Beating the Maryland inspection system.

Is there any profession more despised or beloved than the auto mechanic? On one hand, you always believe that the vast majority are a bunch of low-down shysters who will do anything, including dismantling decent parts of your car to squeeze as much as they can out of you. On the other...hand (wow, that sounds so boring. I can imagine Josh Sorensen saying in his falsetto mocking voice "On one hand, on the other hand I'm Mr. Cliche, typee typee"), everyone loves the image on the honest auto mechanic. It's good solid work, and he's a hero type, being able to accomplish things that ordinary people cannot accomplish in his grimy, humble way. My friend, Chuckles T. Martin always looks at the auto repair industry (and the insurance industry) in the most negative light possible. Ironically, he will do the repair industry a favor by spending thousands in preventative repairs, some of which are suggested by the auto mechanics so that he avoids breaking down and being at the mercy of...auto mechanics. I mention these two stereotypes about auto mechanics because I recently went to go get our car registered in Maryland. Having never needed a mechanic, it's all a question of which shop you can trust. So, I went to a seedy mechanic on Route One to have my inspection performed and it turned out that I failed the inspection, needing new struts which would cost me 340 dollars. Setting aside the fact that Maryland has the most comprehensive inspection in the county and that they allow inspectors to also fix your car, I though to myself, "I've got to be able to find a cheaper deal than this." Really, I just didn't want to have to sit in that shop for antoher 2 hours while they repaired my struts. After coming home, I decided to see if I could get them cheaper at another place so I went over to the local Greenbelt repair shop. I'll have to talk about Old Greenbelt in another post but suffice it to say, Old Greenbelt is a little piece of Any Town USA in the middle of Crapville USA (Route One being one of the major arteries of Crapville USA). So, I asked the local Greenbelt mechanic to give me an estimate on my struts and he said, "You strut fine, dawg" No, actually he said, "There's nothing wrong with your struts." And I said, "Can I do my inspection here?" and he said "Sure!" To top off this story, I had to go buy a bulb for a burned out marker light and I was talking to the grease monkey at Advance Auto Parts and he said that he had bought three cars in the last years and after every inspection, he had to put new struts in. Whether he was buying old beater cars or whether there's a conspiracy amongst the PG (Prince George's County not pregnant) auto mechanics, I cannot say. But I will say that I feel like I just navigated and exploited Maryland's bizarre auto inspection underworld. I guess you could say it's the market that allows me to shop amongst my inspection persons to choose one who will pass my car. On the other hand, that's a pretty stinky market that makes you pay each time to get it insepcted to see if you'll pass or not. Stupid hands. I vow never to use them again. On the other...mule....