Auto repair Chicago needs some help. Just because around 95% of locals don’t know much about their cars and don’t really want to, is no reason to be taken to the cleaners. You want to wake up, turn the key, and have the car do what it’s always done: drive to and from work. But on those gut wrenching mornings when the car won’t start, or there’s an evil little light on the dash, we know it’s time to telemarket the pros and hope we get a fair deal and not a sharp stick in the eye.

Now you’re in the shop They’re looking at your car, charging you for it, and when they walk into the waiting room, wiping the grease off their hands, how do you know the car repair estimates they rattle off aren’t complete works of fiction?

Let’s pause for a moment of clarity. Just what is an car repair scam? We’d like to offer some auto repair help using this simple analogy… Going out to dinner.

Imagine walking into a restaurant any given night of the week. You’re craving (let’s say for sake of argument) a burger, fries and coke. You sit down, the waiter walks over, and before taking your order tells you about the specials. He tells you about their tender sirloin tips, sautéed in a cabernet butter sauce served with garlic mashed potatoes and delectable grilled asparagus spears drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Your mouth begins to water, and you picture a glass of Shiraz to wash it all down.

Fast forward about an hour. You’re leaving full and happy having spent about $55 more than the original $12 you had planned on. Congratulations! You were just unsold.

Let’s repeat this experience and this time explore a scam… You order the burger, fries and coke. The waiter brings you the carrot plate with an orange juice, charges you for the steak, and then the valet refuses to give you your keys until you pay for the entire dinner including tip and a saganaki you never even knew they served.

Now THAT is a scam.

The truly insidious problem with car repair is how hard it can be to tell the difference. Unlike dinner, the inner workings of your transmission can be subject to interpretation.

The most powerful tool you have against car repair scams is this: Stop using auto repair service in Chicago that refuse to provide quality information over the phone or internet. We have a simple, hard and fast rule If a mechanic is not knowledgeable enough to provide at least basic, quality information when I contact them initially; he is not knowledgeable enough to be working on a vehicle. Period.

Service writers and technicians need to understand that the rest of the world lives in the information age. With the ability now for consumers to use free public resources (like IanAuto!) and get information to compare notes, mechanics must stop chanting the old mantra “Can’t tell you, won’t tell you! Bring it in and we’ll take a look”.

Auto Repair Chicago – You Need To Be Aware.

You Are Not Helpless. You Do Have Choices The major reason for prescreening is that failure to do so opens you up to a host of potential scams and creepy, high pressure sales tactics.

How hard do you think it’ll be to reverse a mistake when your car is 6 feet in the air with the tires off and they’re pointing out fictitious emergencies?

And if the person on the phone is doing nothing but evading your direct questions, just picture the customer service if you have a problem later on.

Remember, there are some amazing auto service pros out there who will blow your mind with knowledge, honesty and willingness to share. People like this should be given a medal for saving customers on a daily basis. The best thing is they’re either a phone call our mouse click away!

Auto Repair Chicago – Understanding A Very Important Fact:

While you should never use a mechanic who will not provide honest, direct answers to your questions, you must also know they will have to take a look at your car to give a realistic, accurate estimate. The truth is that almost 100% of car repair related situations do require a physical inspection by a trained service professional. Cars are highly complex machines and a problem with one system can frequently effect the performance of another.

For example: Check Engine Lights. These little buggers pop on when there’s an issue with a sensor buried in some deep, obscure system. We can all blame the manufacturers for not making this easy to diagnose. In situations like this, there is no way to get around a systems test. You will have to bring in your vehicle, the technician will have to plug in a diagnostic tool, and within about an hour (in most cases) you’ll have a solid idea of what’s wrong. But why can’t the technician tell you that?

We have called hundreds of shops across the country and have been hearing the same thing from close to 96% of them: “Nope, we can’t tell you anything until we see it.” Or “We don’t give any information over the phone, you’ll have to bring it in.” We’ve heard these exact two sentences so many times at this point, we’re starting to think there’s a mechanic’s phone call evasion phrase book!

