bad unemployment spell. The one thing that can make or break me is my vehicle. Looking for help to keep it running for at least 6-12 months.
NOT LOOKING FOR ANYTHING FREE. I’M HAPPY TO PAY FOR GOOD, HONEST DIAGNOSTIC WORK—I’M JUST TRYING TO AVOID GETTING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF WHILE I GET BACK ON MY FEET
Hey everyone,
I’m coming out of a really rough stretch of unemployment and just recently started a federal job. Things are finally headed in the right direction, but financially I’m still digging myself out of the hole those months created.
The one thing that can make or break me right now is my car.
It’s a 2017 Chevy Cruze with about 134k miles. I’m not trying to restore it or make it perfect—I just need to keep it reliable enough to get me to work for another 6–12 months while I pay off debt and get back on solid footing.
Current symptoms:
Losing coolant weekly (I’m topping it off every week).
Sluggish acceleration, especially from 0–20 mph.
Occasionally when I first start driving, the accelerator feels almost unresponsive for the first quarter mile.
Sometimes at highway speeds it’ll rev to around 5,000 RPM and seem like it won’t shift or accelerate, then suddenly “drops” and starts pulling normally again.
Some days it drives almost okay, other days it’s noticeably worse.
I’ve had multiple shops look at it over the past year and haven’t gotten a clear answer, so I’m looking for recommendations for an honest, diagnostic-focused mechanic in Anne Arundel County who won’t immediately throw parts at it or tell me I need a new engine without explaining why.
If you’ve had a great experience with a local independent shop that actually takes the time to diagnose intermittent issues, I’d really appreciate the recommendation.