Here’s a response directly from our database: This is a shop who knows how to answer your questions, even when there is no direct answer…

The “check engine” light is an indication something is wrong somewhere in your vehicle. What it’s saying is one or several sensors/components is failing or providing readings within specifications. Diagnosis and troubleshooting is required to determine the cause of the problem, and this will allow us to provide an accurate estimate regarding exactly what needs to be fixed. The cost for an initial diagnosis runs $X. You can expect the whole diagnosis process to take around an hour. Our technicians are trained to handle these problems and are available ASAP. Please call to set up an appointment.

Now isn’t that better than, “Nope. Can’t say until you bring it in”?

Auto Repair Chicago – The Most Astounding Fact Ever: Your answers are found in your mechanic’s questions. Even though having knowledge of your vehicle is the #1 way to avoid a scam, you can offset being less than informed by digging out good questions from the mechanic. There’s a simple reason for this; it shows they know what they’re talking about.

Because cars have become amazingly complex systems, you should not expect to get a diagnosis over the phone or online. But you should expect information. When you call a shop, the person who picks up the phone should be able to tell you something about something. They should also be able to ask you enough questions to draw out info and further highlight their knowledge and professionalism. They should also disclose if they have an inspection fee, disclose if that fee will be waived if you approve the work, and then be courteous enough to ask for an appointment.

Brakes, engine trouble, weird smells, and noises… in almost every auto repair related situation you must find a person who may not give you an exact answer, but will be able to tell you exactly why.

Auto Repair Chicago – Bottom Line: An up sell is offering premium parts instead of the basic stock; a scam is creating problems or lying about repairs needed. Scams can be avoided by finding a service pro who will directly address your questions and/or concerns. And while maybe not diagnosing your problem, at least offering quality information as to why.



By: Drew Turnbaugh

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King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain. He is the central character in Arthurian legends (known as the Matter of Britain), although there is disagreement about whether Arthur, or a model for him, ever actually existed and in the earliest mentions and Welsh texts he is never given the title “king”. Early texts refer to him as dux bellorum (“war leader”) and High Medieval Welsh texts often call him amerauder (“emperor”). However, a recent translation of newly discovered documents may have referred to him as a king.

King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain. He is the central character in Arthurian legends (known as the Matter of Britain), although there is disagreement about whether Arthur, or a model for him, ever actually existed and in the earliest mentions and Welsh texts he is never given the title “king”. Early texts refer to him as dux bellorum (“war leader”) and High Medieval Welsh texts often call him amerauder (“emperor”). However, a recent translation of newly discovered documents may have referred to him as a king.

One school of thought believes Arthur to have lived some time in the late 5th century to early 6th century, to have been of Romano-British origin, and to have fought against the Saxons. His power base was probably in either Wales, Cornwall or the west of what would become England, but controversy over the centre of his power and the extent and kind of power he wielded continues to rage.

History of King Arthur

Some members of this school, most notably Geoffrey Ashe and Fleuriot, have argued for identifying Arthur with one Riothamus, “King of the Brettones”, who was active during the reign of the Roman Emperor Anthemius. Unfortunately, Riothamus is a shadowy figure of whom we know little, and scholars are not certain whether the “Brettones” he led were Britons or Bretons.

Other members suggest that Arthur should be identified as one Lucius Artorius Castus, a historical Roman of the 2nd century, whose military exploits in Britain may have been remembered for years afterward.

Another school of thought believes that Arthur is at best a half-forgotten Celtic deity devolved into a personage (citing sometimes a supposed change of the sea-god Lir into King Lear) or a possibly fictive person like Beowulf.

Subscribers to this school of thought argue that another Roman Briton of this period, for example Ambrosius Aurelianus, led the forces battling the Saxons at the battle of Mons Badonicus.

Early History of Arthur

Arthur first appears in Welsh literature. In a surviving early Welsh poem, the Gododdin, (c. 594) the poet Aneirin (c. 535–600) writes of one of his subjects that “he fed black ravens on the ramparts, although he was not Arthur” — but this poem as it currently exists is full of interpolations, and it is not possible to decide if this passage is an interpolation from a later period. Possibly of an earlier date are the following poems attributed to Taliesin: The Chair of the Sovereign — which refers to “Arthur the Blessed” — Preiddeu Annwn (“The Treasures of Heaven”) which mentions “the valour of Arthur” and states “we went with Arthur in his splendid labours”, and the poem “Journey to Deganwy” which contains the passage “as at the battle of Badon with Arthur, chief giver of feasts, with his tall blades red from the battle which all men remember”.

Another early reference to Arthur is in the Historia Britonum, attributed to the Welsh monk Nennius, who is said to have written this compilation of early Welsh history around the year AD 830. In this work Arthur is referred to as a “leader of battles” rather than as a king. Two separate sources within this compilation list twelve battles that he fought, culminating in the battle of Mons Badonicus, where he is said to have single-handedly killed 960 men. According to the Annales Cambriae, Arthur was killed at the Battle of Camlann in 537.

king arthurArthur also appears in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen, a narrative that is usually associated with the Mabinogion. In that work, Culhwch visits his court to seek his help in winning the hand of Olwen. Arthur, who is described as his kinsman, agrees to the request, and fulfills the demands of Olwen’s giant father Ysbadden, which includes his hunt for the great boar Twrch Trwth, described at length by the author.

In some of the Welsh biographies of their best-known saints (also called Vitae or the “Life” of a specific saint), Arthur makes a number of appearances: for example, in the Life of Saint Illtud, he is said to be a cousin of that churchman. Many of these appearances portray Arthur as a fierce warrior, and not necessarily as morally impeccable as in later Romances. According to the Life of Saint Gildas, written in the 11th-century by Caradoc of Llancarfan, Arthur killed Gildas’ brother Hueil, a pirate on the Isle of Man.

Lifris writes in his Life of Saint Cadoc that Arthur was bettered by Cadoc: Cadoc gave protection to a man who killed three of Arthur’s soldiers; Arthur was awarded a herd of cattle from Cadoc as wergeld for his men; Cadoc delivered them as demanded; but when Arthur took possession of the animals, they were transformed into bundles of ferns. The likely original purpose of this story would be to promote popular acceptance of the new Christian faith by “demonstrating” that Cadoc, the Christian leader, had magical powers traditionally ascribed to Druids and of sufficient intensity to outsmart the temporal ruler, Arthur. Similar incidents are described in the late medieval biographies of Carannog, Padern, and Goeznovius.

This may be related to legends where Arthur is depicted as the leader of the Wild Hunt, a folk motif that is also recorded in Brittany, France, and Germany.

Later parts of the Trioedd Ynys Prydein, or Welsh Triads, mention Arthur and locate his court in Celliwig, which is located in Cornwall. Celliwig was identified by older Cornish antiquaries with Callington, but Rachel Bromwich, the latest editor of the Welsh Triads, matched it to Kelly Rounds, a hill fort in the Cornish parish of Egloshayle.

Arthurian romance

In AD 1133, Geoffrey of Monmouth produced a manuscript called the Historia Regum Britanniae. This work was the mediaeval equivalent of a best seller and helped draw the attention of other writers, such as Robert Wace and Layamon who then expanded on the tales of Arthur. One theory as to why this happened is that after the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066 there was renewed interest in the Arthurian Legend as described by Edward Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

During a period of five hundred years the tradition of his exploits was preserved, and rudely embellished, by the obscure bards of Wales and Armorica, who were odious to the Saxons, and unknown to the rest of mankind. The pride and curiosity of the Norman conquerors prompted them to inquire into the ancient history of Britain; they listened with fond credulity to the tale of Arthur, and eagerly applauded the merit of a prince who had triumphed over the Saxons, their common enemies. [Chapter 38, Footnote 138]

Thus, according to Gibbon, the once obscure 500-year-old Welsh legend went mainstream (through the works of Anglo-Norman poet Wace and others), creating a unified cultural icon under which the Norman rulers and the native Welsh could rally against their common enemy: the Saxons.

While many scholars believe that Geoffrey is the source for medieval interest in Arthur, at least one scholar, Roger S. Loomis, has argued that many of the tales surrounding Arthur actually come from Breton oral traditions, which were spread through the royal and noble courts of Europe by professional storytellers known as jongleurs. The French medieval writer, Chrétien de Troyes, recounted tales from the mythos during the mid-12th century, as did Marie de France in her narrative poems called lais. In any case, the later stories told by these two writers and by many, many others, appear to be independent of what Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote.

In these versions, which gained popularity beginning in the 12th century, Arthur gathered the Knights of the Round Table (Lancelot, Gawain, Galahad, and others). At his court, most often held at Camelot in the later prose romances, could sometimes be found the wizard Merlin. Arthur’s knights engaged in fabulous quests, famously including one for the Holy Grail. Other stories from the Celtic world came to be associated with Arthur, such as the tale of Tristan and Isolde. In the late prose romances the love affair between Arthur’s champion, Lancelot, and the Queen, Guinevere, becomes the central reason for the fall of the Arthurian world.

In Robert de Boron’s Merlin, later followed by Thomas Malory, Arthur obtained the throne by pulling a sword from a stone and anvil. In this account, this act could not be performed except by “the true king”, meaning the divinely appointed king or true heir of Uther Pendragon. This sword was presumably the famous Excalibur and the identity is made explicit in the later so-called Vulgate Merlin Continuation. However in what is sometimes called the Post-Vulgate Merlin Excalibur was taken from a hand rising from a lake and given to Arthur sometime after he began to reign by a sorcerous damsel (confused by post-medieval writers with The Lady of the Lake). In this Post-Vulgate version the sword’s blade could slice through anything and its sheath made the wearer invincible.

Arthur was a casualty in his last battle, the Battle of Camlann, which he fought against the forces of Mordred. The Prose Lancelot and the later prose cyclic romances state that Mordred was also a Knight of the Round Table and the child of an incestuous union between Arthur and his sister Morgause. In almost all accounts Arthur was said to be mortally wounded, but after the battle he was taken away to Avalon (sometimes identified with Glastonbury in Somerset, England), where his wounds were healed or his body was buried in a chapel. Some texts refer to a return of Arthur in the future.

The Arthurian mythos spread far across the continent. An image of Arthur and his Knights attacking a castle was carved into an archivolt over the north doorway of Modena Cathedral in Italy sometime between 1099 and 1120. A mosaic pavement in the cathedral of Otranto, near Bari also in Italy was made in 1165 with the puzzling depiction of Arturus Rex bearing a sceptre and riding a goat. 15th century merchants set up an Arthurian hall in his honour in Gda?sk, Poland.

Retellings of the Arthurian cycle include the works of Gottfried von Strassburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur.

In 1191, monks of Glastonbury Abbey announced that they had found the burial site of Arthur and Guinevere. Their grave was shown to many people, and the reputed remains were moved to a new tomb in 1278. The tomb was destroyed during the Reformation, and the bones lost. The antiquary John Leland reports that he saw the cross found with the remains, and transcribed its inscription as

Hic iacet sepvltvs inclytvs rex artvrivs in insvla avalonia — “Here is buried the famous king Arthur in the Island of Avalon”.

If Leland accurately reproduced the script of this inscription, then it can be dated to the 10th century. At least one scholar has suggested that the cross was added when Arthur’s remains were translated to the Abbey.

Historical Armouries manufacturers of authentic historical arms an armour of any Century.

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By: Michael Tabone

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